Optimizing Kajabi's Trial Cancellation Flow
Overview
Redesigned the free trial cancellation experience to reduce churn. Kajabi is a platform that lets users create, market, and sell online courses and digital products.
Role
As the UX writer, I partnered with UX research to run the benchmark study, collaborated with product and design to prototype the new cancellation flow, and worked with engineering to ship it.
Timeline
2021
Problem
88% of Kajabi trialists who initiated cancellation followed through and canceled — compared to only 63% of mid-tier paid subscribers who did the same. The difference: paid subscribers encounter two sequential offers before their cancellation is confirmed. Trialists got nothing.
Approach
I partnered with the research team to run a benchmark study on prospective customers' experience with Kajabi's 14-day free trial. Key findings:
61% said they needed more time to learn the product
20% said they didn't know where to start
These insights shaped a clear intervention: offer trialists who initiate cancellation an incentive to stay — and address the onboarding gap while we're at it.
Final Experience (Happy Path)
1. Cancellation initiated
User navigates to Billing settings and taps "Cancel subscription."
2. Loss aversion
User is shown what they'd be giving up. They can choose to keep their subscription or set a reminder — but if they proceed, they move to the offer.
3. Offer
User is presented with an incentive: 30 additional days on their free trial.
4. Confirmation
Accepting the offer triggers a modal confirming the extended trial. To address the 20% who said they didn't know where to start, we will redirect them to personalized Get Started steps here — meeting that need at exactly the right moment.
5. Back to dashboard
User returns to their dashboard with 30 more days and a clear path forward.
Results
After launching the new flow, free trialist churn dropped from 88% to 63% — a 25-point reduction among users initiating cancellation for the first time.