# An exit survey for users who cancel

> Ask people who cancel one optional question about why, store the answers, and never make cancelling harder.

Canonical: https://abacklaunch.com/prompts/exit-survey
Last updated: 2026-10-26

Version 1.0.

After launch, some people who signed up for the production site will cancel or delete their account. Their reason is the most useful feedback there is. Add a short, optional exit survey to cancellation and account deletion, store the answers, and make sure it never makes leaving harder.

Site: not given. Find the production URL in the project config, or ask me.

## Ground rules

1. Read before you write. Explore the parts of the codebase this job touches and tell me what is already in place.
2. Plan, then stop. Give me a numbered plan: what you will change, in which files, and why. Wait for my approval before editing anything.
3. Fix things at their source (the shared layout, the config, the generator), not with one-off patches page by page.
4. Keep the project's conventions: its framework APIs, file layout, naming and code style. Add no new dependency without asking.
5. Where something is already done well, say so and leave it alone.

## You will not

- Edit `.env` files, secrets or API keys, or print their values.
- Deploy, push, merge or publish anything.
- Delete data, or run migrations or scripts against a production database.
- Add tracking, third-party scripts or links to any site I did not ask for.
- Change copy, design or behaviour that this job does not need.
- Add steps, delays or offers that make cancelling harder.
- Send any message to users automatically.

## Your stack

- Framework: Work out the framework, router and build output from the project files (package.json, lockfiles, framework config) before planning, and say which you found.
- Host: Work out where the site is hosted from the config files (vercel.json, netlify.toml, wrangler config, Dockerfile, fly.toml) and say which you found.

## Steps

### 1. Find the exits

List every way a user leaves: cancelling a subscription (in the app or the billing provider's portal), downgrading, and deleting the account. Note which ones the app controls.

### 2. One question

Add a single optional question at the exits the app controls: "What is the main reason you are leaving?" with five or six reasons (too expensive, missing a feature, too hard to use, switched to another tool, no longer needed, other) and an optional text box. A visible skip button; cancelling works with no answer.

### 3. Store and summarise

Store the reason, note, plan and how long they were a customer, without extra personal data. Give me a query or a small admin view that counts reasons by month.

### 4. Follow up with care

If a reason points to a fix (a missing feature that exists, a bug), propose an optional, honest follow-up message I can send, never automatic, never a guilt trip.

## Done means

- [ ] Every exit the app controls has one optional question with a visible skip.
- [ ] Cancelling and deleting work with no answer.
- [ ] Answers are stored with plan and tenure, and I can count reasons by month.

## Report back

When you finish, give me:

- what you changed, file by file;
- anything you skipped, and why;
- anything I must do by hand (DNS records, dashboards, accounts, deploys);
- how to check each change on the live site.

## Related

- [Triage launch feedback into issues](https://abacklaunch.com/prompts/feedback-triage)
- [Data export and account deletion that really work](https://abacklaunch.com/prompts/data-export-deletion)
- [First-run onboarding that gets users to the first win](https://abacklaunch.com/prompts/first-run-onboarding)