Churn surveys fail when they are too long, too vague, or disconnected from action. You need short prompts and a scoring model that links each reason to impact and effort.
Keep the exit survey to five prompts
- Main reason for canceling (single choice).
- Secondary reason (optional).
- Moment when value dropped.
- Alternative they moved to.
- What would have changed their decision.
This keeps response rate higher while preserving context.
Use a stable reason taxonomy
Map responses to a fixed set:
- Missing capability.
- Poor usability.
- Reliability or performance.
- Price or value mismatch.
- Team or process change.
Without taxonomy discipline, monthly trend comparisons become noisy.
Prioritize with a simple score
For each churn reason:
Priority score = affected MRR x frequency x confidence / estimated effort
It is not perfect math, but it forces trade-offs and prevents loud anecdotes from driving roadmap decisions.
Close the loop with win-back tests
When a top churn reason is addressed, run a small win-back campaign and track:
- Re-activation rate.
- Time to re-activation.
- 30-day retention after return.
If win-back does not improve, reassess the root cause. You likely fixed a symptom, not the driver.
