7 Newsletter Thank You Page Examples That Got It Right

Thank you pages for purchases get a lot of attention. There are lots of articles about how to handle that last step in the shopping experience. After all, a good thank-you to a customer can reinforce branding, upsell products, and further retarget buyers.

Newsletter thank-you pages, however, receive a lot less attention. There aren’t many how-to articles devoted to them. And web designers don’t give them much notice.

But how about the person who signs up for your newsletter email list? That thank-you page is an opportunity to leave a new subscriber with a positive feeling — or a missed opportunity.

Don’t let your thank-you-for-signing-up page be just an afterthought. Here we’ll look at seven great examples of companies thanking new subscribers.

Consumer Reports Weekly Newsletter Thank You Page

What Consumer Reports does right:

1. Welcome the subscriber by name.

The reader feels welcomed with an informal “You’re all set!” and a thank you that calls them out by name. This reinforces the person’s budding relationship with the brand.

2. Use eye-catching and relevant images to reinforce reader’s newsletter choice.

In addition to personalizing by name, Consumer Reports confirms the reader’s choices using bold images with captions. This lets the reader know, at a glance, that they’ve subscribed to content that will be interesting to them.

Here’s an idea: Review your image assets. Can you pick some that match your topics to enhance your thank-you message?

3. Link to current, directly related content.

“Preview” links let the reader get immediate access to what they’re looking for. In this case, they can view last week’s newsletter for their selected topics.

Don’t worry about an algorithm showing a three-year-old “related” article to your new subscriber. Link to the most recent publication and you’ll always show the latest content. The reader can be assured it meets their needs — and engage more with your site, too.

4. Indirectly collect demographic information.

Did the subscriber click to see the previous money newsletter but not the previous car newsletter? Getting an idea of a subscriber’s relative interest in those two topics can help you segment your email list.

Think about it: Track the links on this page. Then you’ll see how much traffic the thank you page drives to your on-site content.

If your thank you page is not on your own website, you can add UTM codes to the links for tracking. (Here’s where you can learn how to build tracking code into your links.)

Car and Driver Newsletter Thank You Page

What Car and Driver does right:

5. Show a clear summary of what the reader selected.

Car and Driver shows the subscriber an image of the newsletter with some eye-catching images. The “Read More” link encourages the reader to stay on the site and consume content they might be interested in.

6. Have great timing for offering related content.

Where else can a business get a new subscriber with a single click? Even better, one who is already in a funnel? On the thank-you page, of course!

The site has all the person’s information already loaded. So adding another newsletter subscription here is easy. If the reader does click to subscribe to one of the other newsletters presented, another subscription offer is shown (signing up for special offers or perks, for example).

Barbecue Bible’s Up In Smoke Newsletter Thank You Page

What Barbecue Bible does right:

7. Offer the subscriber a surprise.

The signup form was for the “Up In Smoke Newsletter.” It didn’t promise a bonus offer in exchange for an email address. So the special offer comes as a surprise — a meaty 85-page ebook of recipes and tips in the reader’s choice of formats. There is even a link to FAQs in case the reader isn’t sure how to get the bonus.

8. Make navigation options and items for sale visible.

Barbecue Bible doesn’t let the subscriber preview the newsletter. However, they offer related products (in a variety of price ranges) to buy. The full site navigation is also present so that the user can find other interesting content on the site.

It’s a missed opportunity making your thank you page look like an isolated landing page.

Give the subscriber a way to continue engaging with you! The Car and Driver example above does this with selective options. But just leaving your navigation menus in place gives someone a chance to do more on your website.

Note: For the sake of space, the surrounding site navigation has been cropped from the following examples.

Dogster.com Newsletter Thank You Page

What Dogster does right:

9. Emphasize conversion optimization best practices.

This page could be in a textbook on conversion optimization.

There is an attractive image looking toward the text the subscriber should read. A low-commitment “Give Dogster Magazine a Try” button offers an upsell. And the styling of this page matches the design of their print magazine (see below).

You’ve probably done your research and know what appeals to your customers. You should get the most use of that research. Use it consistently on as many pieces of the site as you can.

King and Prince Resort Email Thank You Page

What King and Prince Resort does right:

10. Suggest tagging photos on Instagram.

Some newsletter confirmation pages suggest that the reader visit the site’s social media accounts after signing up.

This resort’s page also encourages the reader to use an Instagram hashtag for a chance to be featured on their account.

Business Insider Email Newsletter Thank You Page

What Business Insider does right:

11. Give prominent user feedback.

Right at the top, the page confirms the newsletter subscription went through. This simple feedback is an obvious but essential part of a thank you page.

12. Match the Website’s Style.

Additional products are offered for the highly motivated subscriber. But there are no flashy cars or credit cards here, which matches the site’s tone. The images instead show a variety of devices.

Business Insider recognizes that their readers want to consume information when they’re on the go, on assorted devices.

HTC Newsletter Thank You Page

What HTC (cable/internet provider) does right:

13. Combine friendly and professional.

The envelope image offers a smile and helps convey to the reader a non-stuffy attitude. Yet it doesn’t go overboard on the humor. The welcome and message let the visitor know what to expect in their email.

14. Include strategic persona building.

HTC asks for a small amount of information to get you to sign up. Then on the confirmation page, it offers options to tailor your newsletter subscription with the incentive of a surprise on your birthday. It’s a gentle way to get more information while making sure the new subscriber is getting relevant information (and not too many emails).

More Best Practices

15. Use a double opt-in signup.

Savvy companies use a double opt-in to ensure that they’re growing their email list with real people who want what they offer.

You can tell your reader that they will receive an email, and that they’ll need to confirm their subscription.

16. Noindex the confirmation page.

Make sure people aren’t leaking into your conversion funnel at the wrong stage.

You don’t want someone to find your thank-you page from a search engine. This is a problem if you have your thank-you page set as a conversion goal in analytics since you don’t want someone visiting it without having converted. More importantly, it’s a bad user experience to go straight to “Thank you for subscribing!” when the visitor hasn’t.

You can keep the page out of the index with a meta robots “noindex” directive.

17. Don’t ask for a new signup again on the thank-you page.

Many sites have a pop-up encouraging the visitor to sign up for their newsletter. By default, this form pops up from every page — even right after the visitor just signed up for the newsletter!

To avoid this, note the URLs of your thank-you pages. Then configure your pop-ups to not launch on those pages.

18. Make it clear the visitor successfully subscribed.

Many sites redirect the visitor to the homepage. Or they display a single, easily overlooked line of text that says they have subscribed. Instead, welcome the visitor and let them know they did complete what they wanted to do.

19. Proofread.

Even though these pages do not have 2,000 words of text, they still need review. Make sure there are no spelling, grammar or style errors.

Applying these newsletter thank-you page best practices can help your business build a great relationship with your customers. A little extra care can keep the positive feeling going between the reader and your brand.

Go ahead and share this article with your content team and others!

Bruce Clay is founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., a global digital marketing firm providing search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media marketing, SEO-friendly web architecture, and SEO tools and education. Connect with him on LinkedIn or through the BruceClay.com website.

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