How to Add a Custom Thank You Page and Survey for Email Subscribers

As bloggers and other online business owners, we focus a lot of attention on getting people to opt-in to our email lists.

It’s a common theme you’ll hear repeated over and over again whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just starting out.

The topic never gets old because the need never dies. We all want more readers, more subscribers, and more influence, right?

Even if all you’re after is your 1000 True Fans, that’s still 1000 people to convince.

You may have seen Derek Halpern’s latest video on why everyone should be using “those annoying popups.”

There are dozens of plugins and software tools that promise to improve your opt-in rate, with names like OptinMonster and Popup Domination.

Heck, LeadPages raised $5 million just a few months ago because they’re better at generating opt-ins than anyone else. Solving such a widespread need is a good business model!

And I’m in the same boat — I’d love to grow my modest list. (Here are 5 creative ways to do it, without resorting to popups.)

But that’s not what this post is about.

This post is about what you do in the critical moments after someone has entrusted you with their email.

You Sealed the Deal, Now What?

Remember the saying, “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression!”

Well for nearly a year, the first impression I offered new email subscribers was an ugly-ass default confirmation page that looked like this:

Perhaps you recognize this page, maybe because I sent you there — or maybe because you’re subjecting your subscribers to the same fate.

My bad, guys.

Does that do ANYTHING to add value, build confidence, or reinforce your brand?

Not so much.

So what am I doing now?

Take a look and see for yourself, if you’re not already on the list. (Plus you’ll get a copy of the 5 Fastest Ways to Make More Money and you can unsubscribe anytime — no hard feelings.)

See what I just did there? Subtle, right?

Creating a Custom Thank You Page in Aweber

In Aweber (my email service provider of choice after some rookie mistakes landed my MailChimp account in hot water), I noticed that each Sign-Up Form you create has a drop-down menu where you can select the Thank You Page.

Note: I just tested the “Audio Version” … not recommended unless you want your new subscribers to have a heart attack. Auto-play + volume cranked up from previous Hulu session = jumping out of my chair!

When I originally set up the forms, I must have been in lean-startup mode and in a rush just to publish and move on, because I didn’t look past the “Basic Version.”

And that’s fine for when you’re starting out.

But if you’re a couple months deep and starting to gain some traction, direct your attention to the “Custom Page” option. You can input any URL you like.

(MailChimp and other email service providers offer this functionality too.)

So I decided to create a custom “thank you” page that more accurately expressed my gratitude to anyone brave enough to open their inboxes to me.

Now, new subscribers:

• Stay on a SideHustleNation.com branded page instead of bouncing off to an Aweber page.
• Learn they are “My new favorite person” instead of being treated like an anonymous nobody.
• Are greeted by this guy who let’s them know they’re awesome:

You can create this Page in your WordPress admin, just like you would create an About Page or Service Page.

The Next Level: Adding a Survey

Since Aweber can sometimes take a few minutes to deliver the confirmation email, I wanted to take advantage of that awkward waiting game.

Why not use it to get to know your new subscribers a little better, so you can build a better resource for them in the future?

And why not use a FREE tool, like Google Forms to do it?

Here’s how to set it up.

In Google Drive, select Form from the Create dropdown menu:

Follow the instructions to create your short survey. Mine currently has 6 questions:

1. What’s your hustle?
2. Short-term goals?
3. Long-term goals?
4. What’s holding you back?
5. City nearest you? (Opportunities for local meetups when traveling, or self-organized meetups given a large enough critical mass.)
6. Email? (It’s weird to ask for this again right after they gave it to you, but Aweber doesn’t talk to Google Drive and Google doesn’t capture this info automatically on form submits for privacy reasons.)

I think shorter is better. I could probably do without the goals questions to gain a higher response rate, but I find it makes people think of their “why” — not just what’s my hustle, but what am I hustling for?

(Might test that next month — it’s easy to add/subtract questions from the form.)

So far I’m getting a 24% response rate, and the responses are REALLY eye-opening. This is inside information on my visitors I never otherwise would have gotten.

Once you’ve added all your questions, you’ll see a button at the bottom of the page to “Send form.”

That will bring up an overlay popup with options to grab the link, send the form via email, or embed it. That’s the option we want.

Next, you’ll enter in the height and width (in pixels) of the form as you’d like it to appear on your site. For me, this took a little bit of trial and error because they don’t actually tell you how many pixels tall your form is!

Then you grab the embed code and paste it into the Text editor tab of your WordPress compose box (not the Visual editor) just like you would if you were embedding a YouTube video.

And now you’re in business with an all-pro custom Thank You page that helps you gain valuable new insights about your readers!

************

(image source)