What is Involuntary Churn?
Definition
Subscriber loss that occurs due to payment failures rather than the customer's deliberate choice to cancel.
Understanding Involuntary Churn
Involuntary churn accounts for 20-40% of all subscription churn. It happens when credit cards expire, have insufficient funds, or are blocked by fraud detection. Unlike voluntary churn, these customers did not intend to leave.
Services combat involuntary churn through dunning processes (payment retries and notifications), card updaters (automatically updating expired card details), and offering alternative payment methods. For consumers, keeping payment methods current prevents involuntary churn and potential data loss from canceled subscriptions.
Related Terms
Voluntary Churn
Subscriber cancellations that occur by the customer's deliberate choice, as opposed to involuntary churn from payment failures.
Dunning
The automated process of retrying failed subscription payments and communicating with subscribers about payment issues to recover revenue.
Payment Method
The financial instrument used to pay for a subscription, such as a credit card, debit card, PayPal, or bank account.
Grace Period
A short window of time after a payment fails or a subscription expires during which the service remains accessible before being suspended.