The majority of you likely said “no,” but from what I can tell from most websites, the answer is actually a resounding “yes.”
The problem isn’t in your Thank You page, it’s in the fact that you threw it together in 30 seconds. If you had taken more time to create a quality Thank You page, you wouldn’t have this problem.
What most folks don’t realize is that the Thank You page, which is so often overlooked, has huge potential for getting visitors to help you:
- Gather Market Research and Customer Feedback
- Increase Your Sales
- Build Brand Awareness
After convincing people to sign up, they are open to hearing what you have to say.
” new subscribers are greeted with a message that doesn’t make them want to engage with your brand. When new subscribers see a boring message like “Thanks for signing up!,” they don’t get excited about engaging with your brand. You’re telling them to keep watching for more updates. Don’t miss the opportunity to capitalize on the progress you’ve made so far.
This problem can be fixed easily and won’t take much time.
What is a thank you page in eCommerce?
After your customers complete a purchase on your checkout page, they are redirected to a Thank You page.
This page is to thank customers who bought from your eCommerce site. There are other, more effective ways to engage customers, such as asking for feedback, referrals, or demonstrating brand credibility through endorsements by authority figures.
In a nutshell, build loyalty.
We’ll show you how to optimize your eCommerce website’s thank you page to earn more revenue or interest from existing customers.
Anatomy of a High-Converting Thank You Page
Offer a glimpse into the heart of your company
A business inspired by a personality builds a brand. Your brand is what sets you apart from other companies in your industry. It makes you seem like a different person, and possibly one who is worthy of special treatment.
Your brand represents who you are and what you stand for to your customers and in a way that is meaningful to them.
Your customers remember stories that make them feel good. They love to hear about your journey, your challenges, and your successes. The most successful startups treat their customers as though they are part of the company’s growth and development.
Marshall provides an example of a great branded thank you page template that perfectly captures the personality of the brand to create a visual experience for the customers’ journey.
Gather Market Research and Customer Feedback
Do you delay getting feedback from your customers?
The Thank You page can be turned into an automated research/feedback tool. If you want to learn more about your audience and create better content, this is the perfect place to do it. It’s easy and you’ll get a lot of valuable information.
1: Ask Readers to do a Survey
Surveys are an effective way to get feedback from a large group of people quickly, easily and inexpensively. You only need to generate a few questions and include a link to a survey on your Thank You page to encourage readers to participate.
Here are some tips for creating a survey:
- Keep it Short — Asking 5-10 questions ensures participants don’t end up quitting half way. By keeping the survey brief, you’re also showing you appreciate their time.
- Tell them How Long it will Take — This increases your chances that they’ll agree to take the survey. Saying “Please take a short 45 second Survey” tells the reader exactly how much of their time you’re asking for.
- Use Google Forms — I strongly recommend GoogleForms because it’s a free tool that lets you create a nice survey in just a few minutes, and it lets you view all of your responses in a convenient spreadsheet.
- What to Ask — Coming up with questions doesn’t have to be hard. Just make a list of things you’d love to know about your readers. If you’re stumped, you can also check out a competitor’s survey for ideas.
2: Ask Readers to “Tell Us More about Yourself”
The more you know about individual customers/visitors the better. You can increase engagement on your Thank You page by asking your visitors to answer a few questions in the comments section. Soon, you will have a lot of data that you could never get from analytics alone.
You can use this information to generate new ideas for blog posts, tutorials, or even products/services that you know your audience needs.
Here are a few sample questions you could ask:
- What are you struggling with (and what are you doing to fix it)?
- What are your goals for this year?
- What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to [area of expertise]?
3. Ask for Feedback
Seeking feedback from customers provides a fuller understanding of their reasons and methods for interacting with your website, products, and services. You can find out what your customers think by asking them directly. This is a great way to spot problems and opportunities in your business.
You can get feedback from visitors to your Thank You page by using the comments section or adding a form.
4: Add Links to your Best Content
Thank You pages are usually just a confirmation that someone has subscribed or made a purchase, but by adding links to your best content, you can turn it into a resource page. This will make people more likely to make a purchase later, without seeming salesy.
If you want to appear as an expert in your field, you should link to the best content on your website. This will give your visitors a positive impression of you.
If you link to your best content, it will improve the ranking of those articles on Google, and make it more likely that people will share them on social media.
Examples of the types of content you can link to include:
- most popular posts
- infographics
- resource pages
- guides and tutorials
5: Display Testimonials
Including testimonials from satisfied customers on your website in multiple places can help increase the number of visitors who convert into customers or clients.
Many people realize how powerful testimonials can be for boosting conversions on home and landing pages.
You can add a discount code to your Thank You page for new subscribers who haven’t made a purchase yet.
: Show a Video
DropBox has found a lot of success using videos on their homepage. You can increase your conversion rates by creating a Thank You page that doubles as a commercial. Use videos to sell your product or service on this page, and you could see a significant boost in the number of people who convert.
7: Display a Promotion
Most websites display some sort of promotion or advertisement on their logout page.
Since we know visitors coming to your Thank You page are hot prospects, it’s a great place to promote things like:
- a special offer for new subscribers
- products, services or events you offer
- advertisements (i.e., affiliates, Adsense)
Build Brand Awareness
After a new subscriber signs up, you don’t want them to forget about you. Your goal should be to keep them engaged so they always remember you.
Tactic #8: Ask them to follow you on Social Media
Although you might already have social media links in your sidebar or footer, it may still be necessary to add them to your header. But the links to your site are often lost among the other things on your site.
It would be beneficial for you to ask your readers on your Thank You page if they would like to follow you on social media. Make it clear to them that this is another option for subscribing that will make things more streamlined and hassle-free for them.
If you want to be successful on Pinterest, make sure to include pictures on every page of your website. That way, people will have something to pin.
9: Ask them to Share your Site
Google places more importance on social sharing when determiningrankings, so it is beneficial to try and get as many people to share your site as possible.
Many people believe that visitors will automatically share their content because there is a widget on every page. In most cases, you will need to directly ask your visitors to share content with their friends before they will think to do it themselves.
10: Participate in your Community
If you want your business to succeed, it’s important to build a strong community around your brand. This will create a group of fans who are more likely to make purchases, boosting your sales.
Use your Thank You page to promote other community-based features like podcasts, forums, etc.
11. Keep the conversation going with social media
A majority of Americans (59%) believe that social media has made customer service easier. This is supported by the fact that… If brands use social media effectively, they will probably see their business expand sooner.
And you can use social media to keep the conversation going off the website. Placing social media links on your website makes it easier for customers to find your brand’s updates and content.
Target keeps its customers engaged by offering multiple ways to stay connected to the brand.
12. Give them the space to share your offerings
People love sharing! Don’t believe us? Check this out:
You need to give them good reason to want to refer your business. If you want more customers to be referred to your eCommerce business by existing customers, you need to give them a good reason to want to do so. Ask them to share while saying thanks.
The research shows that 83% of humans will trust a product more if it has been recommended by someone they know, like a family member or friend. And of that group of people, 28% of millennials say they won’t buy a product their friends haven’t endorsed.
The following statistics demonstrate the impact that a satisfied customer can have. To encourage your customers to refer others to your business, you can offer a single or double-sided referral bonus on your thank you page.
13. Tell your story
Storytelling is a powerful way to communicate a message. If a business tells stories, it will seem more human and customers may start to see the brand in a different, better light. Your company’s success is based on how your customers see you, so why not make a good impression?
Your customers want to know the story of your brand no matter what industry you are in. They want to know the story and journey of the business and its founder. They want to feel the passion with which the business is run.
Stand out by putting yourself in the story and telling it in a way that is unique to you. Remember that people will bet on a person before they bet on a business. Make them bet on you.
For this example, we will use Duncan Jones from Australian Ethical. He is a good representative of this concept. They convey their brand mission subtly while encouraging others to support their cause.
14. Surprise them with a bonus or offer
You might be surprised to see a thank you page after completing your purchase. An offer was waiting for you there as well! Doesn’t that sound like a great way for you to stay motivated to shop?
If you want to increase your conversion rate, you should include a bonus on your thank you page. This will make people more likely to take your offer. There are a few different ways businesses can offer discounts to customers. This can be done through loyalty programs, buy-more-get-more schemes, or simply offering 10% or 20% off.
However, it always pays off to get creative! Your customers may tell their friends and family about your offer.
The thank you page template below from Cup & Leaf uses simplicity and creativity to give away an offer using emotionally charged words.
15. Find out what moves your audience
It is beneficial to know what your customers want, what their challenges are, and what their goals are. This way, you can give them better service and provide them with products that fit their needs. You can gain a better understanding of your customers by conducting surveys.
— In order for this method to be effective, you need to be sure to ask the right questions and keep the survey short. You can tell respondents how long the survey will take to complete.
Asking only one question at a time is a great way to minimize the amount of time you spend with each customer. The best type of question to ask is a multiple choice question because the customer has a variety of answers to choose from and wouldn’t mind taking 30 seconds to choose an answer.
Some questions you can ask customers to get feedback about their experience include what made them engage with your brand, how they heard about you, and what type of products they would like to buy from you. Asking customers about their experience can help you get feedback about your brand and improve your products and marketing.
You can also ask your customers for feedback by having them leave comments before they go. What are your website visitors’ experiences and what are their struggles? How can you help them? See how Harry’s learns more about their customers.