Create a website exit survey to engage abandoning visitors

You can display a survey like this one site-wide or place it on the selected pages of your website — for instance, landing pages or product pages.

But most importantly, you can fully customize the survey template and tailor it to your needs. For example, you can ask your visitors:

• Why they’ve abandoned their shopping cart
• How they’d evaluate their experience on your website
• Whether they’ve found what they were looking for
• Where they first heard about your business

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to create a website exit survey using Getsitecontrol, a no-code form builder. We’ll also feature pre-designed surveys you can grab and add to your website without any technical skills.

How to add an exit-intent survey to your website using Getsitecontrol

Once you’ve created an account, (if you haven’t done it yet, you can sign up using the form above), you’ll need to connect Getsitecontrol to your website. It’s a quick and straightforward process, especially if you’re on WordPress or Shopify. If you’re using any other website platform, read our instructions here.

You can also just create the survey first and activate your Getsitecontrol account later.

Step 1. Select survey template

The fastest way to get started is to open the gallery of website exit surveys and select one to your taste. For this tutorial, we’ll be using the following template 👇

Click on the template to see it in action and follow the prompts on the right-hand side to add it to your dashboard. From there, you’ll be able to change the copy and design of the survey.

Step 2. Change the copy

To change any element of the survey, simply make a click on that element and proceed with your changes. For instance, you can select any piece of text and the app will take you to the next screen to edit it.

Notice that you’ll be able to add new response options or remove some of the existing ones. You can also add another comment placeholder by using the +Add field button from the menu on the right.

Once you’ve adjusted the question and responses, go to Page 2 and adjust the submission success message as well.

By default, it’s a short ‘thank you’ note confirming the submission of the form, however, you can add a surprise discount code and invite your visitors to come back to your store.

Step 3. Change the visual appearance of the survey (if needed)

To adjust the color theme and font of the survey, open the Theme menu and either select one of the pre-designed styles or pick the colors and font manually.

If you’re happy with the way the survey looks, the last step is to activate the exit-intent trigger and select the pages where the survey should pop up.

Step 4. Activate the exit-intent trigger

Once you’re done setting up the visual side of the survey, open the Targeting tab and find the Start to display the widget field. Remove the default ‘At once’ option and proceed to +Add condition, then select ‘Exit intent’.

By default, this website exit survey will be displayed on every page of your site. However, if you want to display it on selected pages only, type their URLs in the Include field at the top.

💡 Given that some abandoning visitors might come back to your website, you also want to set the rule for when to stop displaying the survey. To do that, find the Stop showing widget field and select ‘Submission’.

The goal is to make sure those who have submitted the form, will not see it again.

When finished, hit Save & close in the top right corner and activate the survey.

How to view website exit survey statistics

To see if your survey has started collecting responses, you need to go to the main screen of your dashboard. At a glance, you’ll be able to tell how many times the survey has been seen, and how many responses it has collected.

To see the actual responses and a more detailed report, hit the Statistics button. You’ll be able to download the report in a spreadsheet or connect the form to any 3-rd party cloud app and send the data to that app directly.

Website exit survey examples

Now that you know how to create an exit-intent survey, let’s take a look at 3 common examples of such surveys and the scenarios they’re designed for.

Cart abandonment survey

Those who have added a product to a shopping cart tend to have a higher purchase intention than those who have just visited one of your project pages. Yet, the shopping cart abandonment rate ranges from 57% to 84% depending on the industry.

Surveying people who abandon shopping carts in your store may unveil an underlying problem that makes you lose money.

Keep in mind that, unlike product page abandonment, shopping cart abandonment may involve such reasons as shipping costs and taxes, technical issues, currency issues, and other obstacles that a customer has found out only after adding an item to the cart.

Instead of guessing, ask them what those issues are 👇

Remember that you only want to display this survey in a shopping cart, so make sure to type your shopping cart URL in the first field of the Targeting tab.

Net promoter score (NPS) survey

Along with those who abandoned your website without converting, you can survey those who actually completed a purchase or downloaded your software. For example, you may ask them if they’d recommend your website to a friend

This survey type is designed to gauge customer satisfaction with your brand and it’s called a Net Promoter Score survey. If you’d like to learn more about it, read this blog post.

To survey the right audience segment, you want to place it on the page a user sees after finalizing their checkout process, form submission, or software installation. It’s usually called a ‘Thank you page’ or a ‘Success page’.

User experience survey

Another good idea is to ask your website visitors about their experience. It’s especially relevant when you’re implementing changes to the website; however, it’s also helpful when you just want to keep your finger on the pulse.

Depending on what you want to learn, you can target different segments of your audience. For example, you can display the survey to those who have visited X number of pages of your website, or those who are visiting your website from a particular device. You’ll find all the necessary settings in the Targeting tab.

Wrapping up

The majority of visitors will leave your website without converting. That’s the reality of running a business online. However, it’s in your power to find out why they leave and how you can optimize your website to reduce the abandonment rate.

With Getsitecontrol, creating a website exit survey is a straightforward process that requires zero technical knowledge. Go ahead and create an account today to see how it works.