Ask HN: How do you handle users that cancel their accounts? | Hacker News Reader

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

24 pointsPStamatiou9 comments

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).

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?

I've searched around (and the Ask YC Archives) before posting this and didn't find anything relevant.

Thanks

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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.

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.

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?

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.

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."

> 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....

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.

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).

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.

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