Abstract A theoretical analysis of the finite element method for a generalized Robin boundary value problem, which involves a second-order differential operator on the boundary, is presented. If $\varOmega $ is a general smooth domain with a curved boundary, we need to introduce an approximate domain $\varOmega _{h}$ and to address issues owing to the domain perturbation $\varOmega \neq \varOmega _{h}$. In contrast to the lift approach used in existing studies, we employ the extension approach, which need not assume that boundary nodes of $\partial \varOmega _{h}$ lie exactly on $\partial \varOmega $. Assuming that approximate domains and function spaces are given by isoparametric finite elements of order $k$, we prove the optimal rate of convergence in the $H^{1}$- and $L^{2}$-norms. A numerical example is given for the piecewise linear case $k = 1$.