On May 27, 2026, Zoom published a guide on customer experience management. It was written by Jodi Reuven, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Zoom Contact Center. The text is product marketing material and does not contain any proprietary market data. It describes CXM as the discipline of designing, measuring, and improving every interaction with a brand. The claim that AI has transformed CXM from a reporting function into an active driver of loyalty and growth is vendor positioning. For subscription providers, however, the direction is still relevant: retention is shifting from marketing to payment processing and lifecycle management.
Those who ignore this lose twice over. According to research by Bain (Fred Reichheld), a 5 % increase in customer loyalty can boost profits by 25 to 95 % (Harvard Business Review, October 2014). Every avoidable customer loss therefore comes at a disproportionately high cost.
Payment errors are not the customer's decision
According to *The State of Involuntary Churn 2026* (retentionlens.com), 20 to 40 % of total SaaS churn is involuntary, caused by failed payments. According to the report, an average dunning process recovers about half of the failed amounts, while best-in-class processes achieve 70 to 85 %. These figures come from a vendor publication and vary widely. Use them as a range and compare them with your own numbers.
Price Increases as a Risk
Swisscom raised prices for residential customers effective April 1, 2026. Internet and mobile service will cost 1.90 francs more per month, while TV and landline service will cost 0.90 francs more (Blick). The notice period was marketed as a “cancellation window.” According to the 2026 BearingPoint Submix Study (surveying approximately 7,500 respondents in Germany, France, and the UK), only 14 percent of households in Germany still have a digital newspaper subscription. The study cites exorbitant prices and poor content quality as the main reasons for the wave of cancellations.
Make the termination process transparent
In Germany, stricter cancellation requirements have been in effect since July 2022 for subscriptions purchased online, including a cancellation button (Plutte Law Firm). A clear cancellation process can be a sign of trust. It also provides an opportunity to offer alternatives—such as putting the subscription on hold or switching to a lower-priced plan—at the moment of cancellation, before the customer leaves.
Quick wins for subscription providers
1. Measure payment defaults separately from voluntary terminations.
2. Review retry attempts and notifications in the dunning process.
3. Communicate price increases, explaining the rationale and the added value, and then monitor customer cancellations.
4. Use industry benchmarks only as a range and cross-check them against your own metrics.
Conclusion: Churn often stems from payment and pricing issues rather than the campaign itself, so start separating voluntary and involuntary churn in your reporting this week.