Clever Website Thank You Pages

Updated January 10, 2023

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Beyond Good Manners

Many of us were taught to say please and thank you when we were growin up, and those good manners translate well to the online experience. Your website thank you page says a lot about you and your brand. In this post I’ll share lessons we’ve learned while helping our clients say thanks, track those conversion in Analytics and and gain more business.

Tie to Analytics Goals

Setting up goals in Analytics takes a bit of care. A specialized website thank you page created for after a form is filled out should trigger a goal in Google Analytics. If you’re not tracking your online marketing, there’s no way of knowing what’s working and what isn’t. For example, we tie thank you pages to goals for things like:

• Filling out a form
• Registering for an event
• Downloading a white paper
• Signing up for a newsletter feed

We like to tinker even further with Google Analytics goals, adding sales funnels and assigning a monetary figure (an estimate of what this goal is worth in closed business). Even if you put $1 as the value of a goal, Analytics can calculate the value each page. The benefit? You can see what pages are most often viewed and which pages best lead to a goal completion. Then you can pay close attention to each page’s metrics, modifying content, calls to actions, and graphics — all elements that influence user experience, as necessary. We also recommend having different website thank you pages so you can differentiate between forms and related goals.

Building Credibility

Now that your visitor has done something that triggers a website thank you page, you want to send an appropriate message. This is where buyer psychology comes into play. Often I joke with my clients that they propose marriage on a first date. If I’m new to a website — especially where the product is expensive or the service is complicated — I’m most likely not ready to “get a quote.” I want to look around a bit, learn more about what you do, how you’re different and how you can help me. I may read several blog posts, view case studies and see if you have any client testimonials. In essence, woo me.

Remember that your thank you page provides an opportunity to further reinforce a positive brand experience. Show credibility by having customer testimonials or reviews. If you have special designations — like a certification or affiliation — add those logos as they build trust.

What’s Next

First, confirm the action. The text could be as simple as “Thank you for signing up for our [insert webinar name here]!” Then tell them what happens next. It could be as obvious as “Check your email for confirmation and details on how to join the webinar. If you haven’t received it in 10 nanoseconds, check your spam filter.” If they bought a product, show a picture so they can get excited about receiving it.

If your visitor just downloaded a white paper, you have a pretty good inkling of what they’re interested in. Is there something else you can offer?  Perhaps include links to related content, a refer-a-friend offer or a “how did we do” survey.

If they filled out a “request a quote” form, tell them when you’ll contact them and how (call or email). Nothing is more frustrating for a visitor than thinking their request went into a mysterious black hole. Again, this is an opportunity to show your brand’s personality so have some fun with your content.

Opportunity To Share

Was a purchase made? Excellent. Your thank you page can make it easy for your newbie customer to share their experience on social media or rate your service. Tell them how to follow you on Twitter or subscribe to your blog, for example. We’ve found that social sharing for some brands can help with sales conversions. Understanding your audience’s motivation and then slowly nurture leads can lead to marriage 😉

A Great Website Thank You Page Shows You Care

A website thank you page with a few sentences of text, no images and lots of white space communicates: you don’t care very much. A visitor took the time to do something on your site. Really think about that interaction and send the right message. Show them you appreciate them. Send the right message in my opinion.

Have you found a stellar thank you page? What about it made it great?

photo credit – top: Kamilla Oliveira
photo credit – body: Clever Cupcakes