Apple Now Lets Developers Ask You to Resubscribe with ‘Win-Back Offers’

Apple on Tuesday announced support for a new App Store feature that lets developers entice former app users to re-sign up for a paid subscription. These so-called “win-back offers” allow app developers to offer discounts to previous users to convince them to purchase a subscription. These offers are available for automatically renewing subscriptions, Apple said. App developers have already begun presenting these offers to customers who recently canceled a subscription.

According to details Shared on Apple’s Developer site, the new “win-back offers” feature is designed to allow developers to target users who are no longer subscribed to their app’s services. Apple says former customers may be offered a special offer that could encourage them to pay for a new subscription.

These offers are only available for auto-renewable subscriptions, Apple said. One such win-back offer is the ability to offer users the chance to pay $9.99 for a six-month subscription, followed by an annual subscription of $39.99 that automatically renews after the promotional period.

Developers can set up these offers through App Store Connect, and Apple says it will provide the ability to define eligibility criteria, the type of discount offered, and the regional availability of these promotions.

Once a win-back offer is set up, customers can see a prompt to purchase a subscription at a lower price within the app or game, via the App Store product page or the subscription settings. Developers can also set up a direct link that can be sent to customers via email or messaging.

Apple’s developer documentation states that customers will see win-back offers “this fall.” Meanwhile, some developers have already implemented their own methods to encourage users to resubscribe to canceled subscriptions. A Gadgets 360 employee was recently shown an offer from the Gentler Streak app, with a “what if you stayed?” message urging them to resubscribe to the current but canceled annual plan for Rs. 899 instead of the usual price of Rs. 1,499. Now that Apple is giving developers a way to display win-back offers, we can expect to see more apps adopting similar functionality in the coming months.