[c#] Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManagerParserErrorException: The message received from the server could not be parsed

I added the control to the Triggers tag in the update panel:

    </ContentTemplate>
    <Triggers>
        <asp:PostBackTrigger ControlID="exportLinkButton" />
    </Triggers>
</asp:UpdatePanel>

This way the exportLinkButton will trigger the UpdatePanel to update.
More info here.