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We don't know why people leave

By
Mukund Kabra

If you do not ask people why they are leaving at the moment they leave, the reason is lost. Add a short exit question to cancellations and unsubscribes, follow up with a few calls, and review the answers monthly.

Category:
Lifecycle
Reading time:
2
min read
Published on:
October 24, 2026
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Lifecycle
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We don't know why people leave

We don't know why people leave

Problem

Customers cancel, and nobody records why.

The cancellation flow is a single button, and nobody follows up afterwards. When the team discusses churn, it guesses: price, competition, product gaps.

Each guess leads to a different fix, and none of them is checked.

Insight

The best moment to ask is the moment someone leaves.

A short question at cancellation, one or two answers to choose from and a free text box, captures far more honest reasons than a survey weeks later. A handful of follow-up calls adds the detail.

Patterns appear within a few weeks.

How we approach it

We capture the reason every time someone leaves.

  1. We add a short exit question to cancellations, unsubscribes and lapsed accounts.
  2. We call a sample of leavers each month for the full story.
  3. We sort the reasons and size how much revenue each one costs.

The team fixes the reasons that matter most, instead of the ones it assumes.

Tags:  
Brand Visibility Strategy; Digital Branding; Search Visibility; Brand SEO; Growth Marketing; Online Reputation
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