Cancellation and pause flows

Not every customer who clicks "cancel" really wants to leave. Many just need a break or a small incentive to stay. Cancellation and pause flows let you guide those customers through a few steps in the customer portal before they go, so you can save subscriptions you'd otherwise lose. This guide covers both.


To set these up, go to Supr Bundles & Subscriptions > Grow and open Cancellation flows or Pause flows.


Table of contents



Switching a flow on


The first time you open Cancellation flows or Pause flows, the app creates a flow for you: Default cancellation flow and Default pause flow. They start switched off.


  1. Open the flow and add your reasons and offers (or pick a template, see Templates, preview and metrics).
  2. In the Status card on the right, choose Active.
  3. Click Save.


The flows list shows each flow as Active or Inactive. The customer portal shows the reasons and offers of these default flows for every subscription, so set them up first. A flow also needs the matching portal permission: Cancel subscriptions or Pause subscriptions on Settings > Customer portal.


Flows per subscription option. Each subscription option has a Retention flows setting (Offers > open the offer > open the option > click Retention flows, one of the chips listed under the option's main fields that show each setting's state) with a Cancellation flow and a Pause flow picker. Shop default means the default flow. A flow chosen there is recorded on a subscription when the customer subscribes, so changing it does not move existing subscribers. A flow you created yourself shows a warning that it "isn't assigned to any selling plan yet" until an option uses it. If you want different flows for different subscription options, contact support first so we can check it fits your setup.


Cancellation flows


A cancellation flow is what a customer sees in the portal when they click Cancel subscription. It has up to four parts:


  • Step 1: Ask for a reason. A short list of cancellation reasons (best practice is 4 to 6), plus an optional "Other" reason. Collect additional free-text comments adds an optional text field, and each reason can also Ask for more detail.
  • A counter-offer per reason. Tick Add a counter-offer for this reason and choose the Response type: Offer a discount or reward, Suggest pausing, Skip next order, Delay next charge, Change delivery frequency or Swap to a different product. For example, a discount for "Too expensive", or a skip for "I have too much stock". Each offer has its own Message and Button label.
  • Step 2: Suggest alternatives (optional). Suggest pausing instead, Suggest skipping the next order and Suggest changing delivery frequency, shown before the final step.
  • Step 3: Confirm cancellation (optional). Show a final confirmation screen, with Show accumulated value summary (savings, orders and rewards so far), Warn about losing loyalty rewards and a Custom confirmation message. With it off, the subscription is cancelled as soon as the earlier steps are done.


Suggestions only appear when the portal allows that action. With Pause subscriptions off on Settings > Customer portal, customers are never offered a pause, not even inside the cancellation flow. The same goes for skipping (Skip next order) and changing frequency (Change subscription plans).


If the customer still wants to cancel after these steps, the cancellation completes as normal.


Pause flows


A pause flow is what a customer sees when they click Pause subscription. You can:


  • Step 1: Ask for a reason when pausing, with an optional counter-offer per reason (just like cancellation).
  • Step 2: Confirm pause: Show a final confirmation screen, with your own Confirmation message.
  • After pause: Win-back: a Pause reminder and a Win-back incentive email, each sent a number of days after the pause.
  • Pause limits: Max pause duration (days), Max pauses per year, what should happen When pause limit is reached (Auto-resume subscription, Cancel subscription or Send reminder only) and Warn customer (days before). They apply to pauses customers make from the portal. A customer who has already paused as often as Max pauses per year allows cannot pause again until a year has passed since the earliest of those pauses. When a pause reaches Max pause duration, the subscription is resumed, cancelled or left paused with a reminder email, as you chose. An automatic resume moves the next order to the next billing date if its date has already passed, so the customer is not charged on the spot, and the customer is emailed a warning the number of days before that you set in Warn customer (days before). The limit that applies is the one in place when the customer paused, so editing the flow later does not change pauses already running. Pauses you make yourself from the admin have no limit, and neither do pauses made before 24 September 2026.
  • Offer a reactivation incentive to bring paused customers back (see below).


Pausing keeps the customer subscribed, so offering a pause is often a better outcome than losing them to a cancellation.


Reactivation incentives


A pause flow can also carry a reactivation incentive (Offer an incentive when customers restart): a reward aimed at customers who are already paused, to encourage them to start ordering again.


It is separate from the counter-offers above, and it appears at a different moment:


  • A counter-offer is shown while the customer is pausing, right after they pick a reason. It is a last attempt to keep them subscribed.
  • A reactivation incentive is shown when the customer comes back to restart, and is included in the win-back incentive email sent while they are paused.


So a customer pausing today sees only the counter-offer for the reason they chose. They see the reactivation offer later, when they return to resume. It is applied after the customer's next successful order.


Choosing who receives it. In the reactivation incentive section you can turn on "Don't offer this to customers who already accepted a discount". With it on, a customer who took an offer when pausing keeps that discount and is not given the reactivation one as well, no matter how much time has passed. Leave it off and the cooldown below decides instead.


How flow discounts work


  • Automatic, no code. When a customer accepts a discount offer, it is added to their subscription straight away. There is nothing for them to enter, and it shows on their next order.
  • How long it lasts. Applies for (orders) sets how many orders get the discount.
  • It stacks with the subscription discount. The flow discount is taken off the price the customer already pays, which already includes the subscription option's discount. Example: a $40 product with a 10% subscription discount costs $36; a 20% flow discount brings it to $28.80 for the orders you chose.
  • Rewards come after the next order. A Free product or Gift card reward is given after the customer's next successful order, so it cannot be claimed and then cancelled straight away. Until that order goes through, the portal does not offer pausing.


Counter-offers and cooldowns


Counter-offers are the heart of these flows: a targeted discount or alternative shown at the moment a customer is about to leave. To stop the same customer claiming offers repeatedly, set Cooldown between incentives (days) in Incentive limits (30 days unless you change it), so a discount can't be re-triggered by cancelling again right away.


Choosing who sees an offer. Under a counter-offer, click Show this offer only to some customers and fill any of these: Orders placed, at least and at most (the first order counts as one), Next order total, at least (in your store's currency), Customer tags (the customer needs one of them) and Shipping countries (two letter codes such as US, CA). A customer has to match every field you filled. Customers who do not match never see the offer and go on with the cancel or pause without it, and the offer cannot be claimed by them either. For example, show the 20% discount on "Too expensive" only to subscribers with at least 3 orders, so a first time customer cannot cancel straight away to get it.


Offers do not stack with each other. The cooldown applies to the subscription as a whole, across both flows, so a customer who accepts a discount on the way out will not receive another discount, such as the reactivation discount, until the cooldown has passed. Whichever offer they accept first is the one they get. If you would rather the reactivation offer never follows another discount, even after the cooldown, use the setting described above.


Win-back emails


Cancellation flows can follow up after a customer cancels, in the After cancellation: Win-back emails card:


  • 14-day win-back email: a gentle check-in.
  • 30-day win-back with offer and 60-day final win-back: each can carry a one-time discount on the customer's next order (Percentage off or Fixed amount off, with an Offer label). Leave the amount at 0 for no offer. The discount is applied automatically when the customer comes back from the email.


Pause flows send the Pause reminder and Win-back incentive emails described above.


Win-back emails are switched on and off in the flow, not in Notifications. Their wording and design are edited under Settings > Notifications. Each customer receives each email only once.


Templates, preview and metrics


  • Templates give you a ready-made flow (reasons plus offers) you can adjust. When a flow has no reasons yet, the template picker opens for you: Standard retention flow, Aggressive retention, Minimal or Start from scratch for cancellation, and Recommended, Strict limits, Lenient or Start from scratch for pausing.
  • Preview (top of the flow editor) shows the flow as customers will see it.
  • Performance on each flow shows the last 30 days: for cancellation, the Save rate, Attempts and Cancellations; for pausing, Pauses and Reactivated; plus win-back emails sent. Use it to refine your reasons and offers over time.


Seeing why customers cancelled


  • On each subscription: open it from Subscriptions. The Timeline card shows the status change and the reason the customer chose.
  • Across your store: the Cancellation reasons card on Analytics breaks down all reasons.
  • By email: turn on Paused subscription and Cancelled subscription under Settings > Notifications > Staff notifications to hear about each one.


Wording and languages


The portal's own buttons and headings around these flows are edited under Settings > Customer portal > Labels (groups Cancel, Pause and resume and Retention offers), and translated under Settings > Translations, group Subscription portal.


The texts you write in a flow can be translated too: the reasons and their follow-up questions, the offer messages and buttons, the name a counter-offer discount shows on the customer's subscription, the confirmation message and the reactivation incentive message. Open Settings > Translations, choose a language and the translation group Subscription portal, then Cancellation and pause flows in the sidebar, where each flow has its own section. Customers whose language you have not translated see your own wording.


Common questions


Does the flow discount stack with the subscription discount?
Yes. It is taken off the already discounted subscription price, for the number of orders set in Applies for (orders). See How flow discounts work.


Can a customer get the cancellation offer and the reactivation offer?
Not within the cooldown. Once a customer accepts an offer, no other flow discount is given until Cooldown between incentives (days) has passed. To block the reactivation offer for good, turn on "Don't offer this to customers who already accepted a discount".


Do I need to create discount codes for the offers?
No. Counter-offer discounts are added to the subscription automatically. The 30 and 60 day win-back discounts are created and applied for you too.


Where do I turn off win-back emails?
In the flow itself: untick the email in After cancellation: Win-back emails (cancellation) or After pause: Win-back (pause), then save. Their wording is under Settings > Notifications.


Why can customers still pause when I turned pausing off?
Turning off Pause subscriptions on Settings > Customer portal removes pausing everywhere in the portal, including the pause suggestions in your cancellation flow. Make sure you clicked Save on that page.


Can I limit how long subscribers stay paused?
Yes. In the pause flow, set Max pause duration (days) and what should happen When pause limit is reached. Once a customer's pause reaches that length, the subscription is resumed, cancelled or left paused with a reminder, as you chose. This applies to pauses customers make from the portal after you set it. To end an older pause, or one you made from the admin, filter Subscriptions by status Paused, select them and use Change status > Activate subscription. Customers can also resume from the portal at any time.


My cancellation flow is not showing in the portal. Why?
Check the flow's Status is Active and saved, that Cancel subscriptions is on in Settings > Customer portal, and that the subscription is not inside a minimum commitment (then the cancel button is not available yet).


Can I pay for the offer only if the customer stays?
Use a Free product or Gift card reward: it is only given after the customer's next successful order.



Updated on: 10/03/2026

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