Reduce Involuntary Churn

Reduce Involuntary Churn is a Rules template that recovers subscribers who are about to be lost to a failed payment — not because they chose to leave, but because a card expired or a charge was declined. It fires on the billing_issue event, sends a push, and presents an in-app screen prompting the user to update their payment method.

This is some of the easiest revenue to save. A meaningful share of cancellations are involuntary — failed payments, not deliberate cancellations — and most of it is recoverable with a timely nudge, at zero acquisition cost.

Find it under Templates on the Rules page → Billing issue notification.

Why involuntary churn matters

• It's a large, hidden slice of churn that looks like users leaving but is really expired cards and failed charges.
• It's recoverable — the user wants to keep their subscription; they just need to update a card.
• The in-app prompt is the highest-leverage touch — an on-device prompt to fix billing recovers far more than a push alone, which is exactly the mechanic this template uses.

How the stores handle a failed renewal

When a renewal fails, the platform doesn't cancel immediately — it opens a recovery window:

• Apple: the subscription enters Billing Retry (daily retries for up to ~60 days). If Billing Grace Period is enabled, the user keeps full access while Apple retries. See Handling the App Store billing grace period.
• Google: a grace period (configurable, up to ~30 days) keeps access during retries; after it, Account Hold suspends access while retries continue.

Apphud's billing_issue event fires when the user enters this window — i.e. exactly when a nudge is still worth sending.

How the template works

Set it up

1. Open Templates on the Rules page and Add rule on Billing issue notification.
2. Configuration — confirm the billing_issue trigger and pick an audience if needed.
3. Push notification — write a helpful, non-alarming message (per locale) — see the tone note below.
4. In-app action — the built-in billing-issue screen is attached automatically.
5. Save, then Enable.

Recovery sequence

A single push rarely recovers a payment — you want to nudge across the whole grace window. That takes two rules working together:

1. Immediate nudge — event-triggered

A rule on billing_issue sends the first push the moment the issue is detected: "There was a problem renewing your subscription. Tap to update your payment method and keep your access." → in-app screen with a one-tap path to the store's payment settings. This fires once per billing issue.

2. Ongoing reminders — scheduled

To keep nudging over the multi-day grace window, add a separate Scheduled (repeating) rule whose audience is Subscription status = grace — users currently in a billing-issue grace period. On your chosen cadence (e.g. daily) it re-prompts everyone still unresolved. Users who fix their payment leave the grace status and automatically stop receiving it; when the grace period ends, they leave the audience too.

Best practices

• Be helpful, not alarming. The user didn't do anything wrong — an expired card isn't a failure on their part. Accusatory copy hurts recovery.
• Make it one tap. Don't dead-end users on a "billing issue" message — give a direct path to update payment.
• Repeat within the window. Front-load the first touch and add reminders before the grace period ends; recovery needs repetition.
• Enable grace period on both stores — it's the biggest single multiplier on recovery.

FAQ

When exactly does billing_issue fire?

When a scheduled renewal fails and the subscription enters the store's retry/grace window — not when the user actively cancels. See Event Types → Billing issue.

Does the user keep access during a billing issue?

If the store's grace period is enabled, yes — they keep full access while the platform retries. If not, access depends on platform defaults (Apple retry / Google Account Hold).

What happens if the payment recovers before the user opens the app?

The pending screen isn't withdrawn automatically — Apphud doesn't re-check the billing state before presenting, so a recovered user can still see it. Limit this by setting a Screen expiration time (TTL) on the rule (so the prompt is only valid for a short window), or gate presentation in your app with the apphudShouldShowScreen SDK delegate.

How do I run reminders over several days?

You don't schedule off the billing_issue event — an event-triggered rule fires only once. Add a separate Scheduled (repeating) rule whose audience is Subscription status = grace (users currently in a billing-issue grace period). It re-prompts everyone still unresolved on your cadence (e.g. daily); users who fix their payment leave the grace status and stop receiving it. See Use Cases.

How do I measure recovery?

Track billing-recovery metrics in Renewals Performance and use the Rule filter on revenue charts in Reports.