Cancellations suck. There’s no denying it.

Obviously a member ending their subscription is pretty much the worst case scenario. By nature of the business model it’s pretty much the last thing we want to happen, right?

So why would you make it easier for members to leave by giving them the ability to cancel their membership themselves without you being involved or having a chance to talk them round?

In today’s episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I dive into the pros and cons of allowing members to cancel their own subscriptions vs implementing a process that requires them to contact you first if they want to leave.

Episode Summary:

• Pros and cons of self-service vs manual intervention with member cancellations
• Why a member cancelling their subscription doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t come back
• How trying to make it harder for people to leave can backfire in a major way
• Balancing what’s best for you with what’s best for your members

Key Quotes:

“If you’re relying on making things difficult as your retention strategy, it’s a recipe for disaster. Your retention strategy needs to be more sophisticated than simply hiding the cancellation button”

“Most of the arguments for allowing self service and self cancellation come down to providing a positive user experience. It comes down to what’s best for the user. Most of the arguments requiring you to be involved come down to what’s best for you as a business. So which option should you go for?”

“Make your membership so compelling that your members can’t even conceive of wanting to leave. That’s your retention strategy. It’s not having a deliberately convoluted, complicated, difficult cancellation process. Make the decision to cancel difficult, not the process.”

Get more help with handling member cancellations:

• How to Win Back Your Lapsed and Cancelled Members
• What to do (and what to avoid) when someone cancels their membership
• 21 Quick Tips for Improving Member Retention
• 3 Reasons Not to Take Member Retention for Granted

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