If you’re searching for exit survey examples and want the best questions for exit intent surveys, you’re in the right place. Exit intent surveys capture valuable feedback right at the moment visitors are about to leave, helping you truly understand why they didn’t stay or convert.
The right survey questions can reveal hidden friction points and surface opportunities that regular analytics might miss. In this article, I’ll share the most effective questions—and how to take your surveys further with AI surveys for deeper, more actionable insight.
Essential questions for exit intent surveys
Great exit surveys walk a fine line—they need to be concise enough not to annoy, yet insightful enough to spark real change. That’s why I focus on just a handful of strategic questions that cut to the heart of user hesitation. Response rates for exit intent surveys can range from 5% to nearly 60% depending on the approach [1]. Here’s what I recommend:
What stopped you from completing your purchase/signup today?
This question gets straight to the immediate blockers—whether it’s checkout friction, confusing steps, or missing trust signals. For e-commerce, you might diagnose cart issues. In SaaS, you might uncover onboarding confusion.
Did you find what you were looking for?
An invaluable opener for content-heavy sites and apps, this surfaces navigation gaps, content mismatches, or search feature shortcomings. You learn whether visitors’ needs went unmet due to structure or substance.
What would make you more likely to return?
This question is all about surfacing unmet needs and ideas for improvement. It empowers the user to tell you exactly what would win them back, from better pricing to new features or improved customer support.
How easy was it to navigate our site?
A simple but revealing question—poor navigation is a classic cause of abandonment. If ratings are low, it’s a signal for deeper UX issues to investigate.
Is there a specific reason you’re leaving?
This open-ended option gives space for unexpected answers you and your team may never have considered—like technical bugs, irrelevant offers, or even outside distractions.
Were there any technical issues or errors?
Sometimes the problem is completely invisible until someone tells you. Technical issues can devastate conversion, and direct reports here let you troubleshoot what analytics can’t show.
Mix and match questions to fit context. For e-commerce, start with purchase blockers and ask about shipping or payment. For SaaS, probe on features and pricing, or trial hurdles.
Traditional Exit Surveys | Conversational Exit Surveys |
|---|---|
Static list of pre-set questions | Adaptive, friendly chat experience |
No follow-up to clarify answers | AI asks intelligent follow-up questions |
Often low engagement | Higher response rates and richer data [2] |
With modern conversational surveys, it’s possible to ask smart follow-ups in real time—so you don’t just capture surface-level complaints, but understand their root causes. That’s where AI-driven conversation shines.
How AI follow-ups uncover the real reasons visitors leave
Initial answers in exit surveys barely scratch the surface. If someone says “too expensive” or “couldn’t find what I wanted,” you need to know more. Here’s where AI-powered surveys stand out: they react to each user’s answer and dig deeper with tailored follow-ups.
Let’s look at how this works in practice.
Example 1: Too expensive
If a visitor says, “It’s just too expensive,” an AI survey can instantly probe for details the way a skilled interviewer would:
What price range did you have in mind? Are there similar products or services you’re comparing us to?
This not only pinpoints lost revenue opportunities, but helps you benchmark against competitors for future pricing decisions.
Example 2: Couldn’t find information
Suppose someone says, “I couldn’t find details about shipping timelines,” the AI follows up:
What specific information was missing for you? Where did you expect to find it on the site?
This kind of probing can expose exactly where your UX or content needs work.
Follow-ups like this turn a static feedback form into a genuine conversation—a conversational survey. AI tools have been shown to drive higher-quality participation and more actionable responses compared to generic forms [2]. For a closer look at these capabilities, see automatic AI follow-up questions with real-world examples and best practices.
Setting up exit intent surveys with event targeting
The magic of exit intent detection is in its timing—catch visitors just as they’re departing. This is possible by monitoring signals like mouse movement, dwell time, or scroll patterns. I’ve found that the most precise approach involves using targeted events to trigger surveys only when a user appears likely to abandon.
Specific’s event targeting lets you dial in on these key signals:
Mouse-out detection
Trigger your survey precisely as the cursor moves toward the browser’s close or back button. This subtle but powerful targeting ensures you ask at the decisive moment before they leave.
Time-based triggers
Launch an exit intent survey after a specific period of idle time or if the user stays on a page longer than average. Great for content-heavy pages where people exit after reading, not buying.
Scroll abandonment
If users stop scrolling halfway through a page or product description, trigger a survey to learn what’s missing or what caused the disengagement.
Practical tip: On simple sites, a mouse-out trigger is often enough. For SaaS products or web apps, combining scroll, inactivity, and behavioral triggers gives the richest data. No matter your site type, the process is streamlined—especially if you use In-Product Conversational Surveys, which handle all this technical complexity for you.
Real-world exit survey examples that drive improvements
If you’re not running exit intent surveys, you’re missing out on a goldmine of feedback that can transform conversion and retention rates. Here’s how real businesses solve problems using tailored exit survey flows:
E-commerce site: Cart abandonment
Initial question: “What stopped you from completing your purchase today?”
AI follow-up:
Was there a specific step that was confusing or frustrating (like payments, shipping options, or promo codes)?
Results: After analyzing hundreds of responses with AI-powered response analysis, patterns often reveal simple fixes—like adding payment options, clarifying shipping, or fixing a promo code bug—that drive immediate revenue improvements.
SaaS product: Trial abandonment
Initial question: “Is there a specific reason you’re ending your trial?”
AI follow-up:
Was there a feature you hoped to find but didn’t, or did something prevent you from getting started?
Outcome: These insights shape your onboarding flow, clarify your product value, or identify missing documentation—helping reduce churn before it’s too late.
Content site: Information gaps
Initial question: “Did you find the information you came for?”
AI follow-up:
What were you trying to learn or accomplish? Is there a topic or resource you think we should add?
Transformation: The team uncovers missing resources visitors want, leading to new content or improved search functions, ultimately increasing session time and loyalty.
By examining not just what users say, but probing deeper and analyzing the underlying reasons with AI analysis tools, you see patterns that drive specific, high-impact changes.
Create your exit intent survey with AI
Ready to capture vital exit feedback? You can launch a smart, conversational exit survey in just a few minutes using an AI survey generator.
It’s flexible—customize the tone, follow-up prompts, and question flow to fit your audience. The survey generator I use even understands the context of your website or product, tailoring questions and follow-ups for maximum insight.
Just describe what you want, and the AI produces relevant, targeted questions instantly. Here’s an example prompt:
Create a conversational exit survey for an e-commerce checkout page. Start by asking why the visitor didn’t complete checkout, then use AI follow-ups to dig deeper into issues like pricing, trust, navigation, or technical errors.
Start capturing the real reasons visitors leave and turn lost opportunities into growth. There’s no better time to listen and act than now.