Subscription cancellation email templates and 2026 rules

When a customer asks to cancel a subscription, cancel it, then confirm in writing the same day: that it's cancelled, the date it ends, whether any further charge or delivery is coming, and whether any money is due back. Don't make them ask twice, and don't make cancelling depend on hearing an offer.

Below are five replies, what to check in Shopify first, and the rules on easy cancelling in the US, UK and EU as they stand on 20 October 2026. Words in double braces, like {{plan_name}}, are blanks: fill each one from the subscription and your policy, never from memory.

What every cancellation confirmation needs

What	Why
The plan that was cancelled	So there's no doubt which subscription it was, if they have more than one.
The end date	Required in the UK's end-of-contract notice once the new rules start; useful everywhere.
The last charge, and "no further charges"	The question every customer is really asking.
Any delivery still on its way	So a parcel after cancelling doesn't look like a mistake.
Any refund, with the amount	Only if one is actually due under your policy or the law.

Keep the email short and put these facts first. The UK's draft regulations would require the end-of-contract information to be more prominent than anything else in the same message, which is good practice already.

Before you reply: check the subscription in Shopify

If you use the Shopify Subscriptions app, go to Apps > Subscriptions > Contracts and open the customer's contract. You can pause, resume or cancel it on their behalf, and customers can do the same from their customer account if you've turned on subscription management. Note the next billing date before you cancel: it tells you whether a charge is about to go through.

For prepaid subscriptions, Shopify lets you cancel the order only if nothing has been fulfilled yet. If some deliveries have gone out, you can't cancel the order, but you can refund fulfilled and scheduled items; when you refund from Orders, you might need to cancel in the subscription app as well. Other subscription apps have their own steps, so check the app's help pages.

Template 1: confirming the cancellation

Hi {{first_name}},

Your {{plan_name}} subscription is cancelled. It ends on {{end_date}}, and you won't be charged again.

Your last payment was {{last_charge_amount}} on {{last_charge_date}}. {{delivery_line}}

{{refund_line}}

{{your_name}}

For {{delivery_line}}, write either "Nothing more will be sent." or "Your final delivery, already paid for, will arrive around {{final_delivery_date}}." For {{refund_line}}, write "We've refunded {{refund_amount}} to your {{payment_method}}." only after the refund is done; otherwise leave it out.

Template 2: the customer asks how to cancel

The best answer to "how do I cancel?" is usually to do it for them. If they asked clearly, cancel and send Template 1. If it isn't clear which subscription they mean, or whether they want to cancel or pause, ask one question:

Hi {{first_name}},

I can do that for you now. Just to be sure: do you want to cancel {{plan_name}} completely, or would you rather {{pause_or_skip_option}}?

If you'd like to do it yourself, you can cancel any time from your account: {{account_link}}, then {{steps_in_account}}.

{{your_name}}

Offer pausing or skipping only if your store really offers it. One question is help; three are a hurdle.

Template 3: charged after cancelling

This is the email most likely to turn into a dispute. Shopify lists "subscription canceled" as a chargeback reason: the customer believes they were charged after cancelling, or expected a reminder before a renewal and didn't get one. Shopify's advice is that if a customer followed your cancellation process and was still charged, you should consider issuing a refund.

Hi {{first_name}},

You're right, and I'm sorry. You cancelled on {{cancellation_date}}, and the charge of {{amount}} on {{charge_date}} shouldn't have happened.

I've refunded the full {{amount}} to your {{payment_method}}, and your subscription is now fully cancelled. Nothing more will be charged or sent.

{{your_name}}

If your records show they didn't cancel, say what you found, kindly, and still offer what your policy allows. If they've already disputed the charge, see what to email a customer who files a chargeback.

Template 4: cancelling within the cooling-off period

In the UK and EU, a customer who signed up at a distance can usually cancel within a cooling-off or withdrawal period. Confirm the date and time you received it.

Hi {{first_name}},

We received your cancellation of {{plan_name}} on {{received_date}} at {{received_time}}, within your {{period_length}} cancellation period.

{{return_instructions}}

We'll refund {{refund_amount}} to your {{payment_method}} by {{refund_deadline}}.

{{your_name}}

Fill the period, refund and deadline from your policy and the rules for the customer's country: see UK refund rules for online orders and the EU withdrawal button.

Template 5: one offer, then cancelled

If you want to make an offer, make it in the same email that confirms the cancellation, so the customer doesn't have to answer it to get out.

Hi {{first_name}},

Your {{plan_name}} subscription is cancelled and ends on {{end_date}}. You won't be charged again.

If you ever want it back, {{offer}}. Just reply to this email.

{{your_name}}

What the law says today

United States: ROSCA applies; the "click-to-cancel" rule doesn't

The FTC's 2024 amendments to the Negative Option Rule, widely called the "click-to-cancel" rule, are not in force. On 8 July 2025 the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit found the FTC's rulemaking "procedurally insufficient" and vacated the rule (Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC). On 12 February 2026 the FTC published a final rule restoring the Negative Option Rule "in the form it existed before the 2024 Rule became effective". The FTC's business blog describes that rule as one that "currently only covers pre-notification plans".

In March 2026 the FTC published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking asking whether the rule should be amended; comments closed on 13 April. On 20 October 2026, the FTC's Negative Option Rule page lists that notice as the latest step.

What does apply to online subscriptions is the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act. Section 8403 makes it unlawful to charge a consumer through a negative option feature online unless the seller discloses all material terms before taking billing information, gets the consumer's "express informed consent", and provides "simple mechanisms for a consumer to stop recurring charges from being placed on the consumer's credit card, debit card, bank account, or other financial account." The section doesn't define "simple". A prompt confirmation is the practical evidence that yours is.

United Kingdom: new rules from January 2027

The subscription chapter of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 is law but not yet in force: legislation.gov.uk marks it "Prospective". On 9 August 2026 the government announced that the new rules "will now come into force in January 2027". The draft Consumer Subscription Contracts (Cancellation and Information) Regulations 2026 give 1 January 2027, and legislation.gov.uk still lists them as draft.

Once in force, the Act requires:

• Easy exit. Section 260: ending a subscription must be "straightforward", without steps that aren't "reasonably necessary". If the customer signed up online, they must be able to end it online, with instructions where they are likely to find them. A customer can also end it by notifying you with "a clear statement setting out their decision".
• An end-of-contract notice. Section 261: you must acknowledge the cancellation in writing on a durable medium, give the date the contract ends, and refund any overpayment. Unless regulations set another period, the notice is due within 24 hours if the customer cancelled online, or within 3 working days otherwise.
• Any time. The draft regulations say a consumer may bring a subscription contract to an end "at any time".

The chapter doesn't apply to contracts entered into before it comes into force. Until then, the existing rules for online orders apply.

European Union: the withdrawal function

Directive (EU) 2023/2673 added Article 11a to the Consumer Rights Directive, which Member States must apply from 19 June 2026. For contracts concluded through a website or app, the consumer must be able to withdraw with a function labelled "withdraw from contract here", available throughout the withdrawal period. After they confirm, you must send "an acknowledgement of receipt of the withdrawal on a durable medium, including its content and the date and time of its submission, without undue delay". Template 4 does that.

Article 11a covers withdrawal during the withdrawal period, not ending a subscription later on. For that, check the national law of the countries you sell to.

When AI drafts the cancellation reply

A cancellation email is mostly dates and amounts, and those are what an AI drafting tool is most likely to invent.

Corresso drafts every reply from documents your store approved, such as your subscription and refund policy, and each fact cites the document it came from. Rules written in code hold a draft that promises a refund without citing a document allowed to offer one, or that contains an order number or date the AI wrote itself. With Shopify connected, the customer's orders appear beside the email. The cancellation and any refund stay in your Shopify admin or subscription app, and a person reads every draft and presses Send. How it works.

This is a summary, not legal advice. Sources read on 20 October 2026.