Small Business Marketing Consultant

There’s a lot off different business websites out there, and nearly all of them have one common trait… A wasted opportunity!

Despite the variety of these websites, there’s some standard pages that most websites have – a home page (duh!), an about page, and a contact page. Typically on that contact page, there’s also a contact form – sitting there waiting for someone to fill it in. So where is the wasted opportunity? The ‘thank you’ page.

As website owners we invest a lot into making our websites appealing, engaging, and effective. A lot of effort goes into crafting our site to ensure that a visitor converts into a lead or a sale. Once we’ve succeeded we like to be nice and thank the visitor for doing what we wanted them to do…

Thanks for your enquiry, we’ll be in touch soon.

Aaaaand that’s it. Finished. Goodbye.

You’ve probably been on the receiving end of it as well, haven’t you? Filled in a form, got a brief and pointless thanks and thought – “well, that was a bit of an anti-climax”. Buying (or converting) is an emotional decision, and those barren thank you pages kind of leave you feeling used and dirty.

So here’s my three top tips for website owners to maximise the potential of their thank you pages.

1. Set expectations / what’s next

There’s always a process that happens with a lead or a sale, you know what it is – your new friends don’t. So tell them what to expect from here on in!

They’ve just bought a cart full of products and paid for it, what next?

They’ve just filled out your ‘request a quote’ form after spending hours looking at different websites, what next?

Tell them what you’re going to do next, and what the customer can expect. For example my friend Jake from Emroy has a service promise of responding in one hour, so his thank you page can reiterate this promise to them – that way the customer knows when to expect the call.

Oh, and please don’t say 24-48 hours…

2. Up sell and cross sell

Do you have something else that your customer might be interested in at this point in time? Whether you have products/services of your own, or you are helping a friend with referrals, this is a great opportunity to introduce them.

Make sure they’re related and relevant though. There’s no point promoting office supplies to a customer on your dog grooming website. But they may be interested in your friend who offers organic pet food?

3. Connect and build relationships

This is probably my favourite, because your customer has just taken a step towards building (or starting) a relationship with you. They now have an emotional connection, no matter how small and raw it may be, so capitalise on the opportunity.

Invite your customer to connect with you on social media, perhaps even give them an incentive to do so. It’s a fantastic way to not only build your social media presence, but to give you that ‘edge’ by having a slightly stronger relationship once you do contact your customer about their purchase or enquiry.

What about your mailing list? Give them reason to want to subscribe, a free ebook or guide, your ‘top tips’, etc. Remember to set their expectations with your subscription, tell them what they’ll get and how often.

4. Sharing and promotions

Today’s world is very social – people love to share things with their friends. If you have a current promotion, competition or giveaway running then invite your customer to share it with their friends. Give them incentive to spread the word – perhaps a discount or an extra entry in the competition. Make it easy for them to do so as well, utilise social plugins so it’s a simple as “one click”.