Take a moment to consider your marketing mix. It’s likely made up of assorted tactics—ad campaigns, editorial columns, social media messaging, trade shows, and the like. Together, they are designed to drive interested people to your website.
Sound about right?
While all of that is well and good, the smartest business owners recognize that an effective marketing approach doesn’t end when someone lands on their homepage. A carefully curated social media campaign may drive a wave of traffic to your website, but what’s the point if your site isn’t designed to convert them into real inquiries?
Website conversions lead to paying clients.
For all intents and purposes, everything else is auxiliary. Heavy traffic may reveal the success of a certain inbound strategies, but it cannot speak to the health of your overall marketing funnel because it doesn’t factor in the rate of visitors that choose to take the next step. Simply put, traffic cannot help you calculate revenue expectations.
Your inbound marketing tactics are intended to warm up an audience and drive interest until they are ready to book. Yet, if you aren’t tracking conversions, you will struggle to identify the strategies that generate the most leads.
Most event pros track conversions through inquiries–typically through a contact form on their website. There are two ways to track conversions. One, set up a tag in Google Tag Manager that fires a “submit form event” in Google Analytics then set up an event goal in Google Analytics. Sound complicated? Well, suffice to say, it’s not a beginner tactic. There’s an easier, more straightforward way to track conversions.
This is where your ‘Thank You’ page comes in.
You see, you don’t want to gather data on everyone who lands on your inquiry page because not everybody will reach out. Instead, you need to track only those who complete the form and send you a message.
Simple enough, right?
Actually, it is! Your ‘Thank You’ page doesn’t need to be anything elaborate. It can be as basic as a redirect from your contact form’s submit button to a web page that says “Thank you for your inquiry! You will receive a response within 24 hours.”
Note that this web page needs to be a full page rather than a pop-up widget over the contact page. Your ‘Thank You’ page must have a unique URL of its own so Google Analytics can track it properly.
Pro tip: Make sure your ‘Thank You’ page does not get indexed by Google. Otherwise, your data may get skewed by users who find the page through search engines. The only way to access your ‘Thank You’ page should be by clicking ‘Submit’ on your contact form.
Here are two ways to take advantage of your ‘Thank You’ page to enhance your business from the inside out.
Track your conversion rate for data-based marketing insights.
With your ‘Thank You’ page ready to go, you can begin setting up conversion goals on Google Analytics with the unique URL to monitor the rate of inquiries in relation to traffic. These goals will help you track specific user interactions on your website, providing you with the in-depth
reporting you need to make smart marketing decisions.
The data gathered from your conversion goal will reveal insights about everything from your best performing social media platform to your most engaging blog posts, allowing you to replicate the strategies that best engage your audience. From there, you’ll be in an informed position to adjust and refine your content strategy based on real, concrete data for a powerfully effective approach to marketing.
Enhance the brand experience by setting expectations for next steps.
To take it up a notch, you can also use your ‘Thank You’ page as an introduction to your brand experience, setting expectations for the user’s next steps. An estimated response time is always appreciated, but don’t be afraid to get creative in your efforts to engage your leads.
Direct them to more information in the form of blog post links and additional resources that can keep them engaged with your brand until you have a chance to connect. For an extra personal touch, embed a video of yourself explaining the next stage of the buyers’ journey and provide any updates that will prepare them for your email or phone call.
While your ‘Thank You’ page is invaluable for data tracking and marketing evaluation, it’s also a prime opportunity to continue the conversation and nurture prospects in your funnel. Take advantage of this page as a way to serve the needs of your business and your clients.
