Improving Subscription Retention for Slimming World Kitchen

Slimming World Kitchen offers a subscription-based meal service, but like many subscription products, the cancellation experience plays a critical role in user retention.

This project focused on improving a key retention touchpoint, the cancellation flow, while introducing a pause functionality, giving users more flexibility and reducing unnecessary churn.

The problem

Users who wanted to cancel their subscription were often doing so for temporary reasons, such as lifestyle changes or short-term disruptions.

However, the existing experience:

Did not offer flexible alternatives to cancellation
Made it easy for users to leave, but difficult to stay in a modified way
Failed to capture users who were not fully ready to churn

This led to avoidable cancellations and lost retention opportunities.

Before: Linear cancellation flow (existing experience) — this video shows the original cancellation journey. Notice the lack of flexibility and the absence of alternatives.

Goal

Improve the cancellation experience to better support user needs
Introduce a pause functionality for users not ready to fully cancel
Reduce unnecessary churn by offering flexible alternatives
Create a clearer, more supportive user journey

Approach

Analysed common reasons users cancel subscriptions
Identified opportunities to introduce flexibility into the journey
Mapped out an improved cancellation flow with decision points
Designed a pause feature as an alternative to full cancellation

Analysing the problem

I analysed common reasons users cancel subscriptions and identified that many cancellations were driven by temporary needs rather than permanent intent.

I reviewed our exit survey data, and worked closely with the support team to understand behaviour patterns.

User feedback and data revealed key issues: 45.1% of users are cancelling because of the subscription. 18% of users are cancelling because of the cost of the subscription.

Further research uncovered two key reasons for cancellation:

Some users wanted to avoid being tied into a subscription altogether.
Others valued the service but needed more flexibility.

Cancellation primary reason by sub-reason table

Identifying opportunities to introduce flexibility

Key Design Decisions

1. Introducing an alternative

To address users who weren't ready to fully cancel, I introduced a pause option within the cancellation flow to capture users with temporary intent, reducing unnecessary churn and allowing them to re-engage without re-subscribing.

This allows users to:

Temporarily stop deliveries
Return without needing to resubscribe

👉 This directly targets users who are not fully ready to churn.

2. Supporting user intent

Different user motivations were considered:

Temporary break → pause
Permanent decision → cancel

The experience adapts to support both, rather than pushing users in one direction.

3. Reducing friction while guiding decisions

The cancellation flow was redesigned to:

Be clear and transparent
Avoid unnecessary friction
Still encourage users to consider alternatives like pausing

👉 This balances business goals with user trust.

4. Improving clarity and control

Clear messaging and structure were introduced to:

Help users understand their options
Reduce confusion during cancellation
Give users a sense of control over their subscription

This redesign encourages users to understand all their options, like pausing, ultimately giving them a sense of control of their subscription.

Outcome

Introduced a flexible alternative to cancellation through pause functionality
Reduced friction in the cancellation journey while supporting user decision-making
Designed to reduce avoidable churn by introducing flexibility into the cancellation journey, capturing users who may otherwise leave due to temporary circumstance.
Improved overall user experience by aligning with real user needs

This solution targets a high-friction retention point, helping capture users who may otherwise churn due to temporary circumstances.

Reflection

This project focused on improving a high-impact retention touchpoint within the user journey and highlighted how small changes in key journeys, like cancellation, can have a significant impact on business outcomes.

By understanding user intent and introducing flexibility, it's possible to balance user needs with retention goals in a way that feels natural and supportive.