

Ask HN: How do you handle users that cancel their accounts? - PStamatiou

As the title states, how do you deal with users that wish to cancel their account? For us it's a manual process so they email us, we immediately delete their account and say that we're sorry to see them leave and ask them why they're leaving (if they want to reply).<p>I'm interested in changing this process a bit and linking users to an exit survey (perhaps with the benefit of a 3 month free premium account in the event they wish to return at any moment?). What's best practice? What types of questions should I be asking in the survey, if that's the route to take?<p>I've searched around (and the Ask YC Archives) before posting this and didn't find anything relevant.<p>Thanks
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danudey
First, don't make it such a hassle. That just makes people think even less of
you. If they have to go out of their way to cancel, their last memory of your
service is going to be that it was a pain in the ass. Same goes for long
surveys (a short set of two or three questions is ok).

Second, be wary of bribing them to stay. That can be great, or look desperate.
Try to phrase it more like 'Would you be interested in trying a free month of
premium service to see if that better suits your needs?'

Third, make it clear whether you're deleting or disabling their account. If
you're deleting them and everything they've ever uploaded, specify that, and
perhaps give them an opportunity to get their data off your server (export the
account?).

If you just mark an account as 'disabled' in the database (because you need to
refer to them for uploaded pictures, or whatever), ensure that you state this
explicitly. If you need still to refer to their account, you should wipe all
details you can from their account – birthday, phone number, favourite cheese,
and so on – and specify this explicitly too. Ideally, you should wipe all the
data and rename it to 'Anonymous 7120' or something.

A lot of information that you might ask in the survey you might want to be
able to get from internal analytics anyway – such as how often they used the
site, what features they used, and so on. You might ask them why they're
leaving the site (rather than just ignoring it). Were they getting too many
e-mails about your service or whatever? Was there some legal liability?
Privacy issues? Trust?

Whatever the issue, ask if they're content to just fix it. If it's too many
e-mails, offer a button that disables all e-mail notifications. If it's
privacy issues, offer to erase their personally identifying information, etc.

Without knowing what your site is, it's hard to know what exactly to ask, but
if you just put a little box saying 'We'd appreciate a few short words on why
you're leaving us before you go', hopefully the answers will give you a better
idea of what kind of probing questions to answer. Also put a checkbox asking
if they wouldn't mind a follow-up conversation about the site by phone or
e-mail, and if not, have someone talk to them to get a better idea of how they
felt about the service.

Hope some of this helps.

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aschobel
We tell them we are sorry to see them leave, and delete their accounts.

We ask them if they have any last minute feedback, you'd be surprised how many
people respond to this and are thankful that you asked.

Exit survey seems a bit over the top and impersonal.

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there
for corduroy (<http://corduroysite.com/>) when an administrator clicks on the
cancel link, they are asked why (but can leave it blank) and after submitting
the page, their site is marked inactive.

they are emailed a goodbye message and told that their site remains disabled
but otherwise intact for 14 days. if an administrator logs in within 14 days,
they are asked whether they want to reactivate the site, and if so, it's just
enabled again. if the site is still inactive after 14 days, their database
gets deleted from the server and from all backups.

the exit survey is helpful to find out if you can do something to help the
user, which is also why deactivating the account but not immediately deleting
it is helpful. give yourself some time to try to reach out to the user and
help them while their data is still intact. however, a long survey may just
further frustrate the user. and of course, always delete the user's account
after a certain amount of time (i'm looking at you facebook) if not
immediately.

offering incentives to canceling users always seemed shady to me. i remember
calling comcast and trying to cancel and having all kinds of offers thrown at
me. why do i have to threaten to cancel to get a lower rate?

~~~
frossie
Something I find effective is offering loyalty perks. For example gamefly
gives you a voucher for every N months you stay with them and some perks that
kick in after a certain amount of time (eg. free shipping for merchandise
after 3 years). Then when you go to cancel, they remind you that these
benefits will be lost if you change your mind and want to rejoin, and offer
you a discount if you prepay for the next 3 months up front. I find that quite
effective.

As for the original question, I think an exit survey is fine but make sure
there is a free-format field as well - not all complaints can fit in a
multiple choice format, and I at least have taken the time to leave detailed
feedback when presented with the opportunity to do so.

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thorax
I apologize and thank them for trying it out.

I tell them how to delete their account (or delete it for them if it's not
easy).

I tell them we just got started and ask: " _Question_ : How can we improve the
site such that you'd recommend it to your friends?"

I thank them again for "giving us a shot".

I sign the email as a cofounder of the site.

So far the majority of deleters answer the questions and are very, very nice
about it. The change in tone from "delete me" to their pleasant tone in the
final response is great.

I keep meaning to toy more with ~"We know you might not like the service, but
here's a few free months (coupon code) you can give to your friends as our
thanks for giving us a shot and providing great feedback."

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anamax
> perhaps with the benefit of a 3 month free premium account in the event they
> wish to return at any moment

How often can someone get this discount?

You'll get the behavior that you reward. If it's cheaper for people to
threaten to quit, they will. Is that your goal?

I have a somewhat different approach. If I see you giving better deals to
folks who threaten to quit, I take my biz elsewhere. I pay to solve my
problems, not to screw around with transaction costs. (When I see someone else
get a discount with a readily available coupon. I ask for the same discount.
If I don't get it, I abandon my basket at checkout.)

You've gone through your service eliminating rough edges and unnecessary user
actions. However, your biz is part of your product....

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zackola
Make it as quick and painless as possible. They should be able to cancel via
their account page/settings or contacting you. You should respond well within
24 hours with a generic, very positive note.

We're sorry to lose you as a member! Your account has been canceled (effective
immediately|will remain active until the end of your billing cycle). If you'd
like to renew at any time, blah blah blah. If you have any feedback for us
about our service(s), we'd love to hear from you.

You will be surprised at how many responses you get back from an email like
that from people who like your service, but maybe just don't have the need for
it right now, and from others who will tell you exactly why your service
doesn't meet their needs or expectations. Exit surveys are an incredible
annoyance.

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wlievens
I only deactivate accounts, never delete them. My users typically come back
after a year or so (it's a webgame, so it has its own kind of audience).

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smithjchris
We keep their data and sign them into 4-8 year contracts. Very unethical and
it will kill the company one day. Not that anyone gets listened to here unless
they're a Harvard MBA.

