Your mama always told you to “say please and thank you.” Well we are here to tell you that taking the time to say “thank you” is actually a golden opportunity – and one that the average company often overlooks. We have worked with a number of clients that missed tremendous opportunities by putting little to no effort into their thank you pages.
A Step by Step Guide to Building Stronger Thank You Pages:
Let’s start by asking ourselves the hard questions. You have spent time, energy and money to get a lead to come to your door. They are at the top of the sales funnel, but at this point they wouldn’t even be close to being considered a qualified lead. The first thing the average visitor to your site will do is size you up. They want to know if you are legitimate. So the best way to prove your authority to them is to offer them some educational resources. Let’s just say it’s your new e-book, “How to make a million dollars in 5 hours of work.”
Are they nervous yet? YES, because in order to get that e-book they need to fill out the form on a landing page that requires their name and e-mail address. Just like you and me, we are always nervous to give our email address out (who knows, these guys might spam me from until the rapture). But your visitor really wants that e-book, so they enter their info and press the submit button and then there it is… drumroll….your not-so-impressive thank you page appears: “Thank you for requesting the e-book” That’s it? Please que the Price is Right loser jingle. dit… dit… dit… da.. da…… waaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Ok, lets run this back… the right way.
This time the potential client comes to your website and decides to download the e-book. They overcome the nervous feeling about sharing information and press the submit button, but this time….GOLD. They are taking to the thank you page that dreams are made of.
Let’s break it down:
1. They were provided with a brief description of exactly what they signed up for.
2. They are told how they will be receiving the free resource that they requested.
2. They are made aware of a follow up thank you email that is on the way.
3. The email then delivers on the promise (sends access to the ebook, confirms the free consultation, etc.)
Why is this important? Because authority begins with clear communication.
Getting your lead’s attention is hard enough as it is. But now that you have their interest, let’s use this opportunity to provide them with even more information. Delivering the one e-book they requested is a good start. However, offering them a bonus or a prize is even better. You could implement something like the following: You’re in luck! Not only did you get the e-book that you requested, but we are also giving you our new whitepaper “15 Things the Average Joe can do to be More Efficient with His Time.”
People always like to get more than what they asked for. They always like something for free and everyone likes to have their expectations exceeded. Thank You pages allow you to provide these opportunities, simply and effectively.
Here is a quick list of add on’s that you should consider adding to your thank you page:
- Provide links to other landing pages / offers / e-books
- Click a link to see a page of statistics of your industry
- Provide to action to an offer that is further down the sales funnel (such as a free consultation)
- Offer the ability to follow you on Facebook, Twitter or Linked In
- Offer a link to popular stories from your blog
When it comes to providing education resources it is a give and take relationship. As a company, you should be willing to provide free educational resources in exchange for collecting your leads’ contact information (on the form located on your landing page). But as we mentioned above, any time someone gives out their email free of charge, there is always a sense of remorse. That is exactly the feeling you need to combat on your thank you page.
It is important to re-communicate the value of what your potential client just requested. Your potentials should understand and have confidence that they are now part of an e-newsletter that is helping thousands of business owners transform their business. They are now one step closer to reaching their goals. They now have the information they need to better understand their industry.
So what did we learn here today? Understand the value of your thank you pages and take great care in developing them. It is the best door to lead qualification and market your other products / services. Accomplish this by doing the following:
– Show your authority by clearly communicating what they just signed up for and what your users should expect.
– Exceed their expectations by offering more than just the item they originally requested.
– Remind them of the value of what they just downloaded.
