When it comes to on-site optimization, landing pages, product pages and checkout pages receive the most attention. However, there is one page that a lot of marketers forget about: the thank you page.
If you’re unaware, the thank you page is shown to users immediately after they’ve completed an interaction with your brand – typically making a purchase or giving you their contact details in exchange for a lead magnet.
You might feel that there is no more work left to be done so long as the user makes a purchase or opts in to your email list, but by neglecting your thank you page, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to start building a relationship with your new customer (as well as drive additional conversions).
While your competitors are forgetting this opportunity, you can use the following tactics to optimize your thank you page and create an excellent experience for your users.
1. Link to High Performing Content
For marketers that are solely obsessed with bringing in as many new clients as possible and maximizing profits (myself included, at one stage), including links on your thank you page to blog posts and infographics seems like a questionable practice.
What’s the immediate economic return from showing a new customer an interesting article?
Well, this helps to solidify a relationship with the customer which builds trust and generates repeat business in the long-term.
It’s incredibly short-sighted to think about maximizing profits and acquiring new customers, while simultaneously neglecting relationships with existing customers.
I recommend using your thank you page to link to:
- High performing blog posts (as proven by your analytics data)
- Infographics
- Instructional (rather than promotional) whiteboard explainer videos
- Resource lists
- Free courses & e-books
Check out this thank you page by Social Media Examiner.
As soon as you’ve subscribed to the mailing list, you’re given links to a podcast, an upcoming marketing conference and the Social Media Examiner fan page which encourages brand advocacy.
Aside from long-term brand building, this tactic can drive immediate conversions too.
In Facebook ads manager, you can create a custom audience of people who have viewed your thank you page as well as the high performing article linked to on your thank you page.
Since these people are verified customers who have also checked out your content, it’s likely they hold your brand in high regard.
Next, run a Facebook ad campaign specifically for this audience, promoting contextually relevant products or a higher ticket item. Warm audiences like this always convert better than cold traffic.
2. Encourage Sharing
In addition to raking in some extra money from your new customer, your thank you page provides the perfect platform to do some referral marketing.
Check out this example from Hubspot:
On a thank you page for a free ebook, one of the first things that a user sees is a button to email the offer to a friend.
RoboForm also does a great job at this.
Alternatively, you can include social media buttons on the thank you page and encourage sharing on Facebook or Twitter instead.
This tactic works because internet marketers usually have friends that are internet marketers. This also applies to golf players, sports bettors, fishing enthusiasts and any other niche you can imagine.
People enjoy sharing items of value to friends who share the same interests and luckily for you, 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know.
Also, I recommend including a message on your thank you page asking new customers to subscribe to your social media accounts. Again, marketing is all about appealing to people’s self-interests, so be sure to mention a benefit of following you (such as special deals, discounts and high-quality content).
In my experience, you can achieve a much better ROI with referral marketing tactics such as this, compared to traditional advertising.
3. Survey New Customers
Optimizing your funnel for conversions requires a lot of tedious split testing and data analysis.
While I always let the numbers guide my decision making, some qualitative feedback from customers is useful too. Analytics data can show me what ad has the best click through rate and which landing page elements affect conversions the most, but customer feedback provides a wider context for these statistics.
I recommend adding a comments section or survey form to your thank you page. The following questions will give you more insights about your funnel:
- What kind of challenges are you currently facing?
- Why did you purchase this product (or opt-in to the email list)?
- What was it about our Facebook ad that made you click through?
- Would you make any alterations to our product or service?
- Did you find the checkout/subscription process simple?
- What can we do to make your life easier as our customer?
Harry’s, a manufacturer of shaving products, features this quick survey on its thank you page:
In my experience, a lot of people get involved in internet marketing because they’re natural introverts and want to earn money without intimate social interactions.
However, failing to understand your customers is a recipe for disaster. A post-sale survey is a great way to gain insights about your audience without the need for a face-to-face or phone interaction.
Remember, dopamine is released in the brain when making a purchase, so by surveying customers on your thank you page – you’re likely to get them when they’re most receptive and open.
4. Discounts, Promotions and Special Offers
It’s well known that buyers love value – not just in terms of price, but also in terms of getting a better deal than their fellow consumers. This is entirely egocentric, but as most marketers know – buying is an emotional process rather than a logical one.
Since a customer has just made a purchase, they’re already in a buying state. This is the perfect time to leverage the many psychological principles behind special offers.
The fear of missing out (also known as FOMO) is a huge psychological driver. It’s speculated that FOMO has an evolutionary basis where missing out on precious resources in primitive societies could have severe consequences.
An intense emotional reaction would have been appropriate if your life was on the line, yet we still have the same reaction to losing out thousands of years later.
In fact, Loss Aversion Theory states that the pain of losing is almost 2X as psychologically powerful as the pleasure of gaining.
Limited offers leverage the principles of scarcity and urgency.
The perceived value of a product increases if you think it’s in limited supply; so by highlighting a one-time offer when a customer is already in a heightened emotional state, they’re much more likely to accept than if you sent them an email with the same offer at a later date.
5. Build Credibility and Trust
It’s well known that featuring social proof elements on a landing page can improve conversions. There is a reason why video reviews, influencer endorsements and logo montages are always within close proximity to that bright orange “Buy Now” button on product pages.
This is perfectly fine, but there is no reason why trust building should stop after you’ve got the initial conversion. Again, the long-term marketing game is all about creating relationships, not just acquiring new customers.
Leadcraft links users to an excellent thank you page when they choose to download a free guide to landing high paying clients.
In addition to linking to valuable blog posts, the thank you page is loaded with trust elements.
Since this thank you page is for a free gift, video reviews are carefully inserted to convey the benefits that can be achieved when you pay for one of Leadcraft’s premium courses.
Video reviews are seen as more credible than text (which can be easily faked).
And 43% of people want to see more video content from marketers.
Every brand wants its email subscribers to eventually become paying customers. Thank you page reviews are a great way to instigate this process.
Also, the thank you page features a logo montage of reputable publications that the brand has been featured in. This immediately builds trust, because if Entrepreneur Magazine is willing to mention you, then logically, you must be a big deal!
As an additional touch, you can include some images of your employees to boost credibility. People like to be able to see the faces who were responsible for delivering your new product or service.
Sideshow Collectibles has an awesome video of their employees embedded on their thank you page.
Summary
While it’s great to be able to extract some extra money from your customers with these thank you page tactics – you should never favor a transaction over a long-term relationship.
In other words, please always consider whether you’re providing genuine value to your audience, or merely seeking to benefit financially.
For instance, it’s great to offer a discount for a product that will dramatically enhance your customer’s life, but if you offer them a sub-par product to take advantage of the fact that they’re in a buying state – they will resent you for it, which will damage your relationship and ultimately, your brand.
In terms of thank you page optimization, aim to deliver value first and receive value afterwards, and you’ll benefit tremendously.
About the Author: Aaron Agius is an experienced search, content and social marketer. He has worked with some of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, including IBM, Coca-Cola, Target and others, to build their online presence. See more from Aaron at Louder Online, his blog, Facebook, Twitter, Googl
