The ‘Thank You Page’ or ‘Confirmation Page’ is one of the most often overlooked, yet valuable pages on any site. It is never commended or noticed for driving traffic to the site, is rarely updated on the majority of sites, and most marketers largely forget that it even exists.

That’s a big mistake and here’s why:

Who Visits Your Thank You Page?

Prospects! Visitors to your website’s thank you page are the next closest thing to an actual paying customer since they have already decided to take the next step along your sales funnel and provide you with their personal information. If your website converts at 5%, consider that this means only 5/100 of your site visitors never make it to a thank you page. So then the visitors that do make it there are the elite of the elite and yet, time and time again they are treated like dirt with thank you pages that don’t reflect your business. They often look like this:

If your website was a brick-and-mortar store, that’s certainly not how you would treat customers who bring a full shopping cart to the cash register. It’s time to stop doing this once and for all on your website. Here’s how:

Best Practices for Building a Thank You page that Converts!

Say thanks!

Let your visitor know that they completed the form correctly and you’re happy that they did. If it’s appropriate (maybe they downloaded your latest White Paper), congratulate them. After all, forms can be daunting and it’s always nice to know you did something right

Set proper expectations (and ALWAYS meet or exceed them)

Tell them what will happen next. Surprises can be fun in life but generally are bad for business. Setting expectations is critical in all aspects of business, and this is a great place to set proper expectations and then work with your sales team to ensure this initial expectation is exceeded. Quick, little wins can go a long way at the beginning of relationships.

Provide next steps that they can take

Just because a typical next step involves your sales team reaching out doesn’t mean that it has to be this way. If this is a prospect that is ready to move forward and timeliness is important, provide them with an easy way to take the next steps themselves.

Don’t be afraid to brag a little

Remember that visitors to your thank you page have shown interest, but not signed a sales agreement…yet. You can be sure that most visitors that have reached your thank you page are shopping around and have done so on your competitors’ sites as well.

Also, just because they’ve completed your contact form does not mean that they have visited every page on your site and know everything about your business. This is a great place to show some highlights which may include awards, trust symbols, testimonials, or anything else that you’re proud of and would like to share.

Show them your people!

People are important! This can make a big impact for not only a thank you page but also any page on your site. Studies have shown that human faces can do wonders to conversion rates and for good reason. Site visitors want to see who they are working with and if they can imagine themselves working with that team. Especially for service based businesses, we consistently see ‘About Us’ pages rank among the most visited. Your team can have a major impact on your sales teams’ ability to contact these leads and eventually turn them into customers.

You should elect to include thank you page content that makes sense for your business and the type of conversion a user just completed. Other content that may make sense is:

Social Sharing Buttons

Link to your Blog

Link to Relevant Whitepapers or other Content

Case Studies

Your address and directions to your business location

The best way to decide what content should go on your thank you page is to ask yourself, “What do I want this visitor to do next and does it make sense?” If someone completes your ‘Contact Us’ form, you can be sure that they will not send out a Tweet to their followers saying “I just contacted ABC inc”. If however, they just downloaded your latest WhitePaper, they may very well share this on their social profiles and it would be great if they did!

Bonus Tips that apply to ALL thank you pages:

Mind your page load speeds!

It is very important that this page loads quickly so that any tracking and back-end actions can occur properly. The last thing you want is a slow loading page that users abandon instantly. Filling the page with large videos and graphics can be a bear and, while they may look nice once loaded, are often times it is best replaced with a simple, quicker loading link.

Set the right tone

As a user flows through your site and eventually the sales funnel, setting a consistent tone is just as important as setting proper “next step” expectations. If your business is fun and sales team is loose-well then, be fun! If your business is very professional and serious, be serious and professional. Sending the wrong signals here can be detrimental to your sales team’s contact rates, especially if your business is very serious and your thank you page sets an unprofessional tone.

Building great thank you pages doesn’t have to be hard. Like the rest of your site content, strive to be helpful, transparent, and optimize through testing like you would on any other page.