You can build thanks pages to generate even more leads? Absolutely.
If you haven’t noticed already, every single page of your website presents an opportunity. However, there’s one type of page that presents some very interesting opportunities yet is frequently overlooked, ignored, neglected, forgotten about, undervalued, disregarded… you get the idea.
I’m talking about thank you pages! I would bet you’ve never really given them much thought, which is why I wanted to bring them to your attention this month – let’s give them some love and exploit their potential in 2021!
Most business owners focus on the initial goal completion, e.g. the free report opt-in, and then the sequence of events that come into play as a result – usually an automated sequence involving nurturing emails and/or a task for your sales person to follow-up with the lead.
And it’s completely understandable that business owners (regardless of their industry, I’m not just talking about PTs here) focus on these elements of the sales process, but what about the thing that happens immediately after someone responds to a call-to-action on your website and completes one of your “goals”? The thing that happens is they land on a “thanks page”.
Generate Even More Leads: What’s So Special About Thanks Pages?
Think about this for a minute. You just acquired a new lead – they took an action on your website that you really wanted them to take.
They’ve just trusted you enough to give you their name and email address so that you could send them more information or give them a call to answer their questions and overcome their objections, help them feel less suspicious about physical therapy or maybe even book them in for a discovery session or an evaluation.
The point is, they trusted you and that deserves some thanks!
The thanks page is the last page on your website that you can be certain they will see. So if you’re thinking you can just throw together any old page with the words “Thank You” on and be done with it, you’re failing to grasp something really important and you’re missing out on a huge opportunity!
Build Thanks Pages: The Common Sense and the Science
Obviously the essence of a thank you page is to say thank you – someone trusted you enough to take the action you requested and you need to thank them for that. But let’s go beyond basic good manners now, because there’s something almost magical happens as a result of expressing gratitude…
It compels some people to do more for the person thanking them! Just think about that. It might sound like common sense but imagine if you could compel people to do even more… to take further action right away! Well the fact is, you can!
It is scientifically proven that there is something about being thanked that creates a feeling of social value and worth which inspires people to do more for the person thanking them.
So right after you thank someone for taking action on your website, you have a unique opportunity to ask them to do something else, knowing there’s a much higher (double) probability that they will comply! That’s pretty powerful stuff right? So how do you exploit it to maximum advantage to you?
Build Thanks Pages to Generate Even More Leads: Best Practices
Before we dive into what to include on your thank you page, first you need to decide what the goal of each thank you page is. You will have two main types of lead from your website: cold leads who request a free report and warmer leads who are further along in the buying process and are making an inquiry (e.g. asking about cost and availability, requesting a discovery session etc.)
So let’s think about each of those separately, starting with the cold leads. Think about this person and what’s going on with them right now – they just requested a free report.
They didn’t pick up the phone and call you and they didn’t request cost and availability information but they did make a decision to seek help and they’ll be feeling pretty good about that so while they’re feeling good we should offer them the next logical thing in the journey to becoming a patient: an opportunity to request a telephone consultation or a discovery session!
Next, think about the warmer lead – the person who made some type of inquiry. They clearly want more information and they want to hear from you soon, so give them the opportunity to book their phone consult or discovery session right away without having to wait (and potentially cool off). One really easy way to enable people to book is to embed a Calendly calendar into your thanks page.
With both these types of lead there’s a much better chance they will take the next step right after the previous one so don’t wait until later – offer the next step right away! If you’re not doing this on your thanks pages you are missing an amazing opportunity to “cash in” on the good feeling and desire to please that is happening to people right after they take action on your website and get thanked for it!
How to Structure Your Thanks Pages
First, you want to show your gratitude for someone taking action on your website. This needs to be unmissable so don’t be shy… go for big text and if you can, make it personal by including the person’s first name (tip: this is definitely possible with Infusionsoft + WordPress).
Next, your thank you page MUST include a confirmation that the action was successful – don’t leave people wondering what just happened or what will happen next – this is not a time you want to confuse people! You want to make sure they know the action they just took was successful AND they know exactly what’s coming next (e.g. an email with your free report within the next 5 minutes).
Next, what action would you like people to take now and how will you encourage them to take it? Why not record a video explaining exactly what people should do?
You can thank them, tell them what a great decision they’ve already made and then talk about the other options that are available and the benefits of these other options and what would be involved in taking the next steps.
Remember, right now people are more likely to comply! Or how about including some links to relevant blog posts? You can keep visitors on your site and give them more opportunities to get to know you and your business, all the while building more trust and increasing your authority status. Said differently, your thanks page should continue the conversation, not end it.
Finally, offer one or two actions you would like people to take and add a bit of social proof to help them feel confident in taking the next step. If you can add a “showreel” of video testimonials that would be great!
Summary
Thank you pages are a special kind of page and they have huge potential to move people along in their journey to becoming a patient yet this potential is usually overlooked.
But if you really think about your visitors and what’s going on with them when they take action on your website you can figure out how best to make your thank you pages work for you.
You need a separate thanks page for each type of lead (free report, inquiry, contact form, newsletter signup etc.) so that you can customize the message and make the options for taking another action appropriate to the type of lead.
You can’t use a generic thanks page. Spend a little time thinking about your visitors, about what would be the logical next step for them after they take some action and then craft some thank you pages to capitalize on that positive momentum and good feeling people get when you thank them!
Want to discuss this further? Get in touch with us through our contact page.
A version of this article was originally published in Paul Gough’s Cash is King Newsletter in January 2020
Flemming Arnott
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