Added PayPal and churn went up — anyone else?

Payments & Revenue
1

We integrated PayPal as a payment option last month. Seemed like a no-brainer, but our churn rate has spiked since then.

Not sure if it’s a coincidence or if there’s some connection. Curious if others have seen similar trends after adding PayPal.

2

PayPal often attracts price-sensitive users who churn faster. Seen this a lot.

Quick fix: Bump up your free trial period. Gives users more time to see value before billing kicks in.

Long-term play: Tighten your onboarding. Get users to key activation points faster. The quicker they see results, the less likely they’ll bail.

Also, track cohorts by payment method. You might find PayPal users need different retention tactics.

3

Could be PayPal users are more impulsive. Maybe try a longer trial or better onboarding for them. Might help keep them around longer.

4

I’ve seen this happen before. PayPal can make it easier for people to sign up impulsively and then cancel.

Try highlighting the value of longer subscriptions on your checkout page. Maybe offer a small discount for 3+ months upfront. This can help attract more committed users.

5

Yep, saw this pattern with a language learning app I worked on. PayPal users churned about 20% more than credit card folks.

We dug into the data and found PayPal users were less engaged from the start. They skipped onboarding steps more often and used fewer features.

Two things helped:

  1. We added an extra onboarding email sequence for PayPal signups. Focused on showing quick wins and core features.

  2. Tweaked the cancellation flow to offer a discounted ‘pause’ option instead of full cancellation.

These moves cut the gap in half. PayPal still had higher churn, but the extra conversions made it worth keeping.

Definitely keep an eye on those cohorts by payment method. The trends can be eye-opening.

6

Same here. Churn jumped after PayPal. Switched to quarterly plans fixed it.