Ahrefs' alternative to the boring Chrome Extension Uninstall Survey

Chrome extension uninstall survey best practices usually involve a generic "We're sorry to see you go" message, but Ahrefs turns their exit page into a last-ditch effort for retention and to guide their product roadmap.

Most developers treat an uninstall as the end of the road. They show a sad face emoji, maybe ask for a survey, and wave goodbye.

Ahrefs treats the uninstall as a new landing page.

They understand that users leave for different reasons. Some are angry. Some are confused. And some just clicked the wrong button.

When you remove their toolbar, you don't get a form. You get this.

Here is how they segment the exit experience to save every possible user.

The instant fix for accidental uninstalls

Human error is a real metric.

Ahrefs places a "Removed by mistake?" box front and center. The black background guides your eyes to it first. That one-click reinstall button matters most. Other buttons blend in with the background.

If you have ever accidentally deleted an extension or cleaned up your browser too aggressively, you know the pain of finding the tool again. You have to Google it, find the Chrome store link, and re-authenticate.

Ahrefs removes that friction.

They offer a one-click "Reinstall Toolbar" button.

This acknowledges that not every churn event is intentional. The one-click button captures users who never meant to leave in the first place.

Turning ex-users into the product roadmap using exit survey

If the user didn't make a mistake, they likely have a grievance.

Most companies hide their feedback forms behind complex surveys. Ahrefs links directly to their public roadmap.

The "Share your feedback" box says it takes less than a minute.

It links to a Canny board where users can vote on features or report bugs. This does 2 things:

1. It makes the user feel heard rather than interrogated.

2. It funnels negative sentiment directly into the product team.

A user who leaves because a feature is missing might stay if they see that exact feature is "In Progress" on the roadmap.

Educating users before they vanish for good

The third bucket of churning users consists of people who simply couldn't figure it out.

The tool wasn't broken. The user just needed guidance.

Ahrefs includes a "Get instructions" section. Instead of linking to the homepage, it directs users to a specific blog post on what you can do with the toolbar.

Ahrefs tracks all these links with a ?utm_source=uninstall_landing tag.

This allows the marketing team to track exactly how many "lost" users were recovered through education versus re-installation.

If you see a high click-through rate on the instructions link from the uninstall page, you know your onboarding flow is failing.

Ahrefs' chrome extension uninstall survey isn't a survey at all. It is a landing page that gives users 3 doors: a way back in, a way to be heard, or a way to learn.

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