Customer Cancellation Checklist
A customer cancellation process for SaaS teams: confirm the request, record why, stop billing, export and delete data on schedule, and close the account.
- Typical schedule per cancellation
- The checklist 5 sections, 18 items
- Variables
{{customer}}{{end_date}} - Start from CI
Use this checklist when a customer cancels a subscription or asks to close their account. It covers both the customer-facing part (confirmation, reasons, data export) and the internal part (billing, access, data deletion, records). It is meant for accounts that need human handling, not for a fully self-serve cancel button.
Who owns it
Support or customer success owns the run. Finance confirms the billing items. Whoever operates the product does the deletion. The owner makes sure the customer hears from one person and that every promise, such as an export or a deletion date, is kept.
Common pitfalls
- Making cancellation hard. Hiding the cancel option or insisting on a call damages trust and can conflict with consumer protection rules. Make it easy, and ask for feedback afterwards.
- A save attempt that ignores the reason. Offering a discount to someone who is leaving because of a missing feature wastes everyone's time. Listen first, then offer only what addresses the reason.
- Billing mistakes at the end. Charging after cancellation, or forgetting the refund that was promised, are the complaints that turn into chargebacks. Check the final invoice.
- Deleting too early or never. Deleting data before the customer has exported it causes disputes. Keeping it indefinitely conflicts with data protection principles such as GDPR's storage limitation. Agree a date and keep it.
- Losing the reason. Record the cancellation reason in a consistent category, so the monthly churn review can use it.
Notice periods, refunds and data retention rules depend on your contracts and your jurisdiction. This is a practical checklist, not legal advice.
The checklist: Close account {{customer}}
Confirm
-
Cancellation request confirmed with an authorised contact at
{{customer}} -
Contract terms checked: notice period, end date
{{end_date}}, refund rules -
Written confirmation sent with the end date and what happens to the data
Understand
-
Cancellation reason recorded in a standard category (price, missing feature, switched tool, closed business, other)
-
Short exit conversation or survey offered optional
-
Retention offer made only if it addresses the stated reason optional
-
Product feedback logged with a link to the account
Billing
-
Subscription set to end on
{{end_date}}with no further renewal -
Final invoice or credit note checked against the contract
-
Refund issued if one is owed or was promised optional
-
Payment method removed or detached after the final charge optional
Data and access
-
Data export offered and delivered in a usable format
-
Integrations, API tokens and webhooks for the account disabled after
{{end_date}} -
Deletion date agreed and scheduled according to the retention policy
-
Data deleted on that date, including backups as they expire, and the customer informed optional
Backups usually age out on their own schedule. Say so in the confirmation rather than promising instant deletion.
Close out
-
CRM status updated to churned, with the reason and the end date
-
Marketing emails stopped for the account's users unless they opted in separately
-
Account owner or CSM informed, with a note on whether a win-back contact makes sense optional
Checklist as Markdown
Start this checklist from your pipeline
When a subscription is cancelled in the billing system, POST /api/v1/runs with template "Close account {{customer}}" and the period end as end_date.
curl -X POST https://runbook.metastic.ch/api/v1/runs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $RUNBOOK_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"template": "Close account {{customer}}", "variables": {"customer": "…", "end_date": "…"}}'Frequently asked questions
What should a customer cancellation process include?
Confirm the request and the end date in writing, record the reason, stop billing correctly, offer a data export, and delete data on an agreed date. Update the CRM so the cancellation shows up in churn reporting. Keep the process easy for the customer.
Should I try to save a customer who wants to cancel?
Only if you can address the reason they gave. A short, respectful question about why they are leaving is fine. Repeated offers or forced calls usually make the experience worse, and the feedback is worth more than a reluctant extra month.
How long should I keep data after a customer cancels?
Long enough for the customer to export it and for any contractual or legal retention needs, and no longer. Many SaaS companies set a fixed window and state it in their terms. The right period depends on your contracts and your jurisdiction.
Updated