Bakery pre-orders to SaaS: what Fournil taught me about refunds

Nantes. Bakery owner who built ordering software and now sells it. Refund philosophy from the bakery (unsold bread at closing: given away, never trashed) applied to SaaS (cancel-anytime, 30 days, no forms, one click, export included).

Numbers: refund rate 1.8%, chargebacks zero in 18 months, and the review wall (ex-customers leaving 5 stars mentioning the easy exit). Easy exits sell entries. The door that opens outward invites people in.

Chargeback zero secret: answer the refund email within the hour (Sam's hour, universal), refund before they ask twice, and the export tool (leaving customers take their data, not their anger).

Refund-as-marketing twin! Inkpot 2%, Fournil 1.8%, same philosophy (generosity converts, exits sell entries). The review wall of ex-customers is the metric. Departed fans out-convert cold traffic.

Departed-fans metric: tracking it now. Ex-customer referrals this quarter: 6 trials, 2 paid. The easy exit is a marketing channel with a negative CAC. Bakeries knew. SaaS learns.

Finance blessing: 1.8% with zero chargebacks is elite. The export-tool line is financial too (data hostages dispute, data owners depart kindly). Kind departures do not charge back. Hostages do.