How to Create a Thank You Page Call To Action

If you read the first installment in my two-part How to Create a Thank You Page That Engages and Converts series you know that Thank You pages are the pages that leads (aka, potential customers) are directed to after they complete a designated task.

And you also understand that by taking the action that led to the Thank You page your customer, or potential customer, has basically tapped you on the shoulder to let you know they are interested in your product or service.

Now what?

Now is your chance to make an impression and inspire action that keeps your lead engaged. Now is your chance to funnel traffic to the pages you want them to see, your chance to use persona information to offer exactly the right offer at the right time, and your chance to bridge the gap between you and your leads with social media opt-ins that keep you connected long after they’ve left the site and forgotten about your form.

Now it’s all about the call to action.

The first post in this series established the foundation for creating a Thank You page that converts. Taking that foundation to the next level, in this post I use an “if this, then that” format to show you how to use your goals (the decisions your business has made about what they want to get out of the page) to craft compelling calls to action that encourage leads to take the next steps that you want them to take.

Creating Goal-Based Thank You Page Calls To Action

Again, what call to action you choose will depend 100 percent on your unique brand goals. In my opinion, the best “best practice” for Thank You page calls to action is to be thoughtful about what you want to accomplish up front and then purposeful about how you direct the attention of your leads toward actions that help accomplish these goals.

That said, without further ado, here are four example goals, and correlating calls to action you might consider for each scenario.

Goal Scenario One: Keep them on your website and engaged with content right now.

Call to Action Option A: Offer links to three content pages that you want to see have increased traffic numbers, or three of your most popular pieces of content.

When selecting your content links you might also consider offering a variety of content that represents the interests of different market segments to help guide your persona research. For instance, if your target markets include PPC, SEO, and PR professionals include three articles — one PPC-focused, one SEO-focused, and one PR-focused — then analyze which link gets clicked on the most to help inform your persona research. If your leads are all clicking on the PPC article and no one clicks on the PR article then you can begin to make some “people who take this action are more interested in this topic/product/etc.” correlations. For instance, “people who sign up for the newsletter are more interested in PPC than PR.” You can use this information to help you choose audience-relevant links to include on your Thank You page, and to guide your Internet marketing optimization strategy as a whole.

Advanced option: Establish several Thank You pages that each correlate to targeted entry points for a more custom page experience. For instance, a Request a Quote button on your Denver page that links to a Denver-specific Thank You page, and a Request a Quote button on your Michigan page that links to a Michigan-specific Thank You page.

This strategy will allow you to use entry-point information to create content calls to action that are based more closely on the interests of the lead and what they were thinking about when they filled out the form. For instance, if your lead just requested a quote for home owners insurance from the Denver insurance page, you may offer them links to read articles about Denver home safety or natural disaster prevention. (This is where really knowing your demographic and their needs can be incredibly beneficial. If you own an insurance company that focuses on the city of Denver, you should have a better idea of their needs and interests than I do…)

Goal Scenario Two: Keep them engaged with your brand and your content offline.

Call to action: Use your persona information (i.e., the information you know about who your customer is, how they communicate, why they filled out the form, and what their needs are) to offer them a content download (usually an e-book, PDF, or a self-contained slide-deck presentation).

Goal Scenario Three: Encourage them to make a purchase.

Call to action option A: Offer them a coupon code to encourage online shopping or a physical coupon download if you want to encourage brick-and-mortar sales. Sometimes making the coupon a limited-time offer helps motivate immediate action. For example, a 30 percent off coupon that expires in 48 hours. If you set up entry-specific Thank You pages, this is a great time to use what you already know about your lead’s interests to offer him or her the perfect deal. For instance, if they signed up for your newsletter through your snowboards page, you know they are interested in winter sports so you can offer them a special coupon good for 50 perfect off any [insert winter sport item that you want to push sales numbers up for].

Call to action option B: Offer them links to product landing pages on your website that you’d like to see increased traffic to, or take this opportunity to plug promotions, outlets, or other sales you have going on. I’ll say it again: Thank You pages are a great opportunity to funnel traffic! Not only do you get to narrow the traffic focus to three options of your choosing, but you have a better chance of seeing conversion from qualified leads who have already expressed an interest in your product.

Goal Scenario Four: Extend your marketing reach to keep in touch with them after they leave the website.

Call to action: Ask them to follow you on Twitter, Like you on Facebook, sign up for your blog RSS feed, etc. Make sure to use active language and highlight specific benefits whenever possible. For instance, “Follow us on Facebook for weekly tips and tricks.” Remember never to promise anything you can’t actually deliver on. Something broad and actionable like “Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter” also works.

It is also important to keep in mind that you have to make it easy for them to take action. One click opt-in is ideal. There are many websites that offer free social media buttons that can be easily added to your website with plug-and-play code.

This sampling only represents the tip of the goal-and-call-to-action iceberg. What calls to action are working for your Thank You pages? Do you have any favorites you’d like to share?

For more examples, check out these resources:

• 4 Thank You Page Examples That Got It Right
• 7 Newsletter Thank You Page Examples That Got It Right

Chelsea Adams Brooks is a long-distance cyclist, aspiring cob house builder, schema/analytics/algorithm obsessor, and a former senior content writer at Bruce Clay Inc.

See Chelsea's author page for links to connect on social media.