Offer retention discounts

Retention discounts work like coupons that apply automatically when a member cancels, with no discount code needed. They give members a reason to stay before they leave. In this help article, we’ll show you how to enable, customize, and manage retention discounts, as well as how members receive and apply them.

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How Memberful retention discounts work

Memberful allows you to send out win-back offers to members who cancel their subscriptions. These offers can be delivered in two ways:

• In-app: shown directly in the cancellation confirmation step.
• Email: sent automatically after cancellation.

You can use either channel on its own, or toggle on both for the best chance to re-engage a member. If both are enabled, the in-app offer is shown first, and members who decline it will still receive the email one hour later. Retention discounts work like coupons, except they apply automatically—no code needed. You can choose the discount amount and the eligibility rules. Memberful uses a subscription’s Active since value to determine eligibility for retention discounts. You can edit this field to customize which retention milestone that member has reached.

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Enable retention discounts

Retention discounts are off by default. Go to Revenue → Retention in your Memberful dashboard. Toggle on In-app before cancellation, Via email after cancellation, or both, then click Save settings. New accounts start with both channels off. Existing accounts that already use retention discounts will have the email channel active and in-app turned off until you toggle it on. If you toggle on the email option, click Customize the retention discount email to edit the email template that accompanies your offer. If you send yourself a test email, we use a 10% retention discount and 0 months as test data. In live emails, your members will see the real discount amount and duration.

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Set up a retention discount

To qualify for a retention discount, a member needs to have met the rules you’ve set in your discount settings. To create a discount, go to Revenue → Retention, then click Add discount.

1. Select the Eligible plans that will unlock this reward.
2. Enter a value for the Minimum active time in months.
3. Enter a Discount amount and select % or $ discount.
4. Select the Discount type and click Create discount.

• One-time: Applied once, then removed (the member will pay full price for future renewals).
• Recurring: Applied to a subscription indefinitely (unless removed by staff).
• Limited: Applied to a subscription a limited number of times, then removed. (If applied at checkout, includes initial purchase and renewals.)

You can then view all your rules in the retention discounts table:

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Edit a retention discount

To edit a retention discount, click Edit next to the discount you want to change in the retention discounts table. When editing an existing discount, you will also be able to disable or delete it.

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How does a member receive a retention discount?

Eligible members will receive a Retention discount email after they cancel a subscription (if enabled). If a member cancels and is not eligible for a discount, they will receive the Subscription canceled email template 2 days later, assuming it’s enabled.

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How does a member apply a retention discount?

• In-app: If enabled, eligible members will see the discount during the cancellation confirmation screen. They can accept the offer instantly before finalizing cancellation.
• Email: If enabled, the retention discount email will be sent to eligible members one hour after cancellation.

If both channels are enabled and the member declines the in-app offer, they’ll still receive the email.

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Track retention discount usage

The statistics button for each discount displays a counter of how many members have applied the discount. Click the button to see a report of all the members who have had your retention discount applied. Reports also include a Channel column so you can see whether redemptions came via in-app or email, and you can filter results by channel.

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What happens to a retention discount if a member cancels?

The retention discount will only apply the rules while the current subscription is active. If the member lets their current subscription expire before applying the discount, the offer expires with it. If a member reaches out to request a replacement retention discount to renew their subscription, you can create a coupon and apply the code.

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Can members apply a coupon and a retention discount to the same subscription?

Members can simultaneously apply their retention discount along with any existing coupons or referral discounts.