How to Create a Thank You Page Call To Action

This is a two-part series on Thank You page conversion rate optimization. Part 1: How to Create a Thank You Page that Engages and Converts and Part 2: How to Create a Thank You Page Call To Action

If you read the first installment in my two-part How to Create a Thank You Page That Engages and Converts series you know that Thank You pages are the pages that leads (aka, potential customers) are directed to after they complete a designated task.

Emergen-C Thank You Page Example
This Emergen-C Thank You page is spot-on with a personality-rich message, social share opt-in buttons, plus several call to action links that direct leads to browse products, download coupons, explore retail locations, and share their own story.

And you also understand that by taking the action that led to the Thank You page your customer, or potential customer, has basically tapped you on the shoulder to let you know they are interested in your product or service.

Now what?

Now is your chance to make an impression and inspire action that keeps your lead engaged. Now is your chance to funnel traffic to the pages you want them to see, your chance to use persona information to offer exactly the right offer at the right time, and your chance to bridge the gap between you and your leads with social media opt-ins that keep you connected long after they’ve left the site and forgotten about your form.

Now it’s all about the call to action.

The first post in this series established the foundation for creating a Thank You page that converts. Taking that foundation to the next level, in this post I use an “if this, then that” format to show you how to use your goals (the decisions your business has made about what they want to get out of the page) to craft compelling calls to action that encourage leads to take the next steps that you want them to take.

Creating Goal-Based Thank You Page Calls To Action

Again, what call to action you choose will depend 100 percent on your unique brand goals. In my opinion, the best “best practice” for Thank You page calls to action is to be thoughtful about what you want to accomplish up front and then purposeful about how you direct the attention of your leads toward actions that help accomplish these goals.

That said, without further ado, here are four example goals, and correlating calls to action you might consider for each scenario.

Content Marketing Institute Thank You Page Example
Here, the Content Marketing Institute says thank you for signing up for their email list with an ebook download and keeps you engaged with four links to read more popular content.

Goal Scenario One: Keep them on your website and engaged with content right now.

Call to Action Option A: Offer links to three content pages that you want to see have increased traffic numbers, or three of your most popular pieces of content.

When selecting your content links you might also consider offering a variety of content that represents the interests of different market segments to help guide your persona research. For instance, if your target markets include PPC, SEO, and PR professionals include three articles — one PPC-focused, one SEO-focused, and one PR-focused — then analyze which link gets clicked on the most to help inform your persona research. If your leads are all clicking on the PPC article and no one clicks on the PR article then you can begin to make some “people who take this action are more interested in this topic/product/etc.” correlations. For instance, “people who sign up for the newsletter are more interested in PPC than PR.” You can use this information to help you choose audience-relevant links to include on your Thank You page, and to guide your Internet marketing optimization strategy as a whole.

Advanced option: Establish several Thank You pages that each correlate to targeted entry points for a more custom page experience. For instance, a Request a Quote button on your Denver page that links to a Denver-specific Thank You page, and a Request a Quote button on your Michigan page that links to a Michigan-specific Thank You page.

This strategy will allow you to use entry-point information to create content calls to action that are based more closely on the interests of the lead and what they were thinking about when they filled out the form. For instance, if your lead just requested a quote for home owners insurance from the Denver insurance page, you may offer them links to read articles about Denver home safety or natural disaster prevention. (This is where really knowing your demographic and their needs can be incredibly beneficial. If you own an insurance company that focuses on the city of Denver, you should have a better idea of their needs and interests than I do…)

 

Goal Scenario Two: Keep them engaged with your brand and your content offline.

Call to action: Use your persona information (i.e., the information you know about who your customer is, how they communicate, why they filled out the form, and what their needs are) to offer them a content download (usually an e-book, PDF, or a self-contained slide-deck presentation).

 

Goal Scenario Three: Encourage them to make a purchase.

Example of an Amazon.com Thank You Page
Setting the bar high, on this post-purchase Thank You page Amazon gives order details, offers social sharing options, and includes links to related products to keep you shopping and engaged.

Call to action option A: Offer them a coupon code to encourage online shopping or a physical coupon download if you want to encourage brick-and-mortar sales. Sometimes making the coupon a limited-time offer helps motivate immediate action. For example, a 30 percent off coupon that expires in 48 hours. If you set up entry-specific Thank You pages, this is a great time to use what you already know about your lead’s interests to offer him or her the perfect deal. For instance, if they signed up for your newsletter through your snowboards page, you know they are interested in winter sports so you can offer them a special coupon good for 50 perfect off any [insert winter sport item that you want to push sales numbers up for].

Call to action option B: Offer them links to product landing pages on your website that you’d like to see increased traffic to, or take this opportunity to plug promotions, outlets, or other sales you have going on. I’ll say it again: Thank You pages are a great opportunity to funnel traffic! Not only do you get to narrow the traffic focus to three options of your choosing, but you have a better chance of seeing conversion from qualified leads who have already expressed an interest in your product.

 

Toms Thank You Page Lightbox
Tom’s says thank you, extends a Keep Shopping call to action to keep you on the website, and asks you to Stay Connected with three straight-forward social media opt-in buttons.

Goal Scenario Four: Extend your marketing reach to keep in touch with them after they leave the website.

Call to action: Ask them to follow you on Twitter, Like you on Facebook, sign up for your blog RSS feed, etc. Make sure to use active language and highlight specific benefits whenever possible. For instance, “Follow us on Facebook for weekly tips and tricks.” Remember never to promise anything you can’t actually deliver on. Something broad and actionable like “Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter” also works.

It is also important to keep in mind that you have to make it easy for them to take action. One click opt-in is ideal. There are many websites that offer free social media buttons that can be easily added to your website with plug-and-play code.


This sampling only represents the tip of the goal-and-call-to-action iceberg. What calls to action are working for your Thank You pages? Do you have any favorites you’d like to share?


For more examples, check out these resources:

Chelsea Adams Brooks is a long-distance cyclist, aspiring cob house builder, schema/analytics/algorithm obsessor, and a former senior content writer at Bruce Clay Inc.

See Chelsea's author page for links to connect on social media.

Comments (6)
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6 Replies to “How to Create a Thank You Page Call To Action”

Hi Chelsea, very intriguing post. We recently started studying up on call to actions, as we create a lot of landing page content for our clients. We don’t design them primarily, but we write the web copy, and guide them on design choices sometimes. We truly adhere to the importance of positioning, and paying attention to the color palette. Understanding these two factors are critical for conversions.

This guide from Hub Spot has helped us out tremendously:
http://offers.hubspot.com/how-to-create-effective-calls-to-action

We highly recommend it.

Karlskind Michele

Information is pretty good and impressed me a lot. This article is quite in-depth and gives a good overview of the topic.
Thanks for great post. Totally agree with your views.

Amazing article Chelsea! I am a bit new to PPC and I found great information and tips from this two part article.
Thanks for your hard work and sharing this information with all of us.

Glad you found the series helpful, Jose. PPC is a great opportunity to put your best foot forward with a thank you page that engages and hooks. I’m always looking for new topics to write about and PPC is a great one. Let me know if you have any specific PPC questions!

:)

I’m curious, but after the lead form has been completed, isn’t the next step to reach out to the prospect? Are you suggesting that this helps conversion, or is this just an SEO tool to increase page views?

Hi, Kevin!

If your Thank You page can keep a lead on your website longer (shopping and reading is good, bouncing is bad), or even keep your brand in their mind longer after they leave the site (by engaging them and making an impact), I do think that some Thank You pages alone — without tangible followup — can help with conversion. It may be a slower conversion process, but a brand-loyal customer who is genuinely interested in your product is worth their weight in gold.

Now I said “some” Thank You pages above on purpose because there are some times when taking a next step to reach out to your prospect is not only appropriate but expected — like if your visitor filled out a Request A Quote form. In cases like this where they expect you to followup with them, be sure to also tell them on the Thank You page when you will be in touch with them (24 hours? 48 hours? By phone? By email? As I mentioned in the post, it’s important to let them know what to expect so that they’re not hanging there wondering ‘what’s next?’ Also, if they expect you to call them, there’s no way they can be offended by it! You’re just giving them what they asked for.)

Are there other times when it would be OK to follow-up with a prospect by phone or email? Yes, maybe.

Whether you reach out to the prospect — and how you reach out to them — really depends on what action they took (what you asked them to do), what you want from them in the end, and how delicate you are with your follow-up approach.

IF they opted in for a newsletter, consider sending them an email follow-up to say Thank You and to offer them something of interest to them (content? A video? A download? Who they are and what business you’re in will determine what the receiver considers valuable).

If they downloaded an ebook you might be able to follow-up by phone, but I’d make sure the call is benefit-driven first and foremost — not hard-sell driven. Something like this might work: “Hey, John! This is Chelsea from Bruce Clay, Inc. I just wanted to personally say thank you for downloading our ‘Everything You Need to Know Pay-Per-Click’ report yesterday afternoon. Let me know if you have any questions on the report, or if you are interested in learning more Bruce Clay’s Pay-Per-Click ToolSet.” I think the things to remember here is that it really truly needs to be about relationship building. Of course we want to make money from our leads (after all we can’t pay our bills with good will) but a little good will goes a long way and brand loyalty is priceless.

I am sure the hard-sell works for some companies, but I find being harassed by a company for credit card information when I thought I was downloading something for free to be off-putting. (One time I downloaded an ebook and the company called me every week for TWO MONTHS! I haven’t forgotten about it, and now I think twice before entering my information anywhere near their website. And I sure as heck don’t want to give them any money!)

Hope that helps.

What do you think?

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