The Forgotten Page That’s Losing You Money : The Thank You Page

The Thank You Page is so often neglected. The Thank You Pages on a Website are so often thrown together at the 11th hour. They are an afterthought and in some instances not even a thought – which is why Email Service Providers  (ESP’s) have a Default Thank You Page. 

Hands up if you’re guilty of doing this…

Valuable Screen Time 

Not having an optimised Thank You Page is such a waste of valuable screen real estate. A Thank You Page is only shown after someone has made some form of commitment to you.

When Does A Contact See A Thank You Page? 

Thank You Pages fall in to 2 main categories :

1. When a prospect signs up (gives you their name and email address) for something free, or

2. When someone purchases something from your website.

In both instances they have taken a positive action towards your content. They have made a commitment. Right at this very moment they are interested enough in what they’ve signed up for or brought. This makes it a prime time to offer them something else, or ask them for some further information.

An Integral Part of The Funnel

The Thank You Page is an integral part of your Customer Journey. Used correctly they can increase your Return on Investment (ROI).

These pages should be part of your planning process when you’re working out your funnel.

This way there will be no mistakes, you won’t be throwing something together after you’ve launched and you will have everything you need to ensure your funnel is optimised and flows freely.

It’s Not The End Of The Line 

Many people make the mistake of seeing a Thank You Page as the end of the line.

It’s NOT!

Think of your Thank You Page as a nudge. It’s part of the bigger system. When you use your Thank You Pages effectively you offer another touchpoint, which has the potential to move your contact/customer further along your marketing funnel. This is utilising behavioural marketing techniques at their best.

Thank You Page Uses…

There are many things you could include on your Thank You Page. These will depend on your business structure and the funnel you have in place.

Some Typical Uses Include :

Sales Message or Upsell 

Think McDonalds here. You are always asked if you want fries or a drink with your order.

Your website is no different. What can you offer a visitor that comes to your site after they have signed up for something?

For Example:

Have you got a low dollar product that works in conjunction with the content they’ve requested, or

a video series that shows them how to get the most out of the content.

Connect With You On Social Media 

There are many benefits of getting someone to join you on Social Media. Our rule of thumb here is only offer 1 Social Media channel per Thank You Page. (If you use Facebook for advertising then this would be a good reason to choose Facebook). 

Here’s an example of one we use. 

Link To Your Blog 

If you’ve got other awesome content on your website your Thank You Page is a great place to showcase this. If you can get someone to click around your site and begin consuming your content, you’ll have more chances to convert them. Any micro commitment you get is a win and creates opportunities.

This will also give you an idea of the type of content your website visitors are interested in (you’ll need to have Google Analytics set up – but that’s another blog).

Conduct A Short Survey 

There is no better way to find out what your customers want.

ASK them! Create a short survey and add this to your Thank You Page. A person is more likely to complete a survey after a positive interaction – and signing up or buying something is definitely a positive interaction.

Use survey’s wisely, keep the questions aligned to the content that’s been requested.

Hide Your Thank You Pages

A Thank You Page should only be seen by someone that has completed an action on a previous page, for example they have opted in to receive a free report. They are set up so they are chronologically visible.

To make sure your Thank You Page remains invisible to everyone else, there are 2 things you should do :

1. Add a No-Index Tag

A No-Index tag tells search engines like Google that this page should not be indexed or appear in searches.

If you’re using a WordPress site and an SEO plugin like SEO by Yoast you simply scroll down to the bottom of your Thank You Page and find the SEO settings and mark as “no index”

2. Do Not Link To Your Thank You Pages

You don’t want to be linking to your Thank You Pages from other pages on your website.

A Thank You Page is a sequential step a visitor will arrive on. This process is set up in the back end of your Email Service Provider when you create the Opt-In form. This image shows an example of how this is set up in the back end of Ontraport.

More Than Just A Thank You

A Thank You Page can be – and if you want to succeed online should be – way more than just a thank you! Take advantage of the momentum you’ve begun to build by presenting them with another opportunity to take the next step with you.

Set Yourself A Task

What are your Thank You Pages like?

It’s time for a mini audit. Check any forms you have and see where people end up when they push the button.

Hopefully you’ve already got your own Thank You Pages created with more than just the customary message of ‘thanks for signing up…’

Have you used your thank you pages for another purpose successfully?

Let us know in the comments below…