Retention offer

A retention offer, also called a save offer, is a discount, plan change or other benefit that a business presents when a customer asks to cancel a subscription or service.

How it works. The offer appears inside the cancellation flow: on a page before the final confirmation, or spoken by a representative on a cancellation call. Businesses often vary it by plan, tenure or the reason the customer gives for leaving.

Rules in the United States. This entry describes the rules; it is not legal advice.

• California. Amendments to the Automatic Renewal Law (Business and Professions Code section 17602, from AB 2863) apply to contracts entered into, amended or extended on or after July 1, 2025. A business may present a discount, retention benefit or information about the effects of cancelling only if the customer can still cancel. Online, it must display a prominent “click to cancel” link or button alongside the offer, and process the cancellation promptly when it is used. By phone, it must first tell the customer they can complete the cancellation at any time by saying they want to cancel.
• Federal. The FTC’s 2024 click-to-cancel rule dropped a proposed requirement to ask consumers before presenting save offers, and a federal appeals court vacated that rule in July 2025. The FTC’s March 2026 advance notice of proposed rulemaking asks whether offering save attempts instead of promptly honoring cancellation is unfair or deceptive, and what effect state laws regulating them have had.

With agents on both sides. When a customer’s agent cancels on the customer’s behalf, the offer becomes a message to that agent. In A2A terms, the business’s agent can present it by moving the task to TASK_STATE_INPUT_REQUIRED. The customer’s agent can accept only what its authority covers. A mandate that permits cancelling but not changing plans means the agent declines or asks its principal, and either answer returns on the same task.

Neighbouring terms. Click-to-cancel is the requirement that cancellation be as easy as sign-up. A mandate states what an agent may agree to.