Seven places a DTC stack decides for the customer. Each has a common default, an honest one, and a number that tells you which you have.
Walk your store on a phone as a new customer and write down every choice that arrives already made. Then find its row.
| Choice | Common default | Honest default | The number that tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscribe or one-time | Subscription ticked, terms below the fold | Either, with terms beside the button | First-renewal refunds and disputes |
| Reorder cadence | The shortest interval | The interval customers actually use | “Too much product” cancels per 100 subscribers |
| Paid add-ons | Ticked | Unticked, one plain line on what it covers | Refunds and tickets naming the add-on |
| Email sign-up | Ticked at checkout | Unticked, with a reason to tick it | Complaints and unsubscribes in the first 30 days, by source |
| SMS sign-up | Folded into another box | Its own unticked box and disclosure | Opt-outs per send, by source |
| Skip, pause or cancel | Cancel hidden, skip missing | Skip and pause one tap away; cancel as easy as signup | Disputes per 1,000 renewals |
| Urgency claims | Timers that reset, stock that never runs out | Real dates and real stock | Days until the “ended” offer returned |
The rows interact. A pre-checked subscription raises the subscription share this month and the dispute rate in two months, and the disputes land with your payment processor, not in your retention report. A timer that resets lifts this week’s email and weakens the next. The cost of a bad default shows up somewhere other than where it lives. That’s why it survives.
A bad default rarely shows up where it lives. It shows up in support, in disputes and in next quarter’s list.
This is one chapter of The Free Choice, which is free and readable in full on a single page with no form in front of it.