The main reason people were not putting any effort into their thank you pages was because they didn't want to take the time to create one. You may be wondering what is the big deal? Good grief, it's only a page. But it's a very important page and I'll tell you why.
I recently read an article on Aweber's blog, the post topic being thank you pages, and the author commented on how shocked he was that a "frightening number" of people don't take advantage of customized thank you pages and just use the default placeholder page provided by Aweber.
I was a little surprised to read why... It was not that people didn't know about the thank you page or how to create one - No. The main reason people were not putting any effort into their thank you pages was because they didn't want to take the time to create one.
Just to clarify, and it may be a little confusing because the "thank you" page may mean different things to different people depending on which autoresponder service you use, but the thank you page I am referring to is the page that a subscriber is taken to right after pressing the "Submit" button. For example, if you were to sign up for my free forms on virtualassistantforms.com, once you clicked on the submit button, you'd be taken to this thank you page.
When signing up for free reports, tip sheets, or teleseminars that use an autoresponder, you will most likely be taken to a page that says something like "thanks for subscribing, check your inbox." Other times you may be redirected back to the home page. Or you may even be treated to Aweber's ho-hom default page (I kid because I love :). You may be wondering what is the big deal? Good grief, it's only a page. But it's a very important page and I'll tell you why.
Whatever you are selling or giving away, the goal of the traffic flow – the process taken by the subscriber during sign-up and confirmation - is to be an impressive, effortless, and dynamic experience - not a boring, confusing, or worse, ineffective one!
The thank you page plays a big role because the primary purpose of this page is to instruct the subscriber what to do next. If the person doesn't know what to do immediately after signing up, he or she may lose interest, and you may be losing out on a sale or a client. Think about it, if the person does not confirm their email, the e-mail address will never be added to your list. And in the case of Aweber's program, the address will ultimately drop off the list after a number of days.
You don't have to spend a lot of time and money putting together an effective page. As you saw from my example above, it's a basic page that I can re-use for most other lists but with a couple of changes: I remind the person what they signed up for (forms) and what they need to do next (confirm the e-mail by clicking on the link).
Feel like getting creative? Here are just a few ideas of what you can do to jazz up your thank you page:
Incorporate screen shots that depict exactly what the incoming email will look like or what the person needs to click on
Building a thank you page and the confirmation page (the page redirected to after confirming the email - a whole new topic!) may take a little time but it's worth it!
Lisa Wells is a Certified eMarketing Associate who partners with successful coaches, consultants, and online marketers, managing their online marketing needs. Move your business to the next level and up your e-marketing game - sign up for her FREE e-course at http://www.emarketingtoolboxessentials.com/.
