Last week, I wrote an article for Search Engine Watch expressing my feelings (frustrations?) about folks who still don’t have dedicated thank you pages on their site. At this point, there are so many reasons why you should have them and not very many for why it’s still OK not to. But that’s a discussion for the comments on that post. Today I want to talk about some best practices for that new, shiny Thank You page you’ll be putting together over your holiday break. Let’s jump in so you can get this over with a get back to that eggnog amazing family fun.
Use Clear URL Naming Conventions
More often than I would like, I run into Thank You pages that have a URL that is nearly indecipherable. Just by looking at it, you’d assume it was a link to some page midway through a seriously intricate whitepaper about the logistics of moving cargo containers through a shipyard. But it’s the Thank You page.
Make your life a bit easier. Put /thankyou, /thank-you, or even just “thank” somewhere in the URL. With the rise of these new smart goals, you need the URL to be different from all other pages of your site so you can segment out user behavior from page views to conversions without giving up the remarketing functionality.
Limit the Number of Thank You Pages You Use
I’m not ignoring nuance, I know that sometimes conversions are worth different amounts. For example, a demo request is most likely far more valuable than a whitepaper download on a lead gen site, ergo it might make sense to use different Thank You pages. I caution only that you don’t get too carried away. This isn’t an Oprah special about Thank You pages. Not everyone gets one. The more Thank You pages, the further you’re bifurcating your audiences when it comes to remarketing or audience lookalikes. So, can you have more than one Thank You page? Sure. Just don’t get too carried away.
Lay Out Next Steps
Don’t leave your new customers guessing about the status of the new relationship with you. If you’re going to call them, tell them that on the Thank You page. If you’re going to be sending them an email when their order ships, tell them that. But on the flip side of that coin, don’t set yourself up for failure. I’ve seen some great Thank You pages that have a timer that says “We’ll call you within 15 minutes”. Freaking fantastic. You know exactly what you’re going to get and when you’re going to get it. Good brand feelings there. But you better believe that if you don’t make that call within 15 minutes, you’re doing more harm than good you would have done had you called in that 15 minute window.
Continuously Test Your Thank You Page CVRs & CTRs
Just like your landing pages, you should test the on-page behavior of your audience, but the goals will be a bit different here. On a landing page, you want someone to fill out the form or add a product to their cart. On the Thank You page, these pieces have already been done. So now what?
For lead generation accounts, maybe throw in a quick video of client testimonials to help convince your new lead to keep their demo appointment? Maybe a free download of a whitepaper with specific use cases. For ecommerce, maybe you ask them to sign up for your monthly sales newsletter. Maybe if they tweet their purchase they get a promo code for their next visit.
The general idea here is to not let your Thank You page be wasted space. Give them somewhere to go and become further interested in your brand. Need more ideas? Here you go.
What do you like to see on Thank You page? Have any best practices you feel like other folks should follow? Share with us in the comments!
