Redesigning the Cancellation Flow for Click-to-Cancel Compliance

A compliance deadline exposed a quieter problem: our save screen was keeping customers by accident. I used the deadline to fix both, replacing a misleading screen with an honest 25% offer.

Company
Crunchbase, 2025
Role
Sole Product Designer
Partners
ProductEngineeringAnalyticsLegalProduct marketingCustomer support
Phases
1 · Compliance by May 14, 20252 · Honest save offer
The shipped discount offer, shown over Account Settings: Save 25% When You Stay with Crunchbase Pro, with Cancel Subscription and Renew & Save buttons

01Problem

The Opportunity

  1. A legal requirementThe FTC’s click-to-cancel rule and California law required cancelling to be as easy as signing up, by May 14, 2025.
  2. Customer complaintsUsers thought they’d cancelled but hadn’t. A “Continue to Switch” button changed their billing instantly, quietly propping up a 3% save rate.

02Insight

Why People Cancel

I mapped cancel reasons with customer support and studied how five subscription products handle cancelling. Then I surveyed 25 users on UserTesting to settle the open questions:

  1. 20 of 25expected billing controls in Account Settings, not inside the cancel flow
  2. 80% vs 12%said a discount would keep them, compared with switching to monthly
  3. 84% vs 56%said they’d skip a feedback survey mid-cancellation, compared with after

03Ownership

Compliant First, Better After

The research pointed to a bigger redesign than the deadline allowed. So I split the work in two:

  1. Phase 1: Ship complianceMeet the May 14 deadline and give people an honest way out. Minimal changes, no risk to the date.
  2. Phase 2: Fix the save mechanicReplace the monthly switch with the discount users wanted, and measure it.

Splitting it protected the deadline, but kept the old monthly offer live a little longer.

04Design decisions

Phase 1: Ship Compliance

Four small changes, each clearing the way to the exit:

  • The plan checkbox came preselected.
  • The cancellation survey became optional.
  • The “you’ll lose access” page was removed.
  • The switch-to-monthly offer’s buttons were redesigned to say what they do: “Switch Now” to switch, and a red “Cancel Subscription” to leave.
Before: the switch-to-monthly offer, where Continue To Cancel was a blue outline button beside a blue Continue To Switch
Before: the exit looked like just another blue button
After: the same offer, with the exit renamed Cancel Subscription and styled red, beside Switch Now
After: “Switch Now” and a red “Cancel Subscription”

05Design decisions

Phase 2: Redesign, Not Just Fix

Phase 2 gave each job its own path, so cancelling stopped carrying weight that belonged elsewhere.

  1. Billing changes, outside cancelSwitching to monthly moved to Account Settings.
  2. An honest save offerThe monthly switch became a straightforward 25% discount.
  3. Feedback, afterThe survey moved onto the confirmation page.

For the offer, a small modal was simpler, but trust was the bigger risk at that moment. So a light modal makes the offer, then a full-page review shows exactly what you’ll pay before you commit.

Discount modal: Save 25% When You Stay with Crunchbase Pro, with a Renew and Save button
1. The offer
Full-page discount review with plan details, payment method and a Today's Total of $0.00
2. A full-page review before committing

07Impact

What It Led To

  1. Phase 1Shipped on time for the May 14 deadline, with 0 support tickets about accidental plan switches after launch.
  2. Phase 211% of people who started cancelling took the 25% discount, replacing a misleading 3% save rate.

Two months later, the Eighth Circuit vacated the FTC rule. The simpler flow stayed.

Phase 2 was measured over a 4-week pre/post comparison, not a controlled test.

08Reflection

What I’d Do Differently

I’d test each change on its own.

The pre/post covered both the new cancel modal and the discount, so I can’t say how much of the 11% came from each. Next time I’d work with Analytics to track them separately, and set up tracking before launch.

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