A lighter plan for customers about to leave Qonto.
I built and shipped a retention flow that gave eligible customers in Germany a lower-cost way to keep their account.
The desktop retention proposition shown during account closure.
Product Qonto
A business finance product combining an account with invoicing, bookkeeping and spend management. This release focused on German customers closing their account.
My contribution
I translated the agreed proposition into the web flow, states and edge cases, then implemented, instrumented and reviewed the release with product, design and data. The product designer led the visual direction.
The problem
Price was driving some customers to close a useful account.
The existing flow offered two choices: keep the paid plan or close the account. Starter let eligible German organisations keep their history and invoicing with a €0 monthly subscription and pay per transaction.
The flow evolved from account closure, to an adjacent offer, then to a relevant plan alternative.
The main constraint
Starter needed a narrow entry point.
Starter stayed out of pricing and the usual downgrade journey. It appeared after an eligible customer started closing, governed by one rule covering market, company type, ownership, plan availability and release status.
Three decisions
The important work sat in the flow, state and eligibility rules.
Qonto already had a mature visual system. I focused on customer state, the accept path and one consistent eligibility rule.
Decision 01
Offer Starter before creating the closure
Acceptance started the plan change and kept the account open. Declining continued the existing closing path.
Creating then cancelling a closure would leave a reversal in account history and trigger departure systems.
Starter accepted
Offer declined
The closure only existed after the customer chose to continue leaving.
Decision 02
Go straight to confirmation after acceptance
The offer had already selected Starter and explained its conditions, so this entry path went directly to confirmation. Other plan changes kept their existing journey.
Standard downgrade
Starter offer accepted
The optional shortcut changed this entry path; every other plan change kept the shared flow.
Decision 03
Apply the same eligibility rule everywhere
Because closure could span several sessions, every surface checked the same conditions and release switch.
The shipped experience
The organisation page respected the current closure state
The Starter path remained available across sessions while the banner reflected the current closure state.
What happened after launch
The first two checkpoints met their targets. One placement recorded no clicks.
The D+7 adoption checkpoint cleared its ≥5% target and the D+28 promo modal met its target. The eligible cohort was small, so I treated both as directional. I would retire or reposition the unused banner.
What I took from the project
State is part of the user experience
The order changed the account history and what confirmation could say.
Cut steps once the context is clear
The offer already explained the plan, leaving confirmation as the useful next step.
A metric is only as strong as its denominator
Adoption and retained activity answer different questions.
What I’d do next
Remove or relocate the unused placement, interview customers who declined and compare web and mobile behaviour.
Shipped in Germany, with a shorter accept path and a clear next study.
fin.
The product designer led the visual direction. I led the web technical design, implementation and analysis. Sensitive customer and business data are omitted.