Survey · Marketing
Customer retention survey template
Built for customers who are still with you, which is when their answers are most useful. It measures the value they get and why they stay, then asks one direct question: has anything come close to making you leave? Those who say yes are asked what happened and what you should fix first, and everyone says whether they expect to still be a customer a year from now, so at-risk accounts surface before they cancel.
Try it live
Try it as a respondent
Every question, and where it leads
The conversation
What a respondent is asked, in order.
You've been with us a while, and we'd like to keep earning that. Mind answering a few questions?
How long have you been a customer?
How often do you use us these days?
How much value do you get for what you pay?
What keeps you with us? Pick all that apply.
How are we doing on each of these?
Has anything ever come close to making you leave us?
What happened?
If we could fix one thing first, what should it be?
What's one improvement that would make you even more likely to stay?
A year from now, do you expect to still be a customer?
Ends with
Thank you for sticking with us
The flow
Where each answer leads. Every route here is editable once the form is yours.
Dropdown
Single select
Opinion scale
Multi select
Matrix
Yes / No
Long text
Single select
Long text
Single select
What this template uses
- Dropdown
- Single select
- Opinion scale
- Multi select
- Matrix
- Yes / No
- Long text
- 1 branch
Questions to consider
- Which parts of your service do customers mention most, and should they replace the rows in the rating grid?
- Should the question about staying a year from now match your renewal cycle, such as the next contract or the next season?
- Who contacts a customer who says something nearly made them leave, and how soon?
- Do you want to send this to every customer or only to those past their first renewal?
How to use the responses
Pull out every response where something came close to making the customer leave, or where they are unsure about the next year, and treat it as an at-risk account: read what triggered it and what they want fixed first, and get the owner of that account to reply. Across everyone else, compare the reasons people stay with how often they use you. Customers who stay only because switching is a hassle are less secure than they look.
How to customize and share it
- 1Edit the reasons for staying so they describe what you actually sell, and keep the switching-hassle option since it is an honest warning sign.
- 2Add the customer's account name or plan as a hidden field so each at-risk answer can be traced back.
- 3Send it a month or two before renewals come round, then export the at-risk answers to CSV for your account team.
Frequently asked questions
What questions should a customer retention survey include?
How much value customers get, why they stay, how you perform on the things that matter to them, and whether anything has nearly made them leave. That last one is the question most surveys avoid and the one that tells you the most.
When should I run a customer retention survey?
Once or twice a year, and ideally before a renewal date rather than after it, so there is still time to act on what people say.
What is the difference between retention and satisfaction surveys?
A satisfaction survey asks how happy people are. A retention survey asks whether they will stay and what could change that, which is a more useful question for planning.
How do I find at-risk customers from the results?
Filter for anyone who said something nearly made them leave or who is unsure they will be a customer next year, and look at low value scores alongside falling usage. Those accounts deserve a personal follow-up.