Cancellation reasons from 11,000 cancellations: the five that matter

Staywise sees cancellation flows for about 300 small software products. I pulled 11,000 cancellations from the last year and grouped the free-text reasons by hand.

1. "Not using it" 34%
2. "Too expensive" 21%
3. Business closed or project ended 16%
4. Switched to something else 11%
5. Missing a feature 8%

Two things people get wrong. "Too expensive" is almost always "not using it" said politely: when I check usage, 70% of the "too expensive" group had not logged in for 30 days. And number 3 is not your fault, so stop including it when you judge yourself.

Removing involuntary and business-closed churn before judging the product is correct and almost nobody does it. What is the split by plan length?

Monthly plans: 5.1% a month. Yearly: 31% at renewal, which works out better per month but arrives all at once.

The calendar reminder for month ten! I set it! I am ready!!

For twenty years I phoned every cancellation. Not to save it. To ask one question: what were you hoping it would do. Best product research I ever did and it was free.

"Too expensive means not using it" is going on my wall.

In e-commerce tools number 3 is seasonal. Shops close in January. If you judge yourself on January churn you will redesign a product that was fine.

I have no unpopular opinion on this. It is just correct. Mark the day.

Marked.