How To Make a Thank You Page

From: Hans Klein
Cyberwave Staff Writer


Dear Friend and Subscriber,

You may not think much of them. In fact, they seem like one of those “pesky” little tasks you have to do at the last minute just before you launch your product or newsletter…

However, hidden within each of your “Thank You” pages lay amazing opportunities…

• Build strong relationships with customers and prospects
  
• Increase loyalty
  
• Reduce returns
  
• Make additional sales
  
• And more!
  
  

But only if you know how to create them effectively.

You see, after the initial transaction, your customer
or prospect has a certain anxiousness…

He or she wants to be assured it was the right decision to purchase your product.
And, sometimes, the customer maybe so nervous of what the spouse might think that he or she is already looking for reason to return your product for a refund.

And what’s more, as soon as your customer has bought your product or signed-up for your newsletter they want clarity, not confusion. They want to immediately get started on the benefits they were promised.

This means your “Thank You” page is a vital component to your web business.

It calms your customer down and guides their thoughts

So, whether you want your prospects to buy another product, or have opt-in to a buyers list, the thank you page tells them where they should be focused.
Let’s look at an example of an intro for an effective thank you page:

This quick introduction of the thank you page does several important things:

• Reassures the customers or prospects they have made a wise decision by re-emphasizing what they can now do, and stressing the accompanying benefits.
  
  
• Informs customers how and when they will get their product. The more specific you can be, the better. Assume your customer is dying to get your product and is going to be waiting in anticipation, until it arrives. For digital products and newsletters you may say, “A welcome email will be delivered in minutes.” Or hard products might say, “Your product will be shipped in less than 24 hours via the U.S. postal service from Michigan and will be arriving in 3-5 days in a large yellow box.”
  
  
• Lets the customer know how to stay in touch with you. Whether you communicate via blog, email, or hard mail, you’re setting the customer up for the next step in the sales process. This is especially important if you need your prospect to double opt-in for email.
  
  
• Motivates your customers or prospects to devour your content. Inside you may entice them with things to come, or benefits they may be able to achieve in minutes.
  
  

By including this information on your thank you page, you can be sure you’re taking full advantage of your valuable web real-estate. Just think, you have qualified visitors who are guaranteed to spend at least a few moments there. They are expecting the page to be there. So, don’t disappoint.

But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what your thank you page can accomplish.

Here’s the full range of things you can do
with your thank you pages:

1. Sell additional products. There are three ways to do this:
   
   
   1. As soon as somebody signs-up or places an order, send the customer or prospect straight to a new sales letter: An example is John Reese’s “Auction Secrets” thank you page at: secure.auctionsecrets.com/ccthankyoutest Additionally, this is what the name squeeze process entails.
      
      If you have just sold a product and are offering an additional one on the back end, you need to make sure you acknowledge the sale before you go into another product, and make sure you don’t cross the line by selling before delivering. Pitching an unrelated product (or even a related product) will turn off many customers until they have received what they just purchased.
      
      An added benefit of this technique is you can add personalization into the sales process. Traditionally, calling somebody by their name (instead of “Dear friend” or an impersonalized headline) will dramatically increase response.
      
      
   2. Offer free trials to another product: As soon as your customer has ordered your product, have the thank you page say something like, “Wait! Here’s An Extra Bonus Worth $100.” This is a great way to get sales from folks who’ve just shelled out money. It’s easy to justify securing their trial when it’s free.
      
      
   3. Let the customer know about recommended resources: This is probably one of the weakest ways to get new sales, but it is an excellent way to gain a few additional sales rather than let this exposure opportunity to your customers go to waste.
      
      
2. Have the prospect opt-in for a mini-course. Once your prospects have bought one of your products, offer them the education they need to fully desire another one of your products with a mini-course.
   
   
3. Inform the reader to white list email from you, take care of a verification for double opt-in mail, visit your Blog, or expect communication from you soon. Make sure the reader understands what they have to do to get their subscription. Use eye-catching boxes with yellow backgrounds and let the reader know that there is an “Important” task still left to grab their subscription.
   
   
4. Give effective delivery instructions. When you have digital products, clear instruction are important for new customers. Here’s how each one should look:
   
   
   1. First, thank your customers for their purchase and reassure them that they have made the right decision by re-emphasizing important benefits.
      
      
   2. Next, explain how to get the new product. If you ship something, then give a time frame of when the prospect will receive it. Be specific as possible. On the other hand, for digital products, then explain step-by-step how to get it.
      
      Remember, most the population has no concept of what a digital product is. They are scared they’re going to hit the wrong button and the computer will crash. Empathize with your customers. Help them understand using screenshots and detailed instructions and you will transform them into loyal customers as a result.
      
      
   3. Offer additional resources. Once you’ve delivered on your process, then offer your prospect more value. This could be another e-course to presell another product, or it could be a box that simply says, “Recommended resources.”
      
      
5. Motivate affiliates and get them rolling as soon as possible: After they’ve purchased, allow them to sign-up for your affiliate program.
   
   Don’t forget… thank you pages should be used for every transaction your prospect or customer takes. This includes when affiliates take the jump to promote your product. For every leap of faith somebody takes on you, you must reassure him or her. So, on your affiliate page, let customers know exactly what they can get by promoting your product.
   
   Show your affiliates the tools you have to offer them… and explain how to use them. Get each affiliate excited about what he or she can achieve and watch your joint profits soar.
   
   
6. Generate co-registration leads with joint-venture partners. A powerful way to generate extra leads is to have your thank you page offer the opportunity to subscribe to additional newsletters or e-courses. In return, your partners will return the favor. This means you all can multiply your subscriber numbers quickly and easily.
   
   

Of course, thank you page would not be complete, unless we make one additional point.

Emails should coincide with your “Thank You” pages.

In most situations your prospect or customer will be getting an email at about the same time he or she is still reading your thank you page. For this reason your email should be designed with this in mind.

For instance, we recommend in the NameSqueeze process to send a short email after the subscription informing the subscriber that he or she can get access at the sales page that was requested.

Of course, you don’t want to distract your prospects with too many things at once. Guide them to the single place you want them to go.

Conclusion

Thank you pages have a lot more benefits than most marketers think. It is a mistake to just throw them together at the last moment and put in little thought as to the user experience, especially when it can mean lower refunds, happier customers, and significantly more cash in your pocket.

Not just in the short term with additional sales, but in the long term because you have built immediate trust with your prospect.

You have delivered on your promises and taken another step to building a long-lasting relationship.


Sincerely,


Hans Klein