25+ Subscription Cancellation Survey Questions to Win Back your Customers (With Template)

Looking for ways to win back canceled customers? Collect Subscription Cancellation Feedback and unlock the secret to increased customer retention.

In 2013, Adobe faced a challenge when it moved to a subscription-only model for its Creative Suite. Customers criticized this decision and started canceling their subscriptions. Adobe responded by offering a promotional price for the first year and improving its software. It also offered access to cloud-based services and continued releasing updates to justify the monthly fee.

These efforts paid off, and Adobe retained and gained new customers. By 2015, Adobe had over 6 million subscribers for its Creative Cloud services, and the company's revenue had increased significantly. 

While many view customers canceling as the end of the road, Adobe’s story proves it can be an opportunity to rekindle their loyalty and win them back. 

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In this blog, we will delve deeper into how to win back your customers by collecting subscription cancellation feedback and effectively using it to improve the product experience and retain your customers. It is time that you do more than just drop a ‘we are sorry to see you go’ message to your customers. So, let’s get started!

Table of Content

• Subscription Cancellation Survey Questions to Ask Customers who are Opting Out
• How to Send Subscription Cancellation Survey? 
• Why is it Important to Collect Subscription Cancellation Feedback?
• Best Practices to Collect Subscription Cancellation Feedback from Customers
  
  • Create an Effective Subscription Cancellation Feedback Form

• • Tag the Response to Offer Relevant Solution
  • Segment Subscription Cancellation Feedback Data
  • Set Up Workflow Automation for Follow-Up Email
• Conclusion

Subscription Cancellation Survey Questions to Ask Customers who are Opting Out 

Michael Redbord, General Manager of Service Hub at HubSpot, in his interaction with Andrew Michael, host of Churn.fm suggested the importance of listening to both current and former customers. He emphasized that the voice of the customer grows as your company grows, and your company becomes a “chorus of voices through your customers' good experiences, bad experiences, present customers, canceled customers, folks that thought about becoming your customer, but dropped out in the sales process.” Therefore, focusing on leveraging these voices would echo louder than any paid marketing.

Your growth strategy will not help you scale up from a startup if you do not make your customers marketers. One of the ways to leave a lasting impression in the minds of your customers is by asking the right questions in the subscription cancellation feedback form.

You can leverage this Subscription Cancellation Survey Template to know the kind of questions that you can ask your customers and reduce the churn rate. 

1. Subscription Cancellation Survey Questions to Understand Reasons for Cancellation

Knowing the reasons why your customers are churning out can give you an insight into which aspect of your business is not doing very well. At one point, Dropbox faced customer churn due to data security and privacy issues. By conducting subscription cancellation feedback, the company better understood the concerns of its customers and implemented changes like two-factor authentication and new data encryption protocols.

While there can be plenty of reasons ranging from high pricing or some feature missing out, here are subscription cancellation survey questions that you can include to gauge customers’ reasons to opt out:

• What was the reason for canceling your subscription?
• Did you find the subscription service to be too expensive?
• Were you dissatisfied with the quality of the product/service?
• If you could change one thing about the subscription service, what would it be?
• Do you no longer need the service/product? If yes, can you please tell us the reason?
• Was the reason for canceling related to the price or value of the product/service?
• Were there any particular issues that you experienced that led you to cancel your subscription?

Here are some common reasons why customers opt to discontinue using your product around which you can frame your subscription cancellation questions: 

• Product/Service Quality Issues: If customers are dissatisfied with a product or service or are looking for some missing feature from your product, they are more likely to churn. In a survey by Accenture, 23% of customers cited product or service quality issues as the reason for switching to a competitor.
• High Pricing: It might come as a surprise, but studies from McKinsey & Company show that 52% of customers switch to a competitor mainly because of price. If your pricing does not match the customer's budget, it can lead to significant customer churn. To address this issue, consider various strategies such as offering discounts (as Netflix does), implementing a loyalty program, or providing flexible payment options.
• Lack of Personalization: When businesses fail to personalize their communication, marketing efforts, or product offerings, customers may feel that their needs and preferences are not being considered leading to dissatisfaction, lack of engagement, and, ultimately, churn. Utilize data analysis and algorithms to provide product/service recommendations, offer personalized perks based on customer loyalty, and give customization options for products and services.
• Service Not Needed: It might also happen that the company no longer requires the service when the project is over. In such cases, try to communicate what additional features you plan to launch that could keep them interested. Alternatively, offer pay-per-use or usage-based billing if they need the service later. 

2. Subscription Cancellation Survey Questions to Gauge Product Related Concerns

There might be cases where your customers might be considering canceling their subscription as they are not happy with your product. It might be because your product is missing certain features or isn't performing as per their expectations. You can leverage this opportunity to gather product feature requests through the subscription cancellation feedback. Here are some questions that will help you analyze product-related concerns that your customers might have:

• Did you use all the features offered in the product?
• Were there any features that you found confusing or difficult to use?
• Were there any features that you would like to see added to the product in the future?
• Were the product features relevant to your needs?
• Were there any subscription features that you particularly liked or disliked?
• Were there any product features that you expected but were not available?

3. Subscription Cancellation Survey Questions to Understand Alternatives Considered

Many times it can happen that customers ag to cancel their subscription as they are considering your competitors who are meeting their needs better than you are. By knowing about their alternative choice, you can identify market trends and shifts in customer preferences and create a retention strategy to retain customers. Here are some questions that you can consider to understand the competition and make targeted improvements:

• Did you consider any alternatives before canceling? If yes, which alternatives did you consider?
• What factors influenced your decision to choose an alternative over our product or service?
• How does the alternative service compare to our service in terms of price?
• How does the alternative service compare to our service in terms of features and functionality?

4. Subscription Cancellation Survey Questions to Gather Insights on Customer Service 

Customer service can have a significant impact on how customers perceive and interact with your product. Whether it is about resolving customer issues efficiently or supporting them through the subscription renewal process, your customer service has to show that they value customers' faith in your product. Customers will be more likely to continue using the product and even recommend it to others if their grievances are addressed and resolved by the customer service team.

Here are some subscription cancellation questions to gather insights on your customer service satisfaction:

• How satisfied were you with the customer service you received?
• Were your questions or concerns resolved to your satisfaction?
• Was the customer service representative knowledgeable and helpful?
• Did the customer service representative seem genuinely concerned about your issue?

5. Subscription Cancellation Survey Questions Regarding Onboarding Experience

About 82% of organizations rate their onboarding strategy as a key value driver for their business. If your onboarding is not user-friendly, does not contain videos or guided product tours, and is not personalized as per user requirements, you will likely lose your customers. Here are some questions that can help to gauge customer onboarding experience satisfaction that you can include in your subscription cancellation feedback form

• Did you have any issues with the sign-up process?
• Did you find our onboarding materials (e.g. tutorials, guides) helpful?
• Was our onboarding process easy to follow?
• Were there any features or functionalities that were unclear or confusing during onboarding?
• How could we have improved your onboarding experience?

How to Send Subscription Cancellation Survey? 

Subscription cancellation surveys should be distributed in such a manner that customers who are planning on quitting your service should be able to access it easily and give their feedback. The sooner you learn about their reason for canceling, the quicker you can take action to retain them. 

You can combine any of the methods listed below to contact your customers and first determine the reason for their cancellation, and then follow up with them to inform them about how you have addressed their concerns.

Here are some ways that you can choose to send subscription cancellation feedback:

1. Embed Survey In-App or on the Website 

Once your subscription cancellation feedback is ready, you must embed it in-app or on the website, as these are the two most popular ways to get customer feedback.

While sharing the subscription cancellation surveys through email might end up in spam, in-app or website subscription cancellation survey gets triggered immediately when the customer tries to cancel their subscription, increasing the chances of survey response.

Some pros of embedding subscription cancellation survey include:

• It makes the process of taking subscription cancellation easy for the customers
• Increased response rate as it is easily accessible within your app or website 
• Allows customization to match your app or website's branding 
• Allows quick identification of issues through real-time feedback

You can distribute your subscription cancellation feedback via web widgets or embed the survey anywhere on the cancelation page of your website with Zonka Feedback. Adding in-moment subscription cancellation feedback will get you real-time feedback that can be addressed promptly.

2. Share via Email 

Even though emails have lower open rates yet the feedback that you receive from customers will be extremely useful, as the ones who take the email subscription cancellation survey will be your most loyal customers. 

Here are some benefits of sharing subscription cancellation feedback survey via email:

• By sending your survey via email, you can reach a large number of customers who have canceled their subscription
• Emails can be automatically triggered, which can make it much easier for you to collect subscription cancellation feedback, thereby saving time
• Email surveys allow customers to take the survey at their own pace, which in turn brings authentic feedback
• You can get a higher response rate by sharing the survey through email, as it can be personalized
  

3. Distribute through SMS

SMS has an open rate of up to 98%, which is significantly higher than email. This means that your survey is more likely to be seen and completed by customers who have canceled their subscriptions. 

Here is why you should consider sharing your subscription cancellation feedback survey through SMS

• It can generate immediate responses that can be collected in real-time, allowing you to quickly identify any issues and take corrective action
• It is mobile-friendly, which means that it can be easily accessed and completed by customers from their mobile devices, even when they are on the go
• It can also be automated eliminating the need for manual tracking of the subscription cancellation survey generation process

Why is it Important to Collect Subscription Cancellation Feedback?

Customers canceling subscriptions is a clear indication that they are either not happy with your product, don’t need it anymore, or have found a better alternative. Companies often try to know the reason why customers decide to cancel their subscriptions through subscription cancellation feedback so that they can work on those reasons.

Your customers are your business's most valuable asset, and it's important to show them that your responsibility continues beyond convincing them to use your product. By engaging with your customers and actively seeking their feedback, you can build a closer relationship with them and increase the likelihood of their loyalty. The more you listen to and act on their feedback, the less likely they will churn out and switch to a competitor.

And even then, if they churn out, here is why you should collect subscription cancellation feedback:

• To understand customer needs and preferences that can drive product-led growth 
• To identify areas of improvement like addressing bugs, improving customer support, and adding new features
• To reduce churn and retain customers by attempting to eliminate the reason for cancelation
• To enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty by conveying that the customers’ opinion matters

Best Practices to Collect Subscription Cancellation Feedback to Retain Customers 

Let us look at the best practices to collect subscription cancellation feedback so that you can retain your existing customers by working on their concerns. 

1. Create an Effective Subscription Cancellation Feedback Form 

Creating a subscription cancellation feedback survey is essential in understanding why customers are leaving, but it's crucial to simplify the process. One of HubSpot’s Customer Code Tenets is not blocking the way of the customers if they want to leave. The customer's leaving process should be as seamless as their sign-up process to reinforce the message that their experience matters to you from start to finish. It may seem counterintuitive, but if you create obstacles in the cancellation process, you risk losing the trust of your customers. No matter what incentives you offer, they may never return.

Here are some tips on how to create a subscription cancellation feedback form that will help you win your customer's trust:

• Blend multiple choice with open-ended questions: Creating a cancellation feedback form that has multiple choice questions with predefined categories and an option to add qualitative feedback opens up the possibility of having a dialogue with the customer. With Zonka Feedback, you can use survey logic to skip to open-ended qualitative questions allowing your customers to explain their concerns not listed in multiple choices.
• Allow more than one selection: Your customers might find your product pricey and lacking features. If they are given multiple options to select, it would be easier for you to understand their concern.
• Provide a rating scale: Consider including a rating scale or numerical rating system that allows customers to rate their experience with your product or service.
• Thank the customer: Make sure to thank the customer for their feedback and let them know that their input is valuable in helping you improve your product or service.

2. Tag the Response to Offer a Relevant Solution

Categorize the Subscription Cancellation Feedback

Leveraging auto-tagging can help categorize or label customer feedback based on predefined rules and analyze churned customer data effectively. You can identify common themes and analyze trends for the cancelation feedback.

For instance, say, many of your customers are churning out after using the product for one month. You decided to embed a subscription cancellation feedback survey in your app, and the responses fall into various categories like missing features, pricing, technical issues, etc. By using auto-tagging based on these keywords and phrases, you can make the process of analyzing churned customer feedback more streamlined and analyze the data easily.

Offer Personalized Solutions to Customers

Based on the reason for cancellation, you can offer some solutions to win your customers back. If the reason for churn is high pricing, offer your customers flexible pricing options. If it is due to missing features, add the required feature to your software based on your product roadmap. 

3. Segment Subscription Cancellation Feedback Data

When your users have given the subscription cancellation feedback, you can set up segmentation to categorize their responses or even reach out to the ones who didn’t see the cancellation form. For example, if some of your customers' subscription plans expire without them being aware, segmenting users can be helpful.

For example, by setting up an attribute of users on canceled plans and leveraging dynamic segmentation in Zonka Feedback, you can get the data of customers who didn’t take the subscription cancellation feedback. You can then follow up through an email reminding them that their subscription is canceled and asking if they want to renew it, and if not, then what is their reason for discontinuing. 

4. Set Up Workflow Automation for Follow-Up Email

Automate Workflow Process

Once you receive customer subscription cancellation feedback, you can utilize workflow automation to reach out to the respondents who meet the set conditions. For instance, if you want an automated response sent to customers who have reported missing features, you can simply set workflow automation for those customers by selecting the survey, creating a tag, and setting up the filter in Zonka Feedback.

Similarly, you can create separate workflow automation for your feature development team so that they are notified of what your customers are looking for in the product. 

Send Targeted Follow-Up Email

Based on the subscription cancellation feedback, you can trigger separate emails for every category of customer responses, which will increase your chances of winning back your customers.

For instance, an automated response offering a discount could be sent if a customer reports pricing issues. If a customer indicates they are switching to another product, an email could be sent seeking information on the product they are switching to. If a customer suggests they are shutting down their company, an email expressing that your services will be available in the future should they need them could be sent. These emails not only keep the conversation going but also provide an opportunity to assist your customers on a deeper level. 

Conclusion

Retaining customers is crucial for the success of any business, and taking the time to reach out and offer a helping hand can go a long way in building a long-lasting relationship with them. While acquiring customers is just the beginning, keeping them is the real challenge.

By collecting subscription cancellation feedback, you can identify areas for improvement and address customer concerns to reduce churn rates and win back customers. The golden ratio in SaaS is gaining 50% feedback from new customers and the remaining 50% from existing ones. 

While taking customer feedback is essential to thriving in the competitive SaaS market, what is even more important is getting a quantitative sense of data about cancelation and reaching the customers directly without delay to gauge deeper into the reasons. You can use various strategies, such as offering the flexibility to switch to a cheaper plan or an option to pause an account instead of canceling and distributing the survey form via a channel easily accessible by the customers to actively seek feedback and build stronger relationships with your customers. 

Sign up for a 14-day free trial with Zonka Feedback to gain access to powerful features that can help you strengthen your rapport with customers who are at risk of churning and boost your customer retention rates.