Eligible German account owners
Paid-plan customers entering account closure, with access to Starter and authority to change the plan.
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.
6% D+7 conversion6.9% D+28 promo conversion0 clicks on the weakest placement
Context and role
A retention offer inside a sensitive account flow.
The team introduced Starter as a lower-cost option for eligible German customers. I translated the proposition into a reliable web flow inside the existing account-closure journey.
A €0 monthly alternative
Starter kept the account, history and invoicing available, with usage charged per transaction.
Web product delivery
I owned the web flow, states, technical design, implementation, instrumentation and launch review. The Product Designer owned visual direction.
Shipped productBehavioural cohortReal production data
Discovery and framing
The customer had already decided to leave.
I worked from the live closure journey, account state, eligibility rules and release checkpoints. Together, they defined when the offer was relevant and what the flow had to protect.
01
Closure initiation was the behavioural signal.
- Observed
- The customer had already started the closing flow. A generic plan browser would ignore that context.
- Design response
- Present Starter as a direct alternative at the decision point, with its cost and limits visible.
02
The decision could span several sessions.
- Observed
- Customers could return through login or the organisation page while closure requirements and eligibility changed.
- Design response
- Use the same live eligibility decision and account state on every placement.
Design question
How should Starter be offered without creating a closure record too early, repeating an unrelated downgrade journey or showing contradictory account states?
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.
Three decisions
The account states were the real design problem.
I focused on the accept path, account history and one eligibility rule shared by every placement.
Decision 01
Offer Starter before creating the closure
Acceptance started the plan change and kept the account open. Declining continued the existing closing path.
Why this order mattered
Creating then cancelling a closure would leave a reversal in account history and trigger departure systems.
0Closure records created when Starter was accepted inside the closing flow.Shipped
Starter accepted
Start plan change
Keep account open
Offer declined
Continue closing
Create closure
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.
4 → 1Steps between accepting the offer and confirming the plan change.Shipped
Standard downgrade
Choose a plan
Review what is lost
Review new benefits
Confirm
Starter offer accepted
Starter already selected
Confirm
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.
3 → 1Three entry points governed by one eligibility decision and one release flag.Shipped
Closure confirmation
Next login
Organisation page
One live eligibility decision
GermanyEligible companyAccount owner
Current paid planPlan availableFlag on
EligibleShow the contextual offer
Other customersKeep the existing journey
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.
Release validation
Three release signals guided the follow-up.
I reviewed early adoption, the D+28 promo checkpoint and engagement by placement. The cohort was small, so I treated the figures as launch signals.
Release result
The analysis covered the release across platforms. I owned the web architecture and placements shown here.
Attribution
Decision after launch
The conversion signal supported the proposition. The post-login modal remained the strongest measured placement, while the organisation-page banner needed removal, relocation or a new treatment.
The offer converted, while the organisation-page banner received no clicks.
fin.
The Product Designer led the visual direction. I led the web technical design, implementation and analysis. Percentages are shared with permission. Customer data and cohort sizes remain omitted.