Saying “Thank You” is always important!

In internet marketing it’s more than just being polite.  It helps the prospect feel appreciated, which is good, but really… it’s amazing for you.

First let’s start at the beginning.  What is a thank you page?

Essentially a thank you page is the page you go after you complete an action.   On a lead generation site, you’ll generally see one when you’ve filled out a form.  On an eCommerce site it’s generally the page you see after buying a product.

A thank you page is crucial for two reasons.

1) Ease of tracking results

2) A far better user experience

Let’s dig into tracking.

Google Analytics works by looking at the URL of the page that a user is on.  So it’s easy in Analytics to see when the user is on the page with “thank you” in the URL and count it as a conversion.  If there’s no URL change you need to be able to do some high level coding geek stuff to track how many people actually completed your form!

Looking at the User Experience

When a site doesn’t have a thank you page, the user generally gets a little message pop up saying something like “thanks for submitting your form, we’ll be in touch soon!“

Think about how crappy that is from a users point of view.  Here there are trying to engage with you and they get a quick pop up that they likely close before reading anyway.

Instead a tailored thank you page can do much more for the user, and even more for you!

Benefits of a Tailored Thank You Page

1. Outline the next steps.  Here you can actually show them ‘what happens next’.  This increases their appetite to consume that next step.  It makes them eager and plays on a psychological need to complete the loop.
2. Request more info.  By adding a short survey on your thank you page you can get valuable data.  You can use the data they give you to customise their experience, and the experience for future customers.
3. Ask for feedback.  The better you understand your customer the more efficiently you can adapt.  Ask what you can do to be better.
4. Beg for social love.  A thank you page is a perfect spot for adding the social icons of twitter, Facebook or others.  But you can do more than just feature the icons, ask for the like.
5. Show off.  Include links to your best content.  Links to your testimonials or case studies to show that they made the right decision and reduce any buyers remorse.
6. Upsell.  They’ve just taken the first step, showing you they’re interested.  What better time to ask for the next step.  Show them other products or what they might get next while they’re hot to trot!

Simply having a Thank You Page is far more than just good manners.  It helps you engage with your customers and track marketing success.

Thanks for reading!