The Surprise Charge

Revision after REVISE on dimension 1. Changed: para 2 only. See DECISIONS.md. para markers are load-bearing — requirements cite them.

The trial that ends politely

Nobody gets charged by surprise: you'll know before we bill you, and cancelling takes one tap.

para 1 — AUSTIN, 3 APRIL 2027 — Today we're ending the surprise. Before a trial converts to a paid plan, we say so — by email and in the app — and cancelling takes one tap, no retention maze. Receipts now show the next renewal date, every time.

para 2 — This is for one specific person: the trial user who stopped opening the app by day 3 and gets charged on day 14 anyway — the forgot-cohort. They are 71% of our eventual refunders [OBSERVED: activity × billing join]. 38% of last quarter's refunds cite "forgot to cancel" [OBSERVED: refund log], "surprise charge" is the #1 support category in week three of every cohort [OBSERVED: ticket tags], and their reviews say "tricked" [REPORTED: review verbatims]. Whether those reviews cost us conversions is something we believe and have not measured [ASSUMED — C6].

para 3 — Two days before the first charge, we tell you — an email and an in-app banner — with two buttons: keep it, or cancel in one tap.

para 4 — Today the renewal date lives in account settings, where nobody who has stopped opening the app will ever see it. The current "fix" is the refund queue: the customer discovers the charge on a bank statement, gets angry, writes the review, then asks for their money back. We refund the money. The review stays.

para 5 — Cancelling is one tap from the reminder, the banner, or the receipt — never more steps than subscribing took. Receipts state the next renewal date and price.

para 6 — > "I didn't even remember signing up. The charge showed up and I felt scammed — which is stupid, because I liked the app." — trial user, consumer plan

[illustrative construction — not a real customer statement]

para 7 — > "Every one of these charges is revenue this quarter and a detractor forever. We'd rather earn the conversion than ambush it. And because finance believes reminders will cost us conversions and I believe they won't, this ships with the experiment that settles it." — VP Product

para 8 — Getting started. Nothing to enable. Reminders start with the next trial cohort.

Provenance: 3 observed · 1 reported · 1 assumed · the conversion question is REQ-D2's experiment