Your mother always taught you to say thank you and please, and that rule definitely applies to Internet marketing. Remember that you’re still dealing with actual humans on the other end of the screen, and you both will benefit from a well-crafted Thank You page.
Wait, what’s a Thank You page?
A Thank You page is the webpage your audience is sent to immediately after completing an action on your site. Whether they’ve entered a contest, subscribed to your newsletter, or purchased a product/service, your audience should land on a customized Thank You page that’s optimized with a killer call to action that gets them further down the rabbit hole.
You see, it’s all about creating a life cycle that takes your customer from unsure prospect to totally converted evangelist. Not everyone who visits your site is ready to buy, but they may be ready to subscribe to your blog. That’s why you should create a signup form and invite them to sign up. And those who subscribe to your blog may be willing to take another parallel action, such as follow you on social media.
However, the customers who have purchased from you aren’t just checked off the list. They now become your biggest resource for future sells, because they’ve proven that they’ll buy from you. So, you should drive them towards more purchases, in the form of product/service recommendations or time-sensitive promo codes.
And for those who’ve signed up for your contest in hopes of winning the exciting prize, drive them through a low-pressure sales funnel. For example, if you’re running a contest where the grand prize is a scholarship to your popular photography course, you can redirect them to your Thank You page that includes a special call to action.
On this page, invite everyone who entered the contest to a private and exclusive video series where you share some of your favorite (and relevant) photography tips. Fill the video series with so much value that, at the end it’s easy to advertise your photography ebook for $5.99 (or whatever price). You don’t want to promote your course in this case because everyone watching is still hoping to win that prize.
Now, if you’re still with me, at the end of your ebook, you can then invite them to join your photography course (by then, the contest is probably over). It’s always about driving your audience from one step to the next. Always.
Looking to learn even more about thank you pages? Grab this extra resource now!
What to Include on Your Thank You Page
In case I haven’t said this enough: Always have a call to action. I’ve encountered quite a few Thank You pages, and I see this fatal error happen all the time: No driving action.
You need to do more on your Thank You page than simply saying “thank you.”
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t say “thank you” on your page. By all means, you should. But if you want to optimize your audience’s experience and get them to do more than just close the tab and move on to the next, you need to show them exactly what to do next.
Stumped on what to add to your Thank You page? Here’s what I suggest:
Offer a Newsletter Sign Up
If your audience has entered a contest, signed up for a course or webinar, purchased a product, or even sent you an email via your Contact Us form, you have an opportunity to grow your subscription list. On this Thank You page, invite them to develop a lasting relationship with you in the form of a newsletter subscription.
Sell your newsletter on the hook of exclusivity. Explain what you share (subscriber-only news and updates), when you share it (daily, weekly), and why it’s valuable (promotions, coupons, private events).
Invite Them to Share
This option is particularly powerful when you’re running a contest. You want to spread the news of your contest far and wide, to get more people involved. On this type of Thank You page, you should encourage your contestants to share the contest on social media or via email with their friends. But don’t make them think out what to say. Write it out for them! The less your audience has to do, the more likely that they are willing to do it.
Here’s a sample of what to say:
Thank you for joining! Would you do me a huge favor? Share this contest with your friends because the more the merrier. Simply tweet this out:
_“I just entered the XYZ contest! Wanna win a
If you’re using WordPress, I highly recommend installing the Tweet This plugin which makes it super easy for your audience to comply.
Invite Them to Follow
Invite your audience to follow you on social media. While some followers may check their email once a day or less, they may check their social media accounts hourly. Those who are active on social media can help grow your audience. How? When your current audience interacts with you on social media, it can increase your visibility on their followers’ feeds as well. And because their followers are likely to share at similar interests, you get their attention. Bada bing, bada boom.
Ask for Referrals
If you want to aggressively grow your audience, you should actively ask for referrals on your Thank You page. Similar to how you ask them to spread the message via email and social media, you can also ask them to invite others to join/buy/subscribe with an incentive.
You can set up the incentive as a special promo code in exchange for a successful referral. Or you can increase their odds of winning a contest by adding extra entries in exchange for each referral email that they send.
KickoffLabs makes this really easy to do with our Viral Thank You Pages.
Sign up here to demo a KickoffLabs Referral Thank You Page: http://my-viral-signup-page.kickoffpages.com
Include a Survey
Are you interested in learning more about your audience? Google Analytics can only share the basic demographics. When you want to get into the nitty gritty of why someone has entered your contest, signed up to your webinar, joined your newsletter, you need to ask them directly.
You can do just that with a thoughtfully-timed survey. On your Thank You page, you can include an optional form where you ask your audience one or at most three questions. Some questions to include:
You can leave it open for an essay-style answer, or you can provide a multiple choice selection.
Understanding what motivates your current audience will help you narrow the focus of your marketing. When you know your audience’s needs and goals, you can craft a better strategy.
Give Them Something Special
In the interest of driving your audience further down the sales funnel, you should include something special (but highly relevant) in your Thank You page. For example, when you sign up for a vacation giveaway on Nomadic Matt, he makes things interesting on his Thank You page with a link to his travel hacking book.
Similarly,the Animal Rescue Site offers a free special gift for entering their contest. But, on the order page, users have the simple and easy-to-add option of donating to the GreaterGood.org foundation in addition to receiving their free gift.
Final Thoughts
If you can get your customer from prospect to evangelist, you’ll grow your audience through word of mouth. Start by getting them to invest in your brand, whether it’s in the form of a newsletter or a product/service. Once you get them hooked, use a Thank You page to drive them into deeper levels of engagement. Remember, always have a call to action.
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Speaking of a call to action, would you like to receive our extended resource for growing your audience with your Thank You page?**
For even more best practices for thank you pages, check out these tips.