Discover · Retention

The exit interview, done right

When someone cancels, the answers are never more honest. Ask the main reason, branch to a pricing or win-back follow-up, and spare the people who've simply moved on.

Discover BusinessesProduct teamsCommunities Skip logicBranching follow-upsAnswer piping
What it showcases

Features most survey bots don't have

🎯

Count the causes, keep the story

A structured primary reason lets you tally and trend why people churn. An open follow-up captures the story behind it. You get both.

🔀

The right follow-up for each churner

Price-sensitive leavers get a pricing question. The salvageable get a win-back question. The 'don't need it anymore' crowd aren't nagged with a win-back they'll never answer.

💬

It reflects their words back

The survey echoes each churner's own stated reason, so it feels like a conversation instead of a form — even on the way out.

🚪

No guilt, door open

A graceful, no-hard-feelings close leaves the door open, so a good exit experience keeps a future return on the table.

Worked example This template comes with a a SaaS cancel flow, a lapsed membership, or a server exit survey example so you can see exactly how it plays. Edit the questions and content to make it your own.

People are never more honest than at the exit — and most products waste it with a single “sorry to see you go” box. This cancellation survey captures the main reason in one tap, digs into the why, and asks the win-back question of the people who might actually return, while sparing the ones who’ve simply moved on.

Because it’s structured, you can count churn causes and trend them over time — not just read a pile of venting. And because it branches, each churner answers only the follow-up that fits: pricing detail from the price-sensitive, win-back ideas from the salvageable. You leave with both the tally and the story.

Two follow-ups, one reason

The magic is in the routing. The price-sensitive get a pricing question that no one else sees; everyone still winnable gets the win-back question; the “don’t need it anymore” crowd get neither. It’s the same skip logic that powers the best onboarding flows, pointed at your hardest retention question.

Variants

  • A follow-up per reason: add a targeted question for features, usability, and competitors.
  • Win-back offer: show a retention offer (discount, pause instead of cancel) to the salvageable segment.
  • Route to a save team: hand a high-value churner to a human on the pricing or feature branch.
  • Community exit survey: reframe the reasons for a “why are you leaving the server?” version.
How to run it

Live in a few minutes

  1. 1

    Swap in your product

    Replace the [Product] placeholder and tune the list of primary reasons to your product.

  2. 2

    Keep the two branches

    One follow-up targets price-sensitive leavers; the other asks for win-back ideas from everyone still salvageable. Leave them or extend to a follow-up per reason.

  3. 3

    Fire it at cancellation

    Trigger it in your cancel flow, a lapsed-member outreach, or as a 'why are you leaving the server?' exit survey.

  4. 4

    Fix the top causes

    Rank the reasons, read the win-back ideas, and close the loop. The cheapest growth is the churn you prevent.

FAQ

Common questions

What should a cancellation survey ask?

The single main reason for leaving (so you can count causes), a short 'what happened?' in their words, and — for salvageable churners — what would bring them back. This template asks exactly that and branches accordingly.

Why not just one open text box?

An open box gets unstructured venting you can't quantify. A structured primary reason lets you tally and trend churn causes, while the branches still capture the story.

Who gets the win-back question?

Everyone except the people who said they simply don't need it anymore — there's no point asking them what would bring them back. That's the skip logic at work.

Does it work as a community exit survey?

Yes. Reframe the reasons (too noisy, not relevant, found another community) and it becomes a 'why are you leaving the server?' survey.

Use this template

Clone it into your community, swap in your content, and share it. No building from scratch.