Since you’re a faithful subscriber to Raka’s Inbound Marketing Definitions (ahem), you’ve already read our post about landing pages. Well, if landing pages are peanut butter then thank you pages are jelly—they belong together. (Get out of here with your bananas, Nutella, or whatever else. Everyone knows it’s PB&J.)
You keep reading while I go make myself a sandwich.
Tell me more
It’s no small thing when a user on your site submits her contact information on one of your opt-in forms. By taking that step, that user has become a subscriber or a lead in your sales cycle. Thank you pages are used to acknowledge that first step by expressing gratitude.
“Duh, Raka.”
Yeah, I know. But stay with me.
Thank you pages go beyond good manners; they’re also used to encourage a second step in the relationship with your business. I’m talking about reinforcing the value of your brand as well as the promised offer. Really, this is about lead nurturing.
Why a thank you page Is important to marketers
“But Raka,” you protest, “why can’t I just thank my subscribers and leads with a thank you message right there on the landing page?”
You can use a thank you message. You just shouldn’t.
If you’ve followed popular landing page best practices, you’ve likely removed your website site navigation from the page so users don’t get distracted from the form. Nice work! But have you thought about what happens next?
Ah, you’ve used an inline thank you message. Now your user is feeling appreciated while stuck on a landing page. She has no way to get back to your site and also has zero incentive to engage with you further. Instead of continuing with the relationship, she’s going to step off your landing page and go see what’s up on Overstock.com.
Not ideal.
With a thank you page, you have an opportunity to keep the new subscriber or lead on your site by opening the door to more content. You can include links to relevant blog posts, related web pages, or even a CTA to the next offer in your sales cycle. You can also ask the user to share the offer on social media. Just by reintroducing your site’s main navigation on the thank you page you’re giving her a chance to dip her hunk of bread back into your company’s bowl of soup.
Like so:
See what I mean? A thank you page can do a whole lot more for your business than just say “thank you.” And in the world of marketing, your lead nurturing strategy should be just as good as your manners.
If you skimmed this post…
A thank you page is a webpage that users are redirected to after they submit contact information to a form on a landing page.
Want to learn more awesome inbound marketing terms? Check out our Inbound Marketing Definitions page.
