Glossary
Churn and win-back glossary
Reactivation rate is the share of churned subscribers who pay again within a set time, usually a year; RevenueCat reports 20.1% for monthly app plans in 2026. Involuntary churn is churn caused by a failed payment rather than a choice to leave. This glossary defines these and the other terms subscription founders meet when they try to win people back, in plain words, with sources.
Quick reference
| Term | Applies to | Handles |
|---|---|---|
| Voluntary churn | All | People who chose to leave |
| Involuntary churn | All | Failed payments |
| Billing retry | App Store, Google Play, Stripe | Failed payments |
| Billing grace period | App Store, Google Play | Failed payments |
| Win-back offer | App Store, iOS 18+ | Lapsed subscribers |
| Retention message | App Store | People about to cancel |
| Dunning | Web billing | Failed payments |
| Smart Retries | Stripe | Failed payments |
| Card updater | Card payments | Preventing failures |
| Reactivation rate | All | Measuring returns |
| Recovered revenue | All | Measuring returns |
| Pay-on-success | Pricing | Paying for results |
| Return code | Winback | Counting returns |
| Expired trial | All | Trials that never converted |
Definitions
Voluntary churn
A subscriber leaves because they chose to: they turned off auto-renew or cancelled. The fix is a reason to come back, not a new card. In Recurly's July 2026 network data, average voluntary churn was 2.34% (Recurly, vendor). See RevenueCat win-back.
Involuntary churn
A subscription ends because a payment failed, not because the person chose to leave. Expired cards and bank declines are common causes. RevenueCat's 2026 report puts it at 31% of Google Play cancellations and 14% on the App Store (RevenueCat SOSA 2026).
Billing retry
After a renewal payment fails, the store or payment processor tries again on a schedule. On the App Store, billing retry lasts up to 60 days (Apple). On Stripe, Smart Retries choose the retry times. Do not message about a failed payment while retries are still running.
Billing grace period
Extra days of access a subscriber keeps while the store retries a failed payment. On the App Store you can choose 3 or 6 days for weekly plans, and 3, 16 or 28 days for monthly and longer plans (Apple).
Win-back offer (Apple)
A discounted or free period for lapsed App Store subscribers, introduced at WWDC 2024, needing iOS 18+ and StoreKit 2. You set eligibility by paid duration, time since lapse and wait between redemptions (RevenueCat guide). See Apple win-back offers.
Retention message (Apple)
Your own message, image and optional offer shown on the iOS cancel screen. Your server must reply within 700 ms or Apple shows its default, and developers must be approved (Superwall). See Apple Retention Messaging.
Dunning
The process of chasing a failed payment: retries, reminder emails, and a link to update the card. Good dunning is polite and fast, and stops the moment the payment works. It handles involuntary churn only.
Smart Retries
Stripe Billing's automatic retry feature, which chooses when to retry a failed renewal. It is included with Stripe Billing. Stripe says businesses using Stripe recover 55% of failed payments on average (Stripe, vendor).
Card updater
A service that gets a customer's new card details from the card network when their bank reissues a card, so the next renewal does not fail. Stripe Billing includes automatic card updates. It prevents failures rather than recovering them.
Reactivation rate
The share of churned subscribers who subscribe again within a set time, usually one year. RevenueCat reports 20.1% for monthly app subscribers and 5% for annual in 2026 (RevenueCat, SOSA part 2). It includes people who return with no campaign.
Recovered revenue
Revenue from subscribers who came back after leaving. For pay-on-success pricing it must be defined exactly: who counts, over what window, and whether refunds are removed. Winback counts revenue from returners for 6 months from their return.
Pay-on-success
A pricing model where the tool charges only when it produces a result, here a returning subscriber. Winback charges 15% of returners' revenue for 6 months, with no monthly fee. Details on the pricing page.
Return code
A unique code in each Winback message that belongs to one person. When it is used, the return is counted. Without a code, a return counts if the same customer id subscribes again within 60 days of the message. This is Winback's own term.
Expired trial
A free trial that ended without a paid purchase. In RevenueCat's 2026 data, 55.4% of 3-day trial cancellations happen on Day 0 (RevenueCat SOSA 2026). See expired trial win-back.
Numbers behind these definitions are collected on the churn statistics page.
FAQ
What is the difference between voluntary and involuntary churn?
Voluntary churn is a subscriber choosing to leave. Involuntary churn is a subscription ending because a payment failed. They need different fixes: a reason to return for the first, a working card for the second.
What is a good reactivation rate?
For subscription apps, RevenueCat's 2026 benchmark is 20.1% within a year for monthly plans and 5% for annual. Productivity apps reach 36.1% on monthly plans; mid-priced health and fitness apps about 12%.
Is dunning the same as win-back?
No. Dunning chases failed payments from people who did not choose to leave. Win-back reaches people who did leave, or whose trial ended, and gives them a reason to return.
How long does Apple retry a failed subscription payment?
Up to 60 days. You can also switch on a grace period so the subscriber keeps access while Apple retries: 3 or 6 days for weekly plans, 3, 16 or 28 days for monthly and longer.
Who wrote this glossary?
The Winback team at AGUNA Wellness Ltd (RC 9590421), Abuja, Nigeria. We run Winback on our own app, AGUNA, first. Corrections are welcome at support@winbackhq.com.
See who you could win back this month
Upload a RevenueCat or Stripe export to the planner. It sorts lost subscribers into cancelled, billing failed and trial expired, writes one message per person with a unique return code, and gives you a CSV. Files stay in your browser. Want us to set it up with you instead? Early access is open, and you pay nothing until someone comes back.