#but according to this walkthrough it has few choices so maybe i will do every route idk

[foxstens]

playing kannagi no mori

[nancypullen]

Knock Knock

Anyone home?  Sorry, I sort of bailed on the ol’ blog for a few days. It’s been busy around here.   I have boxes packed and stacked in every room of the house, and we’re ready to go.  We closed on the Mt. Juliet house on Monday morning, were briefly homeless, and then closed on the Denton house Tuesday afternoon.  It’s been a whirlwind of signatures, money transfers, and even a few tears - some happy, some bittersweet.  We’re so ready for this next chapter, but this little house has meant a lot to us.  We didn’t have two dimes to rub together when we built it and had to put in sweat equity in the form of painting and the like.  It was worth it.  We celebrated lots of important family milestones within these walls, but we’re going to make many, many happy memories in the new place too.  I’m really happy with our choices, and excited about what the future holds.   Our realtor in Maryland did a final walkthrough for us before closing and sent us video and photos. The previous owners (super nice people) were in the process of loading a U-haul and there was a cleaning crew busy inside.  Everything looked spotless.  It’s ready for us!

You know I already have some plans for the landscaping. With the color scheme of the house it’s practically begging me for red geraniums in window boxes.   As for this house, I’ve walked around and said goodbye to the pink drift roses, the hydrangeas, the Jane Magnolia and the beautiful Crape Myrtle that shades the porch.  Did you notice that the new house also has a Crape Myrtle shading the porch?  It’s meant to be!  I even did a deep dive and found some old Google Earth pictures and I think that it’s a white Crape Myrtle, just like the one beside our porch. Perfect.  I’ll have a lovely spring and summer adopting some new plants and finding out what works best and where.  Since the Eastern Shore is an agricultural area, I’m excited about the soil - surely I won’t have to deal with this awful red clay and rocks anymore. The process of packing up 23 years of life in a house has been exhausting but also entertaining.  I’ve come across loads of stuff that made me laugh, and just as many items that warmed my heart.   When I was still with the school district we were required to sit on the stool for picture day.  I hated that.  I don’t enjoy having my photo taken, I don’t need a packet of pictures of myself, and I wouldn’t mind the old “Gone Fishin’ ” graphic in my designated space in the yearbook. Our school IDs were also printed from that one snap, a fact I forgot when I sat down one year and handed in a bogus form. I figured it would be a joke between me and the yearbook teacher, a good friend.  Oops.  For the remainder of the year, according to my school ID, I was Anastasia Beaverhausen.

Please note that the worst thing about that ID is not my fake name, it’s that helmet of hair I’m sporting.  What the heck?  I know those cards print dark, so hopefully it didn’t look as bad as it does here - but I think it did.  It reminds me of Lego people, or maybe Duplo?

Anyway, aside from finding another page for my book, “A History of Bad Hair”, I came across things that made me nostalgic. School mementos for the boys, maps and tickets from our travels, and this newspaper from January 21, 2009.

I really miss that America.  Maybe we can get back there, but it feels like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube....ya’ know, if toothpaste was racism and hate. All I can do is keep loving (and VOTE!). It’s a gorgeous sunny day today so I’m going to throw open some windows, keep a song in my heart, and continue to organize this move.   Forward, forward, forward.  This is my HQ for the move. These stickers have been a huge help.

Every box is labeled with contents and then gets a sticker designating which room it belongs in.  On the other end when the moving truck arrives I’ll have  signs on each door/room that match - living room, kitchen, bedroom #3, and so on.  I’m really hoping that it helps them, and I know it will help me to unpack in a more sensible way.  I don’t want every box to be like a Christmas present -”I wonder what’s in here?”   I don’t have the time or patience for that.

That’s a fraction of what’s been packed.  Every room has boxes.  The cats love it but I’m feeling very unsettled.  I’m a nester by nature and it feels like a storm has tossed my home.  I’ll just make like a bird and rebuild.  The Army brat in me loves the adventure, the old lady who has lived in this house for decades is dreading placing each twig back in the nest.  That’s all normal though.  I keep my eye on the prize and that is the fun we’re going to have living close to the world’s most adorable grandgirl as she grows up.  Family is everything and she needs more family around her.  My sister will also be about an hour away, and we’ll be able to get into all sorts of shenanigans.  I think the halfway point for us would be Chestertown and there’s all sorts of fun to be had there.  So much to look forward to! Alright then, I’ve talked myself up, down, and around and I’m invigorated!  Time to tape up another box.  Then I’m going to trot off to Target and pick up a gift from a neighbor’s baby registry, and maybe get myself something spa-like and soothing - a new face mask, a fizzy bath bomb, a pretty new nail color, we’ll see.  I’m feeling the need to treat myself but it needs to be tiny - something I won’t have to pack! More later. Stay safe, stay well, stay focused! XOXO - Nancy

[devourer--of--books]

tagatha dating simulator au

- It’s sunday night and local college student, Agatha, hasn’t sleep in two days, practically glued to her chair at the library, trying to absorb the maximum of information she possibly could before finals on monday morning.

- Sitting across from her is her roommate and best friend, Sophie, who doesn’t seem nearly as concerned, playing a game on her phone. Mostly because she already failed half of her courses and is considering dropping out of college to pursue a modeling career, why try at this point-

- Agatha appreciates that Sophie is keeping her company, she really does, but even if her friend was using headphones, Agatha can still hear the background music and the voice actors very clearly. That on its own was distracting enough, but it was always the same lines, with the background music looping as Sophie restarted the game prologue over and over again.

- Around the fifth time she hears the app-staring-exclamation ‘milady!’ her eye starts twitching.

- By the twelfth she slams her book shut, earning herself a glare from all the remaining students in the library.

- “How terrible do you have to be at a game to not be able to get through the prologue?” she whisper-shouts, taking the sit beside Sophie, looking at the screen.

- “That’s not the problem,” her friend defends, proceeding to explain the game.

- Trial by Tale is a recently released dating simulator that has managed to gather a cult-like following. The game was praised for its diverse range of LIs, well-written routes, stellar voice acting, high-quality art style and a beautiful soundtrack. It was apparently highly addicting as well, as Agatha had never seen Sophie be that invested in... any game... like, ever.

- Basically, the main character was transported inside a fairytale-fantasy-like world, where they were introduced as a ‘reader’ to compete in the ‘trial by tale’, a inter-worldly tournament, set up by a mysterious entity (a magical pen known as ‘the storian’), in which the winner would be granted an unconditional wish.

- “Original,” Agatha snorts.

- “Can you just shut up and listen?”

- During the prologue, the main character meets most of the main LIs and according to the player’s decisions, the game would put them into a specific route, based on affection levels with each datatable character.

- There were about thirty bad endings for the casual route (where the player either made stupid choices or didn’t gather enough affection with any LI), ranging from mildly sad to terribly gory. Then, each route had five early bad endings, that could happen during the trial, resulting in the main character’s death. 

- If the player managed to win the tournament with the LI, bargaining with the storian for the survival of two competitors, then two new endings would be unlocked: a normal ending, in which the reader would wish to go home and a happy ending, in which the reader wished to remain forever in the fairytale world living happily ever after with their partner.

- “And that’s where it gets weird,” Sophie pauses, opening up the Trial By Tale wiki page. “Every single LI has a walkthrough and seven possible endings.”

- She shows Agatha a bunch of characters, offering some commentary on their personalities and backstories. Then, she pauses at the last. "All but one." The character is the prettiest, if not a bit too perfect. ‘Tedros of Camelot’, it says on the top of his page, his basic info and biography listed to the side, but it’s full of gaps, blanks and ‘???’s. It was mentioned that he was a dateable character, yet no  walkthrough was provided.

- “Why doesn’t it say anything? Has he not been released?”

- “No one has managed to get his route so far, but according to the game developers, it’s possible. We don’t even know what his voice sounds like.”

- “And you think you will because…?”

- “I’m me. I’m getting Tedros’ route even if it’s the last thing I’ll do.”

- Agatha decides to leave her be, going back to the books, while asking for her to at least lower the volume.

- An hour or so goes by until Sophie grows hungry and decides to leave the library, going back to the dorm. After that, Agatha finally manages to concentrate, and time goes by in a flash.

- In fact, it passes so quickly that she’s not even sure what time it was. When did everyone leave?

- Her phone is dead and the clock on the wall is frozen at midnight. Probably broken, Agatha decides. It couldn’t be midnight, the lights were still on, the library closed at 10:30pm sharp and no one came to kick her out. She was tired, but she wasn’t deaf. She calls for the librarian.

- All the lights turn off at once. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t freak her out a bit.

- Then, she notices a blue glow from under the table. Please don’t let it be a demon.

- It’s a smartphone, with a bedazzled case, a loading blue screen emitting the light. Trial By Tale’s soundtrack starts to play and soon enough the words appear. Touch anywhere to start. That was Sophie’s phone. Which would be fine and normal and okay if Agatha wasn’t pretty sure Sophie left with it. 

- The music starts to loop, and Agatha uses the light to guide her to the entrance, only to find it locked. Every other exit was blocked as well. Ha. Funny.

- Eventually, she surrenders, clicking on the screen, trying to close the app. The last thing she hears is ‘milady!’ and everything turns black as she feels the floor disappear from under her feet, her consciousness fading as she fell into an abyss of darkness.

- She wakes up lying on grass, near a gate, the words Trial By Tale engraved on top of it.

- She pinches herself, feeling it sting as she stared at the gate, pinching harder and harder to the point she nearly screamed in pain. The gate was still there. Agatha focus on her senses. She’s never able to smell things on her dreams.

- This place smells like dirt, pines, dried blood and iron. 

- It’s a dream, she tries to convince herself. Very vivid dream, but it’s a dream.

- A bunch of floating text appears in front of her: Welcome, competitors!

- The storian tells Agatha everything Sophie already told her: it’s a tournament, in which 40 teens from different fairytale kingdoms, including the reader world, must compete amongst themselves for survival during 24 hours. You could pair up with someone, forming an alliance, but there could only be one winner. Then, the world froze, turning black and white, three options appearing in thin air:

A: I’m a boy 

B: I’m a girl 

C: I’m neither/both/something else.

- Agatha experiments. The text didn’t respond to her voice or gestures; she had to touch it. B. They disappeared up in smoke, being replaced by a new choice:

A: climb over the gate early 

B: go in as soon as the gong goes off

C: run into the woods

- All of those sound horrible, she’ll hang around here, thank you very much.

- Agatha decides to pick B, because it sounded the least likely to get her killed. Tapping the option, color returns and more texts appears, telling her the rest of the rules. Apparently, all forms of magic and weapons were allowed, as it was a tournament to the death.

- Well, she had neither a weapon nor any magic, geez, things were certainly looking up.

- A gong can be heard and Agatha waits for her legs to magically move according to her choice. 

- They don’t.

- She debates on staying put for a few minutes, maybe way too many, but then she remembers: casual route endings vary from mildly sad to terribly gory. Agatha doesn’t wanna find out which one she’d get by sticking around.

- Her future now depends on her romancing one of these pieces of code. Thankfully, it was just a dream, right?

- Inside the arena (?), she gets some other choices, which Agatha uses to her advantage, trying to figure out which LI she was going for and how to win them over.

- Hort, according to her friend, was the easiest to please and the most boring of them all. Nicola was efficient and Sophie had managed to unlock her happy ending without a walkthrough. Aric was a psycho, and so was Japeth. Don’t pick Rhian, her friend had warned. Anadil was a hard one to guess without the walkthough, Hester was super hot and Agatha’s type but that could go very wrong (clearly her type wasn’t working out, as she was painfully single) and-

- Is that Japeth or Rhian? She can’t tell, but he’s coming her way.

A: introduce yourself

B: try to kill him

C: hide behind the rock

- She chooses C, but climbs a tree instead, because he surely would be able to see her behind the rock, was he blind or something?

- “You sure are taking your time choosing,” a voice whispers from the branch above her, nearly giving her a heart attack, “...first time player maybe? Or just dumb?”

- Tedros, the mysterious character, was looking down at her, resting on a higher branch. 

- Agatha glares at him before blurting: “You’re shorter than you look on your CG.”

- He chokes. “You can hear me?” 

- “Why are you british?” she notices the accent, given how different it sounded from all the other voice actors. 

- “I’m bi,” he frowns at her in offended confusion.

- (The himbo energy in this bus is astronomical.)

- They bicker a bit and Japeth grows suspicious of the hushed conversation, nearing the tree. Tedros asks for her help taking him down. Agatha is like, sure, whatever at this point, just trying to forget that Tedros broke the fourth wall. It’s a dream, don’t overthink too much.

- She distracts Japeth, and Tedros tries to ambush him, but it backfires horribly, resulting in Tedros now being a few seconds away from dying a very very painful death.

A: run away

B: ally yourself with Japeth

- Agatha hesitates over option A, convincing herself that Tedros wasn’t a real person. He was a just a character in a game. But while the entire world is black and white waiting for her answer, she swears his eyes remain icy blue. 

- Trick of the light?

- She presses A but throws herself towards Japeth, colliding with him. Agatha ends up being stabbed in the arm, but otherwise fine, which is more than Japeth can say, as he fell into a conveniently located black hole. That hurt like a bitch, how is this a dream?

- Tedros is shook.

- “What did you do? How did you even-” he eyes the blood in her arm. “You’re bleeding!” Tedros rips his shirt to wrap it around the wound, and Agatha does her best not to stare at him while he tends to the wound.

- A blue ribbon in the sky tells Agatha she is now on Tedros’ route. A ribbon they can both read.

- “That’s… troublesome.”

- “What, is your route cursed or something?”

- “...”

- “It’s totally cursed, isn’t it?”

- They argue a bunch and Agatha tries to ditch him but ends up almost dying twice. Tedros saves her, and insists that since he accidentally gave her his route, he’ll help her stay alive for as long as he can. 

- Together they figure out that Agatha’s ability to disobey the game choices might be able to uncurse his route, hopefully sending her home by the end and resetting the game as it was meant to be, allowing people play his route.

- Agatha is pretty sure Tedros is not telling her something, but she kinda does owns him her life now (“2x1, sucks to suck, reader.”) and he offered to share some of his food and hiding spot with her. Doesn’t hurt that he clearly knew how to fight and had a big sword, while Agatha had.... free will and nothing else apparently???

- They end up talking over fruits and water (we love a healthy king) in a cave and Agatha finds out basically every other character’s backstory, learning a ton about the context of these trials as well as what the game felt like for the characters.

- According to Tedros, every other character was doomed to repeat the same route and actions following the reader’s choices, only to lose all memories by the end, as the game reseted. They were all blissfully ignorant of the fact that this was, in fact, a dating simulator. All of them but Tedros. When Agatha asks him why, he closes off:

- “Every single character has a core wish they want fulfilled. It can be the same wish every time, or it can change once your route resets. My original wish contradicted the memory reset, so no one has been able to play my route at all. And if no one plays, I can’t reset. If you go home and the game resets, I’ll make a different wish and my route should be fixed for good.”

- Agatha doesn’t ask what he wished for and he doesn’t tell her either; it feels like way too personal of a question for strangers eating berries in a cave.

- She does ask him what his new wish will be, though.

 - “I’ll restore my kingdom back to its former glory,” he starts, a certain sadness in his eyes. “They deserve a prince who doesn’t waste time wishing for-” Tedros interrupts himself, telling her about his kingdom instead.

- Agatha knows he’s related to King Arthur due to his name on the Trial By Tale wiki, but she’s surprised that he actually gives her that info willingly. He is indeed the prince of Camelot, but his mother abandoned the palace when he was nine and then his father died a few years later, sending the kingdom into despair and disgrace. 

- (“That’s rough, buddy.”)

- To lighten the mood, she decides to tell him about ‘the reader world’. 

- “To exist in your world might be something then,” he smiles, “I mean, beats hanging around here. You said you have a machine that can play music anytime you want?”

 - Tedros is fascinated with everything and asks her about all sorts of stuff, like about politics, lgbtqa+ rights, tik tok, food, the economy, school and fashion trends. Also, memes, lots of memes.

- They spend like 8 hours straight hidden in a cave, just talking, bickering and actually having a lot of fun. The lack of choices even makes her forget she was still in a game.

- Tedros notices how tired she looks and offers to keep watch while she sleeps.

A: say no as a joke

B: outright refuse

- Agatha taps A.

- “Sure, do you mind if I lean on you though?”

- Is this like a date or are we like doing my route and you’re sleeping on my arm platonically? Tedros is shook, part 2.

- Agatha tries not to fall asleep, but she does take a nap, leaning on his shoulder. Surprisingly enough, an hour later she’s still alive, but her head was now on his lap and he was petting her hair.

- “Hi.”

- “Hi.”

A: get up

B: kiss him

- She doesn’t wanna get up, but she doesn’t really feel like kissing him would be appropriate for the moment. She presses B, yet remains still for next few minutes. Tedros looks a bit disappointed, as if he was waiting for her.

- “Aren’t you going to kiss me?”

- “Do you want me to?”

- He doesn’t reply immediately, running his fingers through her hair. “Everyone wants to kiss me. I’m hot, I’m a prince and I’m rich.”

- “You’re gonna need to do better than that to get me to kiss you,” Agatha tells him. “If we survive this I’ll kiss you once, just before we unlock your normal ending and I go home. For a CG.”

- “But then I won’t remember it at all.”

- The comment makes her nervous. Once this is over and Tedros gets his route unlocked, he’s gonna be just another character. He’ll say things like that to everyone. Agatha has to chastise herself for growing attached to a video game character. He’s not real. He wasn’t yours to begin with, you’ve known him for less than a day. Get a grip.

- They stay in silence until another gong goes off, the storian’s text showing up in the air: “12 hours left. Only 10 competitors remain.”

A: stay in the cave

B: leave

- Agatha chooses B and they head out of the cave to see who else was alive, just in time to not be crushed under heavy rocks. Strangely they don’t bump into anyone. What they do run into, though, is a bunch of traps and creatures meant to randomly eliminate competitors. Great.

- Somehow, Agatha always chooses the right option and alters her actions just enough to save them at the last minute. Is she a pro-gamer? One can only marvel at how lucky she’s been getting in this game. No, but like, really, is she? Tedros is impressed.

- At the 6 hour mark, there’s 4 people left, including the two of them. He’s been eyeing Agatha weirdly and she doesn’t know what to think of it because she liked hanging out with him, but at the same time, he is a piece of code.

- There’s like, a dramatic confrontation with the other two competitors, which turn out to be Aric and Hester, not as a pair, but as individuals, and it ends up working out in Tedros and Agatha’s favor, as those two end up murdering each othe while Tedros and Agatha have the advantage of teamwork. It’s a great action sequence, but if you’ve read this far, I’m pretty sure you’re not here for the action.

- Anyway, the storian appears, but unlike the other routes, instead of giving Agatha the opportunity to bargain for them both to survive, her options are:

A: kill Tedros

B: kill Tedros

- Agatha doesn’t tap either. She stays still, glaring at the pen while the world remained black and white.

- Then, the entire arena starts to shake, the game glitching as Tedros moves, his colors fading in and out, his expression tortured, as if just smiling at her was painful, his eyes glowing unnaturally blue. “Let’s get you home,” he mouths, before stabbing himself with his own sword, falling to the floor as the colors returned for good.

- Agatha couldn’t breathe, kneeling beside him.

- “To meet someone who’d love me for me,” he admits, bleeding out into the ground, a single tear running down his face. “That was my original wish. And then I met you.”

- She kisses him on the lips, and as you know, true love’s kiss breaks every spell, heals every wound and transcends the limits of storytelling.

- Tedros’ chest is slowly healing, but just as he gets stronger, Agatha grows weaker, starting to disappear through his fingers in rays of lights, back to the reader’s world, leaving a lonely prince by himself in a bloody arena with a magical pen.

- “Unconditional wish for the winner, hm?”

- Back at the library, Agatha wakes up with a snap, falling off her chair.

- The clock on the wall reads 10pm and the few students left at the library glare at her. She hurries to gather her things in her arms, going back to her dorm trying to make sense of what just happened. It was all a dream. It had to be because her arm is intact. She has been running on too much caffeine, finals start the next morning, she was stressed, that’s all.

- Sophie is still playing the game once Agatha arrives at the dorm, and as soon as she walks in, her friend tells her the news:

- “See, darling, I told you I’d get Chaddick’s route eventually!”

- Chaddick’s route?

- Agatha doesn’t even reply, going straight to bed, still haunted. That night, she has no dreams of handsome boys in caves, neither does she dream of blue-eyed princes bleeding out.

- Monday afternoon, though, a distracted Agatha is walking back to her dorm after taking her exams, when she bumps into someone, nearly knocking her over. She is about to yell at the stranger when her voice gets caught on her throat.

- “To exist in your world might be something,” the familiar stranger smiles at her, “I mean, I’m Tedros Pendragon, nice to meet you.”

[malerfique]

OMORI UPDATE: features overview + demo announcement

for the past few months, we’ve been working on modifying a new game engine for OMORI since to put it briefly, RPGMaker was not able to handle the visual load of our game. We’ve just about finished modifying the engine and have been working tirelessly to optimize the engine’s code and transfer over our current assets. It’s a time-consuming process for the entire team, especially our programmers, so the creative team is using this time to improve the game in all aspects including visuals and gameplay. Since it’s been quite a while since the Kickstarter campaign, I figure I should go over the features of the game once again in accordance to what has changed during the course of production. 

DIRECTED, WRITTEN, and ILLUSTRATED by the artist OMOCAT  

- Yes, I am still in charge of directing, writing, and illustrating this game. Since production started, I transitioned into focusing more on directing and writing. To aid with production time, I am working with three other artists: Kistunora, Ems, and Caz to help with sprite sheets and artwork.

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK by SLIME GIRLS and SPACE BOYFRIEND  

- Yes, OMORI will feature tracks by Slime Girls and Space Boyfriend (now Clover & Sealife). Slime Girls is also in charge of sound design. 

8+ DUNGEONS to explore and 60+ UNIQUE NPCs to meet and get to know  

- There are currently 4 full-sized dungeons, and 10 mini dungeons. Across the entire game, there are at least 140 unique NPCs.

THE JUKEBOX QUEST (A side-quest where the player can collect tracks from different musicians/bands to play in the Jukebox at Gino's Diner)  

- Yes, you can still do this. Ability to choose your gender and name every member of your party - You will be able to change the name and gender of your character, as well as the character names of your party. Please refrain from naming the characters things like “Buttmunch” or “Gary”.  

A traditional turn-based battle system with untraditional statuses and states based off real human emotions and conditions  

- Yes. Since then, we’ve also added a new system called Active Chain Skill, taken from one of Archeia’s older games. After every basic attack, the Player can then select a second action within a small time-frame, such as calling in one of their other party members for a second attack. Not all of the Active Chain Skills are useful though… some kids just don’t get along.

WAVES OF UNRELENTING NOSTALGIA  

- Yup.

A bunch of (un)necessary detail

- Yup.  

Memorable characters…?

- Maybe.  

Really long gameplay

- We’re currently estimating 20+ hours of gameplay, not including all of the side quests.

A room full of cats  

- To be honest, I forgot about this one, but I’m sure we can add that in somewhere. 

Expanded Intro and Cutscenes I will be creating more animation pieces like the ones from the OMORI trailer and inserting them in game.

- We have been working on creating animated slides used for narrative and flavor. We’ve also changed our battle enemy art from pixel work to hand-drawn art.

A Mac port of the game will be distributed to all $15+ backers along with the PC Version of the game. You will essentially be receiving two copies of the game.

- Yes, this is happening. Since our new gaming engine uses a much more versatile language than RPGMaker VX Ace/MV, porting the game to new platforms will be much easier than before.

Extended side-quests in the game (like there weren't enough already). We currently have over 60 NPC's in just one side of the OMORI game, and we plan for the player to have the opportunity to become immersed in each of their lives. Therefore, it is very important that we have enough quests to establish this connection between players and NPC's. If this stretch goal is reached, we will be adding more daily quests, some extra (kind of scary) mini-bosses, and at least two major (hard to find) side quest strings that involve multiple people in the town and may spawn some alternate endings... We will be hiring an extra programmer as well.

- There are still over 60 NPC’s in just one side of the OMORI game. The other side comes out to about 80, so there are about 140 NPCs, not to mention over 120 types of enemy units. Most of these NPC’s have a gimmick or quest string attached, creating an interweaving web within the world they live. As for spawning alternate endings, there is no one minor quest that will be responsible for changing the ending of the story. Instead the ending will be based off an important final decision. We’ve also hired two extra programmers, Yami and Andre, to help us.

Japanese localization! Thank you for all your support, Japan! We never expected to get this reaction overseas. We are pleasantly surprised and super grateful. As a big thank-you, we've added this. If this stretch goal is reached, OMORI will be getting a Japanese translation. You will be able to choose which language of the game you would like in the survey after the Kickstarter.

- We are still aiming to localizing the game for our Japanese audience. We are looking to work with a game publisher for this, and have already set aside the necessary funds to make this happen.

An OMORI Game Artbook and Walkthrough that will reveal all the game's secrets (there are a lot) and include concept work and groundwork behind OMORI will be available by adding $35 to your REWARDS Tier BEFORE THE END OF THE KICKSTARTER. A survey will be conducted after the Kickstarter in order to make sure you get your desired prizes. As an added bonus, all $55+ backers will receive the OMORI Game walkthrough in PDF format including the two copies of the game, the wallpaper, the OST, and the pin set.

- Yes, this is still happening. Initially, we tried to write the walkthrough along with the game's production, but with the amount of changes we had to make, we decided it was best to start production after the game is 100% finished, so it will be released a few months after the game.

A Nintendo 3DS version of the game will be available as a choice to replace either the PC or Mac version of the game for $15+ backers. (All 15+ backers get two version of the game.)

- Yes. As I’ve said before, our new gaming engine uses a versatile language allows us to port OMORI to new platforms easier than before. We’re currently looking into working with a game publisher, but we can also port this ourselves as one of our programmers does have a Nintendo developer’s kit. We’ve mentioned adding minor touch-screen features, but since the game has been already been so long into production, we feel it might be best to stick with the original version of the game

We understand that the wait for the game can be difficult, but the OMORI team is set out to make this game the best that we can. Unfortunately due to multiple setbacks, this has taken a lot more time than anticipated, but we are still working hard every day to bring this experience to you. Some of the backers are worried about monetary issues, but money is not a problem here. Instead, we’ve tried our best to keep this game’s team as small as possible and true to it’s initial vision. However, with a smaller team, we have less manpower to deal with production issues. The game’s release has been delayed multiple times, so we understand that the game's production will receive it's share of backlash. For those who believe in us, the team has not been deterred and will keep working towards releasing the best version of OMORI, so thank you all for being patient

That being said, we are happy to announce that we will be releasing an OMORI Demo at our OMOCAT POP-UP SHOP/OMORI DEMO event in October this year. We'll reveal more details as the event draws nearer. The demo will also be released exclusively to backers before the event, and will be released publicly sometime after the event.

[ibby981blog-blog]

Guaranteed Simply no Stress ONLINE GAME

Gaming Grabs The Higher Score On Twitter

Making a gaming website with WordPress has never been less complicated. How do businesses fight back even though maintaining their clients happy? We chatted with Danièle Thillmann, Senior VP of Fraud and Payments at Green Man Gaming. Danièle reveals how corporations can confront the special challenges of a digital vertical. Armed with years of experience in the gaming globe, Danièle shares how gaming corporations make a difficult and crucial selection: which fraud prevention answer to use.

They provide a wide variety of digital games that their buyers can play on the favourite platforms which includes Pc, Mac, Sony Playstation and Nintendo. Working straight with over 500 publishers, developers and distributors, they present gamers in 190 nations a huge catalogue of multi-platform games at competitive costs. Green Man Gaming is an official distributor of Sony PS4, Nintendo, Steam, Uplay, Rockstar Social Club and many additional Pc platform products.

Oh dear lord, to answer this question I had to quit myself from cheating and counting one of the stories I wrote in the previous. My largest hobby, apart from gaming and acting, is writing. Ahead of I began writing this weblog, I utilized to write a lot of fantasy stories on paper. I have a couple of binders full with story concepts and pitches for very fascinating stories.

Paul: In 2009, the notion for Green Man Gaming came about when we had been taking into consideration where the games market was going to go and what was going to happen next. There was a powerful business enterprise model in trading in games in the market and there was the start out of the move to a totally digital marketplace. The coupling of these two market mechanisms had been supported by analysis from London Small business School showing that a customer's propensity to acquire is heightened when supplied the choice to trade-in a product or recoup some of its worth. So the significant idea” was to combine digital and trade-in into the very same platform, proficiently being a retailer and a marketplace on a single worldwide digital platform.

Due to mobile game improvement outsourcing , the latest indie games developed by little studios or individual programmers get lots of consideration and positive feedback from both players and journalists. With the support of software program outsourcing businesses, each individual, with acceptable information, can produce and promote gaming apps with no any obstacles.

Microsoft — with our almost 40 years of gaming practical experience beginning with Computer, as nicely as our breadth and depth of capabilities from software program to hardware and deep knowledge of becoming a platform corporation — is nicely equipped to address the complicated challenge of cloud game-streaming. With datacenters in 54 Azure regions and solutions readily available in 140 nations, Azure has the scale to deliver a excellent gaming encounter for players worldwide, regardless of their place.

Do GAMING Better Than Barack Obama

The Atlantic Gaming Desk is a piece of steel furnishings that is especially built for today's modern gamer or even a house office owner. Its sturdy legs come totally integrated with cup holders and other attachments that are merely fantastic for organizing a assortment of your laptop or computer accessories and peripherals. The Atlantic Gaming Desk also options a exclusive cable management method that organizes the different wires and cables that your devices possess. There is a charging station, a monitor stand, game storage rack, game controller hooks, gaming speaker trays, and a entire lot extra. Its padded feet will not also scratch your floor.

Today's games are larger, improved, and far more immersive than ever. You can find unbelievable games across a wide variety of genres. Most major game franchises are available on both PlayStation four and Xbox 1, although the Nintendo Switch delivers a substantial selection of games suited for little ones and households. For the most realistic visual experiences, upgrade to the PlayStation four Pro or Xbox A single S to delight in breathtaking 4K and HDR gaming. Exclusive titles are offered for every console, which additional underscores the require to strategy ahead and pick up the ideal program for your should-personal games. Discover the massive collections of previously played games at fantastic deals and give your older consoles like the PlayStation three , Xbox 360 , and Nintendo Wii U continued life.

An additional of our top rated gaming influencers for 2018 is The Rad Brad We had to include things like this channel mainly because The Rad Brad is a particularly effectively identified YouTube gamer. He produces an unbelievable amount of highly-excellent, enjoyable content material. It is no wonder he's identified for producing the finest video game walkthroughs on social media. The Rad Brad has helped to make a quantity of influencer advertising campaigns a genuine accomplishment.

Gaming content material remains 1 of most effective ways to attain young men. Tubular Labs reports that amongst millennial males, gaming— particularly, gameplay— ranks in the top rated three categories for each 18—24-year-olds (#1) and 25—34-year-olds (#two). But what about females? As it turns out, adult girls have not too long ago unseated teenage boys as the largest video game— playing demographic, according to the Entertainment Software Association YouTube trends reflect this: Viewership among girls has doubled year more than year, and women more than the age of 25 are the fastest-increasing demographic for gaming content material.

Mobile games serve as a supply of swift, boredom-beating entertainment, a bit of tension relief and a distraction from real life worries, and simply as a restful moment (such as gaming in one's downtime). Additionally, 60% of ladies say that gaming makes them really feel good, and considering that mobile gaming is speedy and quick - the game is normally on their particular person - it is straightforward to play while on the go. As Refinery29 says in their dive into girls and mobile gaming, ladies have not been historically nicely-served by the sedentary nature of video games, but mobile gaming alterations the story here, since they can play anyplace.

These numbers can definitely differ per study, but it does appear like the quantity of female serious gamers are on a downward trend. The last time we checked in females were closer to 45%-48% of gamers. We can speculate as to why this is. Possibly females are significantly less fond of the emergence of the eSports trend. Probably females are feeling significantly less incorporated in gaming forums and on line communities following the harassment accusations of the final few years. Maybe they're just much more drawn to other entertainment industries, but this is undoubtedly a trend to continue watching.

Previously, N'Gai Croal wrote articles for Newsweek, Croal left Newsweek back in March mainly because he wanted to stick to his passions slanted extra towards the improvement end of gaming. Croal describes himself as a creative maverick that located himself sidetracked in journalism, but this short-term exploration became a single of the most remarkable points that Croal has ever carried out. As a journalist, Croal has enriched his personal viewpoint and enhanced his information by way of journalism because he has written about a wide variety of subjects.

Normally utilised to refer to games that are created by significant studios with a substantial spending budget, requiring a higher sales volume and in depth application expansions to keep profitability. Like hollywood, these games have a tendency to rely on comparatively low-risk sequels over higher-threat artistic projects, so anticipate to see your function all more than billboards and Tv ads. You will be focused mostly on Pc, Playstation and Xbox gaming for AAA titles.

We use our GeForce Practical experience servers to figure out the best excellent settings based on the user's CPU and GPU, and target higher frame rates than 'normal' optimal settings to make certain the lowest latency gaming practical experience. These settings are automatically applied when the game is launched so gamers do not have to worry about configuring these settings themselves.

[roypstickney]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

#jumplinks {width: 100%; } #jumplinks td { padding: 5px; font-size: 0.9rem !important; }

[itsjessicaisreal]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

#jumplinks {width: 100%; } #jumplinks td { padding: 5px; font-size: 0.9rem !important; } from Marketing https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/thank-you-pages/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[annaxkeating]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

#jumplinks {width: 100%; } #jumplinks td { padding: 5px; font-size: 0.9rem !important; } from Digital https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/thank-you-pages/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[samanthasmeyers]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

#jumplinks {width: 100%; } #jumplinks td { padding: 5px; font-size: 0.9rem !important; } from Marketing https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/thank-you-pages/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[jjonassevilla]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

#jumplinks {width: 100%; } #jumplinks td { padding: 5px; font-size: 0.9rem !important; } from Marketing https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/thank-you-pages/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[josephkchoi]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

#jumplinks {width: 100%; } #jumplinks td { padding: 5px; font-size: 0.9rem !important; } 5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level published first on https://nickpontemrktg.wordpress.com/

[kennethmontiveros]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

#jumplinks {width: 100%; } #jumplinks td { padding: 5px; font-size: 0.9rem !important; } 5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level published first on http://nickpontemktg.blogspot.com/

[reviewandbonuss]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

#jumplinks {width: 100%; } #jumplinks td { padding: 5px; font-size: 0.9rem !important; } https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/thank-you-pages/

[thegoodlifebiz-blog]

How I Attract A Tonne of Free Targeted Traffic To My Blog

How I Attract A Tonne of Targeted Organic Traffic To My Blog

In this post I'm doing a dive deep into the tool I use to promote every blog post I write and how it sends targeted organic traffic to my blog every day. But before I talk about this tool let's take a quick look at Pinterest, what it is and why I've chosen to use it in my business. Using Pinterest Yet...? Here's Why I Suggest Taking a Closer Look A few months ago I made the decision to give Pinterest a go as a way to generate more organic traffic to my blog posts. When I look at my Google Analytics Pinterest has suddenly become my biggest free social referrer even without having a pin go viral ... For months I heard people raving about Pinterest. I was definitely already spread too thin promoting my blog around social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and Digital Bloggers and lots of other niche sites and just didn't want to take on another social media channel... But I'm so glad that I did!

Noteworthy Pinterest demographic data to consider:

* With over 175 Million (with a capital M) users on Pinterest there is definitely a reason to be on there! * 81% of Pinterest users are in fact, Women. * 40% of All new members are Men; 60% All New members are Women. * Men account for merely 7% of overall pins on Pinterest (c'mon guys... start creating content!). * Millennials use Pinterest as much as Instagram (this fact shocked me) * The average age of a Pinterest member is 40 years old, but having said that, more than half of active pinners are under 40. * 50% of Pinterest users earn $50K or more per year, along with 10 percent of Pinteresting households generating greater than $125K. * 30% of US social media users are Pinterest users. * 60% of Pinterest users are from US. All Pinterest stats provided by Omnicoreagency.com

Compared To Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram, where posts from preceding days get lost, Pinterest is a micro search engine for searchable images that act like little gateways straight to your blog posts or affiliate offers. Like Google, quality pins (as categorized by # repins, likes, and clicks) rank at the top of search results regardless of when it was pinned. Pinterest pins are searchable by categories, keywords, and hashtags. And because of this Pinterest has the potential to boost your blog and increase your organic traffic. With Pinterest, the more engaged your account is, the more followers you get. And together with more followers, you have increased odds of your pins being discovered. With more discovery comes a surge of organic traffic straight to your post... WooHoo!! Keeping in mind that Pinterest rewards enthusiastic active members, you want to continue to be active by pinning fabulous content frequently. When I first started out, I was trying to physically share at least 30 pins per day but I found it challenging just make sure most my boards had new pins every day.  

How I Automated A Tonne Of Organic Traffic From Pinterest

If you feel like you don't have time to try and learn a new system like Pinterest? Don't worry, Tailwind has you covered with their short step-by-step video tutorials, teaching you how to use most important features fast and make your Pinterest experience fruitful fast. But even so, In this blog post, I'll definitely be showing you how to start saving time sending a tonne of organic traffic back to your blog posts using Pinterest and Tailwind! Let's face it... your time is best spent creating fabulous content and Tailwind gives you back the time to focus on doing just that. One of the things that got me to test Tailwind out in the first place is that I got to try out the service for Free for a whole month! If you'd like to check it out for yourself you can do that HERE! Becca from Bloguettes offers a super useful walkthrough of some of Tailwind's most popular features:  

1. Bulk Scheduling Made Easy

The Tailwind Chrome Extension ensures scheduling pins from Pinterest or any website you choose to share content from very easy. Also, do you have photos on your device? You can bulk upload images to your Tailwind profile and share them too! The Chrome extension can be found and activated from inside your Tailwind dashboard.

2. What's Your Prime Time To Post?... Don't Know... Tailwind Does!

When you connect your Pinterest account to Tailwind, Tailwind instantly optimizes your pinning schedule so that you pin whenever your followers are most active which really helps with engagement and to send targeted organic traffic to your posts when your visitors are most engaged with your message. This capability removes the uncertainty of trying to figure out when the best time is to pin. But maybe you want to set up your own customized schedule? Tailwind allows you to do that too and it's super easy!

3. Get Board Insights & Pinterest Profile Stats

There's a reason Tailwind insights is ranked close to the top of my list of reasons I love this tool. Having access to this level of insight offers me more detailed information to make decisions on whether I need to pin more or less to specific boards or even leave an inactive Pinterest board altogether.

4. Create Board Lists & Save Time!

One perk of using Tailwind is definitely being able to create board lists. Let's say you see something you want to pin, but that pin could easily go under a number of similar boards you have on Pinterest. Inside Tailwind, you can create group heading and put all the similar boards under that heading. When it's time to schedule a post that fits in all the boards in that board list,  simply click on the dropdown for and select that specific board list and Tailwind populates your pin with ALL the selected boards within that list! Making use of this function saves me the time and effort of scrolling through my never-ending list of Pinterest boards in search of similar boards that I want to publish the same pin to. See in the image below; I have 3 board lists set up; now whenever I select one of these board lists when scheduling a pin... Tailwind will automatically select all of the boards in that list for the pin to be published to.

5. Quick & Easy Unlimited Pinning

Who likes limits? Not me! When you sign up for the annual Plus plan you can schedule an unlimited number of pins with Tailwind (or 400 pins/month with month-to-month subscription) . If this isn't reason enough to fall in love with Tailwind... I don't know what is... When I realized I can organize an unlimited number of pins with TailWind and just set and forget.... for months in advance I thought I'd won the lottery!!

6. Set Intervals For all Your Pins

If you are a contributor to a number of boards, you will undoubtedly appreciate the ability to set up intervals for a pin that fits into all of these related boards (super handy for scheduling your content to multiple Group Boards). You could be tempted to post that blog post pin to all Group Boards at the same time but that method decreases your chances of being found and can be looked at as spam. By using interval pinning, you schedule your pin to be posted on each board on a loop cycle according to the timing of your choice (to be repeated on a certain number of minutes/hours/days or weeks). I personally prefer to spread out my pin by a couple of days at a time. By the time the pin gets posted on the following board, it ought to have gotten a few repins on the previous one. More repins means more reach and organic traffic, here's how: A pin that has been repinned has a higher chance of receiving more repins within the Tribe. Repins = Discovery = Quality organic traffic to your offer. See in the image: Here is an example of interval scheduling to multiple boards. You can see I have 6 boards selected and this pin will be posted to those boards every 2 days and 10 hours into the closest open timeslot I have available in my scheduling calendar.

7. Alerts From Tailwind Help You Stay Compliant With Pinterest

There are a number of pins that link to fraudulent websites. Previously, the only way to know if you were sharing a pin that links to one was by examining every pin prior to you publish it on your board... srsly who has time for that? I use Tailwind's bulk scheduling to send a group of potential pins to my Tailwind drafts over the course of the week. When I am ready to schedule the draft pins to be published on my account, Tailwind quickly checks all pins to make sure that they meet Pinterest's guidelines. Tailwind then flags all pins that have no description, have no link, or that link to questionable websites. I can easily choose to correct the pins or just delete them all. Easy as pie :)

8. Shuffle & Lock Pins

By this stage, I have 100's of pins which I have just scheduled in bulk to be published to certain boards at optimized times on an interval loop. But because I usually search for pins to send to my drafts by doing a keyword search on  Pinterest... this means that all the Pins on similar topics will all be published around the same time (not ideal). But with the push of a button, Tailwind will random shuffles my pins to mix my content to be spread out evenly among my boards. Also, I like to keep a daily pinning balance of 30/70 = 30% my pins & 70% other peoples pins. By locking my blog pins before I shuffle, I'll be certain that pins from my blog are regularly shared 30% of the time every day!

9. Analytics That Help To Make Better Pinning Decisions

By having a Pinterest business profile, you do get access to a small amount of analytics data. Although this is helpful, it offers only limited information. Tailwind provides very detailed analytics on your Pinterest profile. But you also get to see how viral each of your pins are so that you are able to repin those pins more often resulting once again in more organic trafifc for you. In addition, you will definitely be able to see your top performing boards so you can create a pining strategy to pin there more often. Knowledge is power (insert evil witch chuckle here)

10. Drum Roll Please... Tailwind Tribes!

One very special feature unique to Tailwind, that I haven't experienced on any other scheduling platform is the ability to join and create collaborative groups, Tailwind calls these groups Tribes. Here's a quick walk-through on how to get started making the best use of Tailwind Tribes: * Just search for a niche Tribe from within the Tribe's section of the Tailwind dashboard. * Pin a few of your pins that you want to be repinned by the Tribe * Then start repinning your tribe members pins to your boards. This simple tool is the power boost that is unique to Tailwind that you can use to help each other grow, increase exposure, rank higher in search results but most importantly drive targeted traffic back to your website or blog! How to Add A Pin To A Tribe From Your Blog Or Pinterest Go to your blog, Pinterest board, or any website you want to pin from. Hover over the image you want to pin or add to the Tribe. If on your blog/website: The Tailwind button will show up on the bottom left section of the pic. If on Pinterest: The Tailwind button will show up at the top of the pic. The goal of Tribes is to make it quick and easy to work together and distribute content to expand your reach and drive engaged readers and organic traffic to your business. You can also create your own Tribe for other specific niche partnerships if you like! It's worth mentioning that Tailwind is one of the few partners of the Pinterest Marketing Partner Program. This just means that Tailwind gives us access to awesome capabilities while at the same time abiding by Pinterest's Terms of Use and latest updates.

Take Tailwind for A Spin with A Free Month Trial

Tailwind makes it possible for you to try out their service absolutely free without handing over credit card details. The free trial is actually how I started on Tailwind... and now I'm 100% sure I couldn't live without it! Tailwind provides Shamazing customer service; your questions literally get answered in a matter of hours... not days! Now you have a great overview of some of the different ways Tailwind can be used to expand your Pinterest profile, get discovered, and drive quality organic traffic straight to your blog, let's get you set up with your FREE Trial! Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. I will only make recommendations on products and services  I personally believe to be of value.  Read the full article

[the-sapphire-general]

My Thoughts and Feelings on Final Fantasy 15

Hi guys! As I promised, I decided to make a post about my thoughts and feelings I've had as I played Final Fantasy 15. Before I get into it, there will be spoilers throughout this post of the game and the movie (Kingsglaive). Now let's get started!

Prior to this game, I didn't consider myself a Final Fantasy fan. Sure, I got into Final Fantasy 7 and developed a major crush on Sephiroth, but the truth is, I was a fan of just that game and the compilation. Also, I never played any of them...It's true. lol I didn't play FF7 because there's a remake coming up (and I watched an entire walkthrough online), so I feel no need to play it. As for Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus, I had no choice but to watch walkthroughs online. I don't own a PSP or PS2 (the latter was sold a few years back), and that was before I found out about game emulators. So I can play them now (my PS2 emulator sucks, and I want to play DOC, but I can't get the game to run properly >_<). I did see Advent Children though! Anyway, I may have gotten into Final Fantasy via FF7 first, but FF15 is the first Final Fantasy game that I've actually played. I'm a late bloomer, so I got into the series not too long ago. Over a year, I think?? Maybe two? I honestly forgot when I learned about FF7. XD Moving on then. I do know about Kingdom Hearts, which I started prior to getting into FF via FF7, and I'm currently playing through the series. So I was familiar with some FF characters at the time, and I do know them now (Aeris, Cid, Yuffie, Cloud, and of course, Sephiroth) except for Squall/Leon. He's from FF8, so I'll play that one next to get to know him better.

Final Fantasy 15 was a great gaming experience for me. No wonder my friends and boyfriend enjoy the series. They're fun, exciting, have compelling characters, interesting storylines, and there's a lot to do that keeps me intrigued. And Chocobos! They are so cute! I've known about this game months before it came out, and I would have gotten my hands on it when it did, but because of money problems, I didn't get it until a few months ago. I'm glad I finally got it and played it! I've had such a great time along the way, there were times where I really wanted to play, but I was too busy with school or errands or whatever. I was that into it. I think I played over three hours at one point, which is extremely rare for me. I can only manage to play between 2-2 1/2 hours. 

Now that I finished the game, I did some research and took note of people explaining that the story was incomplete or that it was missing a bunch of stuff. I do agree, actually. A lot of stuff took place off-screen. I've heard Square Enix were running out of time, and wanted to release it right away, so a lot has been either cut or left out, such as Lunafreya's own side of the story (really, what has she been doing before Altissia??? I must know!), Cor's own activities (where did he go??)), the events leading to Ignis' accident, and Ardyn's past. I wouldn't say the story was terrible. People exaggerate! I enjoyed the storyline regardless if a lot of content was removed or absent. Lucky for me, my friend even advised me to watch the movie, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 to understand some parts of the game. And I did, so I knew what took place when Insomnia fell. It's all in the movie. In addition, any future DLC can fill the holes in the story and answer unexplained questions. I know I have a lot of them, and one DLC will explain most of them. More on that in a bit. Let's see, anything story-wise...Chapter 13 is the notorious chapter people have been complaining about? I see that this came from longtime Final Fantasy fans. I'm still a newcomer in a way, and I had no problem with that chapter. Except for the jumpscares! >_< I've never played Resident Evil, but I do know a tiny bit of it to realize the chapter had a similar vibe. All in all, the story had me engaged from beginning to end, and the last chapter was the most emotional one for me. I will discuss it shortly in some sections.

I will focus now on the characters. I won't go through every single one of them in great detail, but I will comment on each of them.

Noctis Lucis Caelum: Noctis is a prince unlike one I have personally seen before. He didn't seem to be the typical prince, all proper and stuff. He is a real person besides just being a prince, and very relatable. He has a good heart, but also bottled up a lot of his feelings. I can relate to that. Oftentimes, I tend to do that myself, and like Noctis, I used to be a lively person until I got older and had bad experiences with bullying and such. Also, Noctis didn't want to deal with his duties as a prince and later as a king, but later accepted it even if it meant losing his life. He couldn't cope with things and handle emotional turmoil, and would rather avoid the issues. That's also like me sometimes, so I've noticed a lot of myself in Noctis, and this quote further describes his character. 

"In the Final Fantasy XV Collector's Edition Guidebook, Director Hajime Tabata describes Noctis as having experienced isolation in his youth, and having a fear of losing those close to him. According to Tabata, Noctis's words and actions often stem from a fear of being unable to meet the expectations of those around him, but as a counterbalance he has a desire to please them." 

Source: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Noctis_Lucis_Caelum

That's me in a nutshell. I always feel like I have to reach expectations, and I want to please them, but I know I can't please everyone. I show it more than Noctis does, but nevertheless we are similar. We also hate vegetables. XD Another character shares similarities with me as well, and he's another one of my favorite Chocobros, and the cutest one. Prompto Argentum.

Prompto Argentum: Prompto is adorable! He's funny, cheerful, and a complete fan of technology. He's playful, sweet, and loves animals, just like me! We're such techno nerds, I love it. At first, I considered our personalities to be different no matter the few similarities we have until I discovered his hidden feelings. I found out about it online because I skipped the cutscene in the game, but Prompto felt like an outcast, even with his own friends. He also used to be shy (the Brotherhood anime confirms this), so he had a lonely childhood. Once I realized all of this, I knew we were more similar that I thought. I always feel like an outcast too, like I don't belong anywhere, not even with my own friends and family, so I understand how he feels. Even more so when I found out he's an MT. Prompto wanted to feel like he fit in, and that's what made me connect with him. Prompto is cute and adorable, but he sure is a deep thinker.

Ignis Scientia: "That's it! I've come up with a new recipe!" That's one of my favorite lines from Ignis. Ignis has a cool and serious personality, and I saw some of myself in him as well. We also wear glasses. XD He's the brains of the group just like how I'm the brains of my group (my boyfriend is intelligent too, but I'm just as important lol). I love his sarcastic comments, and how he acted like a mother towards Noctis. It was hilarious and sweet! Men can be nurturing and motherly, and Ignis is proof. I admit I did my utmost best to keep the entire group safe as I played FF15. You can see the lengths I took just to protect them. Ignis later became the one I wanted to protect a lot when he lost his sight. I was considerate when his pace became slow, and it made me feel like protecting him at all costs. Of course, at the same time, I knew he could learn to handle himself, and he did as time passed. Heck, he saved the entire team from the Malboro! That was badass. Ignis is an example of a character who doesn't let his disability become a burden. It was a respectable portrayal of a blind character. I wish people in real life could do the same and respect disabled people.

Gladiolus Amicitia: Gladio, the man I have done so much fan service throughout my posts for a certain friend of mine. lol Gladiolus is tough on the outside, but cheerful on the inside. As Noctis' shield, Gladio is a loyal bodyguard, despite how I disagreed with him during his arguments with Noctis and his impatience towards him when he's not taking his duties seriously. He meant well, however, but still, no need to give Noct a bad time, especially after he loses his beloved.....More on that shortly. Gladio is the tough guy that expresses his opinions and does his best to keep the team focused on their goal, but like his friends, he doesn't shy away from emotions. Even Gladio had his fears about not being strong enough to protect Noctis. On a random note, I've gotten so many shots of his butt, some intentional and some way unexpected. lol I found it funny, and I saved all those screenshots for my friend and any other Gladio fangirls out there. My friend is madly in love with Gladio, so it was a pleasant treat for her. 

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret: Okay, my feelings as I got to know her went from hating her to later loving her. I blame Kingsglaive for my dislike because Luna barely did anything, so that made me not like her. I wouldn't say she's passive. She is determined to follow her goal to protect Noctis, follow her duties, and do what she must to help him. It was not until I started playing the game that my opinion on her changed. Luna did her own thing outside of the narrative, and I have the feeling she's more capable that how she appears. I mean, Noctis wasn't there when she confronted the gods. We didn't know what she was going through when she left Insomnia. We did manage to see her confronting Leviathan, and just when I think she would be a damsel-in-distress, she uses the staff. Before that, Luna impressed me with his she remained calm even with guns pointing at her. I would have freaked out if I were in her position. I rewatched the movie a while ago, and she does act her own initiative. She's strong-willed and compassionate, I grew to love her...a little too late, story-wise. She does in Altissia because of Ardyn, and I honestly felt more for her than for Aeris (who I didn't like at first, but now I do. But her death hardly made me feel anything.). Just when I start to like Luna, she dies. Now I wonder what she was up to prior to her tragic death. I cried a little when she died, but Noctis took it harder than me. I am officially a NoctisXLuna fan because of the game, and I'm glad they got together in the afterlife.

Gentiana: Gentiana is a mystery, which is why I was (and still am) curious about her. Calm and elegant, I wish I had known more about her. She’s the alter ego of Shiva, which came as a surprise for me. So she wasn’t just a Messenger to the humans from the gods. She’s Shiva! Out of all the gods, she’s the one I like the most. And I kind of ship her with Ifrit (wtf? XD). If she gets her DLC (along with Ardyn, Luna, basically any of the characters in the FF15 survey), I will be so excited!

King Regis Lucis Caelum: He wasn't shown as much, but he came off as a father who deeply cared about his son, and wished for him to find his own way. He cared for his son but didn't have a lot of time to be with him, and had him depart so he wouldn't know what was happening in the kingdom. He died too soon, and I liked him.

Ravus Nox Fleuret: Like his younger sister, my feelings for Ravus started off with not liking him. He sought for revenge against the Caelum bloodline since he blamed King Regis for the death of his mother and Tenebrae being lost to Niflheim, and wanted to become the King of Light to replace Noctis. Despite his bitterness, Ravus cares for his sister, knowing the risks she would take, and tried to protect her while serving Niflheim, but knew she had to fulfill her duties as Oracle. He later accepts her goal, and eventually believes that Noctis is the True King. It was a shame that he died because I grew to like him too. Man, there's so much death in FF15. I wouldn't mind a DLC episode of Ravus.

Cor Leonis: Cor is stubborn, stern, and strict, but watched over them as it was his duty. Like Regis, Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto, he swore to protect Noctis. I liked him, and I wish I could have seen him more.

Iris Amicitia: Gladio's cute little sister. Her crush on Noctis was adorable, but it also hurt because it was unrequited love. I've been there myself. Gladio truly cares for her, and their relationship was sweet. I wish I had seen her after the time-skip. She became a daemon hunter??? They better show that in a DLC. It would definitely give me Devil May Cry vibes like certain battles of the game. Also, I ship older Iris with older Talcott. Maybe they got together. lol

Aranea Highwind: Ever since I first saw her, I took a liking to her free-spirit and sassy demeanor. We could get along real well if she existed. She is a badass during battles! Why couldn't I see her before the final battle???? She's my favorite FF15 girl.

Talcott Hester: He was a minor character, but he was cute. I had fun getting the Cactuars for him, and it was nice to see him all grown up.

Cindy Aurum: She was alright, bright and lively. Her outfit was distracting. Don't get me wrong, she's pretty and I don't have problems with sexy women, but the outfit...I wouldn't wear that, not even for money. XD Nevertheless, her upbeat and friendly attitude makes up for it.

Cid Sophiar: I looked up Final Fantasy stuff and I do know that Cid is a common character in each installment. He's just like Cid Highwind from FF7! But he swears less.

Dino Ghiranze: Dino is a minor character I loved instantly. His passion for jewelry caught my attention, and if I had known about his fate, I would have done all his sidequests before finishing the game. When Noctis returns ten years later to Galdin Quay, Dino's clothes were on the bench. For my own sake, I want to believe that he stripped naked to swim or whatever and when daemons came, he ran off. >_< I want to believe he survived, so please don't ruin it for me!

Nyx Ulric: He's from the Kingsglaive movie, along with Libertus and Crowe, but I felt like talking about him. Nyx is one of my FF15 crushes (besides Ignis, Prompto, and one I will not say yet). Heroic and loyal, he did everything he could to protect Insomnia but later died. The sad part is Libertus never found out his fate. Maybe as time passed, he did.

Libertus Ostium: Like Nyx, he was a great guy who only wanted to fight against Niflheim, but later took a different path when Crowe Altius died.

Crowe Altius: I swear, she did far too soon. I liked her right away! Laid-back and cool, she could have been great if she had remained alive.

And finally, the character I saved for last, my #1 FF15 crush...

Ardyn Izunia: Ardyn...I have so much to say about him and him alone. Ardyn is a complex man, polite and flamboyant, sassy and humorous, and later deranged and cruel. When I first saw him even before FF15 came out, I fell in love. Yes, I loved him even though I knew nothing about him. He instantly caught my attention, and he captivated me even more when I saw him in Kingsglaive, with both his personality and his unique attire, which I'm crazy about nowadays just like Sephiroth's clothes. lol My feelings for Ardyn from the start were "love at first sight". Unlike my other fictional crushes, however, as I progressed in the game, I started to have doubts about liking him. He started off as a guy who seemed to help Noctis and his friends, and I looked forward to seeing him whenever he showed up. But once I made it to Altissia, he went from the sassy man I have loved even before I got to know him to being a ruthless and insane man with a desire for vengeance after what he had endured 2000 years ago. That's right. 2000 years ago. Ardyn Izunia, or Ardyn Lucis Caelum, is an immortal man and a former Lucian king. He absorbed the Starscourge, which transformed people into daemons, and he saved thousands only to be rejected by the Astrals and demonized by a jealous future king. There's a theory that this king is Ardyn's brother, Izunia, which can explain the jealousy thing, but I would rather learn more about Ardyn's past in his DLC episode, which I hope is soon!! I really want to play as Ardyn so badly! Ahem. Sorry about that. Ardyn swore revenge against the Lucian bloodline.

  What does this have to do with my mixed feelings for Ardyn? Well, everything. Ardyn was frighteningly evil, even he scared me on certain scenes. His sassy side became twisted, it just wasn't amusing to see but creepy. He plots revenge for two millennia, he murders Lunafreya, he stalks Noctis and his group on the train leading to Tenebrae, tricks Noctis into attacking Prompto and pushing him off a moving train, kidnaps Prompto, taunts Noctis during Chapter 13, turns Ravus into a daemon, plunges all of Eos into infinite darkness and turns it into a world infested with daemons that kill so many people, creates an illusion of the corpses of Regis, Luna, Ravus, and Nyx when Noctis and his friends arrive to the throne room, and actually wins in the end after Noctis...kills him. The final battle confirmed how insane he was, and that whatever sanity he had was gone. I mean, his maniacal laugh and comments during the fight caught me off-guard. It just shows how everything he had been through screwed him over during those 2000 years. *sigh* I confess that Ardyn creeped me out with his sadistic side and everything he had done, but he also intrigued me. But I also confess that killing him made me cry. Not like bawling, but crying. I really liked Ardyn, and despite my mixed feelings for him, I grew to love him. I love him because he was a compelling villain that managed to succeed in being a great one (like Sephiroth), and I wish I didn't have to kill him. But during his final moments, that daemon-like sound he did right before Noctis ended his immortal existence so he could finally rest in peace made me realize he had to die. He suffered too much, and it had to be done. 

Like Sephiroth, I sympathized with Ardyn regardless of everything he had done. Both characters descended into madness to have revenge on those who hurt them, and were both cruel, cold, and calculating in their own respective ways. Rumor has it that Ardyn beat Sephiroth and Kefka. Now, Kefka comes off as a Joker clone to me from what I've read, so I don't care. But Sephiroth????? I love Sephiroth, and I'm in denial if Ardyn did beat him, mainly because I'm a huge Sephiroth fan. FF15 did a great job developing a complex villain that had many layers in him. Ardyn is the kind of villain I grew to hate, and then later love. He was a broken man that my friend and I both love, and we would have done anything to save him. I know I would because I took his death pretty hard. Call me overemotional, but I don't care. I even heard that FF15 may or may not have a sequel. Personally, I don't know if that's possible. FF15 had a pretty solid ending, albeit bittersweet. Where would it go? Also, who would the villain be anyway??? Ardyn was an amazing villain, and nobody can top him in the FF15 universe. It just wouldn't be the same without Ardyn. Ardyn, you have won me over, and I'm officially one of your biggest fans.

Phew! This has been one of the longest post I have ever done. Final Fantasy 15 is a wonderful game, and I'm glad I played it. I laughed and cried with the characters, I identified with them, the story kept me engaged from beginning to end, and it introduced me to a series that I'm looking forward to enjoying as I move on to the other installments. The Final Fantasy 7 remake won't be released until who knows when, so in the meantime, I'll try out other installments. My FF15 playthrough may be over for now, but there will be more to come with future DLC, and I'm going to do some post-game videos later. I'll see you guys later!

The complete playthrough is right here on my channel. Stay tuned for more FF15 gameplay!

Final Fantasy 15 Playthrough

[roypstickney]

5 Thank You Pages That Take Post-Conversion to the Next Level

If you’re like me, you say “please” and “thank you” automatically. 

You’ve been saying these magic words since you were a kid. Because you were strongly motivated. Forget your manners, and you’d be humiliated in front of your family or strangers. Refuse altogether, and you’d be denied the obscure object of desire. 

“What do we say?” “Pweese.” Boom—the chunky monkey is yours! 

For today’s marketers, the problem with habitual politeness is that the delivery of a thank you message should never be a reflex. If a “thank you” rings hollow, the response from your customers will be equally rote.

“Thank You.” “You’re Welcome.” End of conversation.

See the problem here?

A thank you page is not the end of the transaction. It’s the next step in keeping people engaged with your brand or product, generating continued goodwill, further qualifying your leads—or even increasing order values or making more sales.

When it comes to your digital campaigns, how you say thank you should be an essential cornerstone of your post-conversion strategy. So let’s talk about a few ways you can approach creating better thank you pages. Along the way, we’ll explore some very effective thank you page examples created by Unbounce customers.

5 Tips from 5 Thank You Pages

1. Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call 4. Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask 2. Reveal the Next Steps 5. Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site 3. Reinforce Your Brand Personality

Thank You Tip #1: Invite ‘Em for a Specific, Strategic Call

The example below from Australia’s Axis Social applies every best practice out there (and then some) to maximize its post-conversion potential:

Image courtesy of Axis Social. Click it to see the whole thing.

This isn’t a landing page, though it might look a lot like one at first glance. It’s a thank you page (as opposed to a confirmation box or popup). And that’s why it’s so powerful. It does a lot of what a traditional lead-gen page might do, but it does it after the initial conversion goal has been met.

At this point in the interaction, the team at Axis has already captured the visitor’s email address in exchange for a downloadable Buyer’s Guide. Instead of letting the interaction end there, Axis goes the extra mile to communicate their value as an agency.  According to Managing Director Matthew Asimus, this page helped them bridge the gap between a marketing qualified (MQL) and sales qualified (SQL) lead:

We hypothesized that a number of users who engaged with, and converted on, our first MQL landing page would develop an additional level of trust and thus a propensity to ascend from an MQL into an SQL. In essence, we were hoping to move users through a ‘yes cascade’ or ‘yes ladder’ to improve conversion rates. Our initial results from this MQL ascension approach are incredibly exciting.  Despite the campaigns using cold paid traffic from social and requesting 7 form fields, our landing page conversion rates are nearly 30%. What’s more, our lead qualification rates align with our other sales qualified lead generation approaches.

Note just how much persuasive material they’ve included here:

Social proof in the form of both brand logos (visible above the fold, naturally) and extensive testimonials from individual clients.

A walkthrough of the social strategy call that highlights compelling benefits (“explosive lead growth for your business” sounds good to me) and gives the call a definitive structure and purpose. 

The enticing promise of another resource, a custom Facebook Ads Blueprint, that’ll prove equally valuable to Axis Social’s targeted customers.

The beauty of this approach is that it also scales to suit visitors without adding more pressure to the experience. If a visitor hits this page but doesn’t want to connect with Axis Social at the moment, there’s nothing here preventing them from clicking away. 

But when visitors arrive with questions—or, say, balanced on the fine line between consideration and conversion—this thank you page gives them the extra nudge they need.

Thank You Tip 2: Reveal Next Steps

Speaking of next steps, if you’ve ever taken an action online—like submitting a form or making a purchase—without receiving any response, you know the existential dread that follows: 

Did it… work? What happens next? Should I do it again?

What… am… I… supposed… to… do… now!? 

Maybe I’m exaggerating a touch, but it’s always important to let the visitor know about the next steps—especially if clicking your call-to-action isn’t the end of things. Doing so will reduce friction, frustration, and uncertainty. Even if the next step will be yours to take, let people know what you’re doing and when they can expect to hear from you. 

For example, notice how Zendrive does it here with a couple of lines:

Image courtesy of Zendrive.

It’s all clearly communicated. In the headline, they let their B2B prospects know that they’ve successfully completed the “first step.” Then the page sets expectations about what comes next (and when): “You will receive a message shortly with your invite to an executive briefing.” 

Finally, it’s also worth taking note of how Zendrive suggests further reading from the site by linking to a piece of content from their blog. Providing a link to a single, valuable piece of content (as opposed to their blog as a whole) helps build trust before the briefing ever begins.

Bonus Tip: Offer Downloadable Downloadables on Your Thank You Pages

OK, full disclosure: I’m slipping this lil’ bonus tip in here just because it’s a pet peeve of mine. 

Have you ever signed up for an ebook, report, or white paper that never seems to find its way to the inbox? It sucks. When this happens, you leave visitors feeling frustrated or even a little ripped off, since they’ve just exchanged your email address for nothing at all. 

(I can’t click “unsubscribe” fast enough when this happens.)

What makes it so painful, though, is that there’s a dead-simple way of getting around this issue on your thank you pages:

Unless you’ve got a very special reason you need to deliver a file only via email, provide a download link on the thank you page itself. That way, visitors who’re anxious to start reading (like me) are satisfied. You can still start a drip campaign, of course. But you also eliminate the possibility that your downloadable never makes it to them.

Thank You Tip 3: Reinforce Brand Personality

This post features a few thank you pages that will feel a little “aspirational” for small marketing teams (or teams of one) who are short on time and resources. So it’s worth looking at how much gets done in this straightforward example from the fine people at Launchpeer:

Image courtesy of Launchpeer.

It’s personable, playful, and a little quirky. Most importantly, though, it’s thoughtful. As in, it demonstrates thought.

Even if you’ve seen this meme a million times before, this page lets you know that Launchpeer is a brand who, y’know, gets it. (And gets you.) Plus, when you click away, you leave with a pleasant association with the brand.

Tom Hanks is a good choice here too: he’s so darned affable and unlikely to be outed as a serial killer any time soon. I’m speculating, but this quick “t.hanks” from Launchpeer probably didn’t take a heck of a lot of time to create.

You can create your own fun images and animations, but the takeaway here should be that even a small effort leaves a much stronger impression than a generic thank you message. It shows how a humorous gif, playful animation, or unexpected message can generate tons of delight and goodwill.

(Of course, they also promote their podcast in this thank you page. And, again, offer that next step now that their visitor is on a roll engaging with their brand. So a little goes a long way…)

Thank You Tip 4: Win Them Over First, Then Make A Second Ask

Usually, when a visitor takes a small action, they become more likely to take another, bigger one. That’s why the most effective thank you pages often follow-up with a bigger ask, and why multi-staged forms are usually recommended by CRO specialists and agencies. 

Sometimes it helps if the initial action is immediately appealing to your prospects. Take, for example, this contest created for Veeam by Gameplan Marketing:  

Image courtesy of Veeam and Gameplan Marketing. Click it to see the whole thing.

Leads are captured by offering prizes to IT professionals (like a fitness tracker, a hotel gift card, or Apple AirPods) in exchange for taking a short survey about their current data centers and cloud storage solutions. Like the example from Zendrive above, the thank you page then reminds visitors what they can expect next.

But afterward, this thank you page also makes a second ask. Visitors who’re are (gently) encouraged to sign up to access a free, gated content hub. Since they’ve already provided their info to enter the contest, they’re now more predisposed to do so. Gameplan also includes a sweet explainer video (it appears on the contest page and the thank you page) that briefly outlines the benefits of their cloud-based data-management product.

Thank You Tip 5: Keep ‘Em Engaged With Your Site

One thing that most of these examples have in common is that they lead visitors back to the website or prompt another piece of content. You can take this even further, though.

For the launch of Unbounce’s Ultimate Ecommerce Landing Page Lookbook, for instance, the team created a landing page where visitors can grab it.

Here’s what the landing page for this guide looks like:

Click the image to visit the complete page. (Opens in a new tab.)

Eye-catching, right? And if it helps convince visitors that this lookbook is worth the download, then call it a success. It’s an awesome resource for any marketer looking for inspiration, so it’s not a tough sell.

However, we’ve also got plenty more content and resources to offer our ecomm visitors, including material further down the funnel. And we’d love to keep visitors coming back for it.

That’s why the thank you page is so crucial here. We want to keep the conversation going, so we use a thank you page to ask visitors another quick question on the way out. Depending on what visitors choose, they’ll be directed to additional resources.

I’ve included a screenshot of this choose-your-own-adventure flow below:

Click it to see the whole thing.

The answer that readers provide to this general question (i.e., “What’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer?”) does three things:

The answer allows us to offer up additional, curated content and resources at the moment of conversion. This is the material we think visitors will find particularly useful. We include content from across the funnel, including editorial, educational, and promotional sources.

It lets us get to know our audience and their concerns a little better. The optional follow-up question on the thank you page helps us further qualify interest from visitors via progressive profiling and learn more about customers and non-customers alike. 

It provides insight into our audience’s information needs. From a content planning and strategy perspective, this is invaluable as we fill content gaps, decide on what pieces need to be updated, and prioritize the creation of new resources.

So a single thank you page can become a source of marketing insight, an engagement driver, and a lead qualifier. All this happens by asking a single additional question at the right moment.

Curious about the Unbounce ecommerce lookbook? Take a look at the whole flow here. (Yes, we’ll need your email. Tell ‘em Colin sent ya.) While you’re at it, download it for your landing page swipe file.

Thanks for Reading (About Thank You Pages)

I find a real-world analogy enlightening here: imagine if brick-and-mortar retailers were to escort you to the exit and lock the door each time you make a purchase.

That’d be crazy, right? 

So why do it on your landing pages?

Unfortunately, smart uses of thank you pages like these ones from our customers are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, a lot of examples out there look more like this bland form confirmation box, typo and all:

Pages like this one just don’t put as much care into saying thank you as they do their “pleases.” (That’s not great, Bob.)

A thank you page shouldn’t be a hard stop, and if that’s the habit you’ve gotten into, consider breaking it.

Thank you pages are super versatile. You can use them with subscriptions, downloads, webinar registrations, shopping carts, quote requests, demo signups, and contact forms. They can be used for upselling (or cross-selling), for offering discounts, for encouraging referrals, for soliciting feedback and testimonials, or for generating social shares. Holy moly.

Whether you’re selling something or generating leads, saying “thank you” in an unexpected and meaningful way is an opportunity to make a lasting impression. And, when incorporated into a thoughtful post-conversion strategy, it can boost your revenue too.

To close, here are three big points worth remembering if you’re trying to make a case for spending more time on your thank you pages:

A healthy open rate for emails in your nurture campaign is between 15-25%. How many of those new leads will see your thank you page? Close to 100%, I’d wager. Start nurturing right away!

According to research done by Bain & Company, “loyal online customers, just like offline ones, spend more, refer more people, and are more willing to expand their purchasing into new categories.” Well-considered thank you pages represent an incredible opportunity to create loyalty and build brand affinity.

If you get enough traffic and have a clear secondary conversion goal, remember that thank you pages can be A/B tested and optimized just like your landing pages. Post-conversion remains an important touchpoint for your conversion rate optimization planning.

So if you’re already designing landing pages, make saying “thank you” as much a part of the process as your headline, form, and call to action.

And, hey, thanks for reading.

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