Retention Settings
Configure payment recovery, cancel save offers, and term optimization.
Arcalotl's retention features work automatically out of the box. This page covers the available customization options.
The default retention settings are designed to protect revenue without training members to wait for discounts. They favor short, targeted offers, measured reminder timing, and cooldowns that prevent over-messaging. Treat the defaults as the recommended launch setup unless your server has a highly specific retention model.
Payment recovery settings
Payment recovery, also called dunning, is enabled by default when setup is complete. The default timing is optimized for community subscriptions: calm reminders, a clear update link, and a grace period before role access is removed.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Max attempts | 4 | Total recovery reminders before exhaustion |
| Retry interval | 48 hours | Time between recovery reminders |
| Grace period | 7 days | Role access stays active during this window |
| Channel fallback | Enabled | Create a private payment-help channel if DMs are closed |
If payment is still unresolved after the grace period, Arcalotl removes the subscription role. The connected account's payment retry schedule continues in the background while Arcalotl keeps the member informed and controls Discord access.
Cancel save offers
Customize the offers presented when members try to cancel:
| Reason | Default offer | Configurable |
|---|---|---|
| Too expensive | 25 percent discount for 3 months | Discount percent and duration |
| Not using it | 30-day pause | Pause duration |
| Missing features | Downgrade suggestion | Target plan |
| Switching or other | No automatic offer | Offer routing |
Additional defaults:
- Discount and downgrade offers require 14 days of tenure.
- Pause offers are not blocked by the tenure threshold.
- A subscription that accepts a save offer is not eligible for another save offer for 180 days by default.
Discount offers are built for revenue recovery, not blanket price reduction. Keeping a member at a temporarily lower fee is often stronger than losing the subscription entirely, especially when the offer is tied to a clear reason and expires after a short window.
Term optimization
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger after | 90 days | Active subscription tenure before offering annual |
| Offer frequency | 180 days | Cooldown before the same member can receive it again |
| Post-dunning cooldown | 30 days | Wait after a resolved dunning sequence before offering annual |
| Annual price | Annual plan | Uses the actual annual price configured on the tier |
Term optimization only runs when the member is active on a monthly billing option and the same tier has an annual billing option.
For backend field names and defaults, see Settings Reference.