30 Reasons Your ESL Teacher Website Needs “Thank You” Pages

Your parents probably drummed it into you.

It’s polite to say “thank you” after somebody gives you something.

And that’s absolutely true. So if you have an ESL teacher website you should make sure you have dedicated “thank you” pages where you redirect your visitors every time they submit a form or complete a purchase.

• When they submit their email on your email marketing squeeze page, send them to a “thank you” page.
• When they book a trial lesson, send them to a “thank you” page.
• When they pay for a program of lessons, send them to a “thank you” page.

So is it just about “politeness”? Nope.

The humble “thank you” page is a secret ingredient in your marketing cookbook.

When used correctly, your “thank you” pages will improve your return on investment (ROI) and emphasize your brand positioning with both new and existing students.

Why are these pages such a big deal?

Here are 30 reasons why your ESL teacher website MUST include dedicated “thank you” pages.

Acknowledge That You Received a Submission

This first one is kind of obvious. We’ve probably all had the experience of clicking a “submit” button and then … nothing.

It’s a poor user experience if we are left wondering whether our form submission was actually received anywhere.

Sending users to a “thank you” page on your ESL teacher website is an unmistakable  acknowledgment that the form was successfully submitted or payment received.

Reassure the Student That He/She Made a Great Decision

Buyers remorse is when a customer immediately feels regret or anxiety, especially after a purchase decision. It’s not uncommon with online transactions, especially for higher value decisions.

Restate the value of the offer and remind the student how you are going to solve their problems. Use the “thank you” pages on your ESL teacher website to reinforce the benefits students can expect after taking your English lessons.

Tell the Student What to Expect Next

In simple, direct language, tell the visitor what the next step on their buyers journey will be.

• If they submitted their email to get a downloadable asset, tell them to check their email inbox or click on the download link.
• If they have signed up for a trial lesson, tell them when to expect a reminder email or SMS text message.
• If they have signed up for a lesson program, explain when the first lesson is scheduled or ask them to book it themselves.

Make the stepping stones for becoming a customer on your ESL teacher website very obvious.

Avoid the “Spam Folder of Death”

Ask visitor to check their email inbox. Email communication is a marvelous thing (when it works) but unfortunately some mail clients can gobble up that mail containing the customer’s precious download link or trial lesson information. It could happen if your customer has aggressive “spam filter” settings.

It doesn’t hurt to remind your customer to check their spam fold and ask them to whitelist your email address.

Often there is a few minutes gap between submitting the form and getting delivery of the confirmation email. So advise your client that they may need to allow for a 5 -10 minute delay. That will reduce confusion and anxiety.

Remind Students to Put Your Appointment in Their Calendar

Everyone is busy these days, so it’s easy to overlook commitments.

The “thank you” page on your ESL teacher website can remind students to put lesson appointments into their diary, whether that be Google calendar or something else.

Notice on Neil Patel’s “thank you” page how he offers a way to add his webinar registration to Google Calendar, ICal, Outlook and even to register for an SMS text reminder.

Provide a Way to Contact You Directly

Include a simple contact form on the “thank you” page of your ESL teacher website so that your customers can iron out any questions or concerns. Alternatively, add a clickable email link that opens up their native email client in a new browser window.

Reconfirm Your Authority as a Niche Expert

Refer again to your licenses, degrees, employment experience and other qualifications 🎓.

You can also show client statistics like how many students you have taught in your niche.

If you have any media mentions, for example if you’ve been a guest on a podcast, you should mention that.

The “thank you” page is an opportunity to consolidate your brand positioning as the “go-to” teacher in your niche.

Restate Your Brand Mission

Another thing you can do to reinforce student perceptions is to restate your brand mission 🎯.

Take a look at the “thank you” page for personal coaching service Fizzle. They prominently say, “Our mission is simple: to help you earn a living independently doing something you care about”.

Build Trust by Displaying Social Proof

The “thank you” page can be a great place to again show off those testimonials from satisfied students on your ESL teacher website.

If you have provided teaching services directly to any client HR departments, be sure to show that company’s logo.

Case studies which show how you have helped students overcome particular communication problems are also a valuable way to build trust in your services with new students.

Make a Memorable Connection

Rather than just showing a bland, transaction oriented “thank you” page, take the opportunity to spice things up by including a motivating quote, a thought-provoking image or a fun meme. You’re more likely to create an impression that your students will remember.

Introduce Your Other Service Offerings

The “thank you” page is a prime opportunity to showcase your other ESL services or course programs and improve your ROI. The customer has just committed themselves in some way so use that momentum to your advantage. Students are NEVER more likely to buy something from you than after they have ALREADY JUST BOUGHT something else from you. This is how upsell marketing platforms such as ClickFunnels have made millions for their customers. Your ESL teacher website should do the same.

Watch Julie Fjelgaard from SleekNote talk about “persuasion triggers” and how getting a customer to make a small commitment often leads to a secondary bigger commitment.

Give a Special Offer

Everybody likes to receive a rare discount or a bonus gift. Your “thank you” page can be the perfect place to introduce a coupon code as part of an “upsell offer”. Make it easy for your student to share the coupon code with their network of friends.

Include a Low-Priced Offer

As an alternative to the upsell, you might try offering a low ticket price item on your “thank you” page.

Let’s say you offer a comprehensive downloadable e-book for $5 or access to a video course for the same amount. This has been called the “self liquidating offer” strategy.

The objective with this type of promotion is to recoup just enough money to cover your marketing expenses. It’s a common tactic for paid advertising campaigns like Google pay-per-click or Facebook ads.

Show the FOMO Offer

Your “thank you” page can be an opportunity to use a count down timer or some other “fear of missing out” (FOMO) tactic for moving students further along your sales funnel.

For example, running a limited registration webinar with a count down until registrations close could be a useful way to build interest in your live English lessons.

Ask the Student to Write a Review.

You don’t get what you never ask for. Use your “thank you” page to let students know that their comment, review or testimonial is important to you. Show them a link to your testimonial collection page and use the link again in your follow-up email communication.

Collect Market Research

Your “thank you” page can be the perfect opportunity to dig deeper into your customer base using a survey to find out what makes them tick.

You can ask students to tell you more about themselves. Ask open-ended feedback questions about your offer e.g. what made you interested in this download, trial lesson, course program etc.

You can also start collecting quantitative information about your user base demographics e.g. how old, what education level, what job category etc.

All of this will help you to craft a highly targeted marketing message for your niche audience.

Offer a Level Test Quiz

A well-designed language quiz can educate in two directions. You can find out more about the language proficiency of your site visitors. But a quiz can also highlight to the quiz taker where their weak spots lie and maybe encourage them to take more lessons with you.

One interesting approach might be to use a voice message capture tool like Speak Pipe on your “thank you” page. You could use it to collect spoken answers to questions like “Describe your job for me in 60 seconds or less”. Then you review those voice messages and respond to the prospective student with detailed suggestions about what they should work on fixing.

Add Links to Your Best Content

On your “thank you” page you could include links to your best and most popular informational content, whether that is blog posts or infographic PDFs.

Showcasing your best material helps to position you as the niche expert.

Show an Explainer Video

Video is the king of content formats. It is easier for people to consume than text. It also provides an opportunity to bring your authentic personality to the table.

Make an explainer video about your live trial lessons and include that on your email squeeze form “thank you” page. Or consider making an explainer video about the benefits of enrolling in your 20 lesson program and embed that on your trial lesson “thank you” page.

Promote an Online Event

Live events have become very popular in recent years. All the main social media platforms now seem to have live broadcasting tools, and give live feeds a preference boost in their content broadcast algorithms.

Whether it’s a webinar or a livestream broadcast, you could potentially use your “thank you” page to validate interest in the event. For example, include a page saying that as soon as you have 20 attendees enrolled you will schedule an “ask me anything” workshop.

Ask Students to Follow or Subscribe

Make sure your “thank you” page has links to all your social media accounts and ask students to stay connected with you on Facebook, YouTube etc. Staying connected in the online places where students spend most of their time is an important way to build your brand reputation and brand awareness.

Ask Students to Like or Comment

Even better than following or subscribing is to get students engaging with your accounts. Likes, comments, reposts and saves are all active engagements that your social media platforms will reward you for. Social media algorithms boost the “reach” accounts with strong user engagement to a much wider audience.

Ask Students to Share Links to Your Site

The “Holy Grail” for most website owners is to have visitors share links to their website on the social web. It doesn’t happen as often as us content creators would like, but it’s an invaluable way of spreading awareness when it does happen.

If you include a promotional offer such as a discount coupon on the “thank you” page, be sure to include social share buttons so that students can easily tell their friends.

Ask Students to Email a Friend

Not everyone is using the same social media platforms, so it’s a good idea to include an email link that will open up the user’s default email client. Ask students to email a friend and tell them about your service if they like it. You can offer incentives for friend referrals.

Ask Students to Join Your Email Marketing List

If your sales funnel campaign is sending people directly to a trial lesson sign up page, you may want to get them onto your email marketing list as well. Include a newsletter sign-up form or some free downloadable material as a lead magnet.

Introduce a Sweepstakes Promotion or Contest

Sweepstakes and contests are very popular way for businesses to spread awareness about their brands. Sweepstakes are programs where prizes are awarded purely by random. For example, if a student tags your account on Instagram they get one “ticket” in the prize draw. You can incentivize your customers to promote your content by giving them an extra ticket for each social media share i.e. increasing their chances of winning.

Contests are similar but the winner is manually chosen by you or by votes from your audience. Asking your students to post a video about your lessons on Instagram and then choosing the “most creative” entry would be an example.

Make you prizes attractive. You could reward your winners with an Amazon e-Gift Card or offer them some of your services for free.

Always check the local rules and regulations for conducting sweepstakes and contests.

Watch Instagram coach Alex Tooby explain her eight best practice tips for running a giveaway promotion.

Offer a Sample of Your Podcast Channel

Podcasting is a great way to grow your personal brand. The barriers to entry are extremely low. All you need is a microphone and a free podcasting account.

Many people enjoy podcasting as a format for consuming content because it leaves their hands and eyes free for other activities like driving, exercising and doing chores. Multitasking is mainstream!

Your “thank you” page is prime web real estate for introducing students to your podcast channel by embedding a podcast player. Nearly all the podcast distribution networks will provide you with the embed code. It’s usually simple to copy/paste the code snippet into your website.

Alternatively, AIRR is a new App in the Apple Store that allows you to crop a “highlight” segment from your podcast and showcase that, with links to the full episode. 

Foreign podcasts are popular in mainland China. The format is far less restricted by the Great Firewall compared to video. So it’s especially worth considering if your goal is to target Chinese ESL students.

Ask Students to Join Your Online Group

In the last few years Facebook Groups have been popping up like mushrooms. There seems to be a FB community for every niche and every company brand.

Building a small Facebook community around your teaching service can be a great way to engage, retain and support your students. WhatsApp also has a “Groups” feature.

Being part of a group dynamic can be an important source of motivation for students who are stuggling. Use your “thank you” page as an opportunity to invite new students into your “tribe”.

Improve Your SEO Ranking

Having dedicated “thank you” pages may give your page ranking a boost in Google’s algorithm. By redirecting to a different page after a conversion action, Google can more easily see this as a sign of “user engagement” on your site.

Google is continuously optimizing their search engine to reward sites which provide a good user experience, so “engagement signals” are likely to be part of the recipe they use in determining where your web pages rank.

Accurately Track Your Web Page Metrics 

Operating a website without checking your web analytics is a bit like flying a plane without a compass or instruments. It’s always a good idea to keep track of your progress and calibrate your promotion strategy.

Having “thank you” pages makes it much easier for your analytics tools to measure successful “conversion” events i.e. record when somebody has successfully submitted their email on your squeeze page or successfully booked a trial lesson. This will help you to decide which paid advertisements are working on your site.

Watch Gavin Bell as he does a good job explaining the analytic benefits of your “thank you” page.

Conclusion

There you have it. Thirty reasons why your ESL teacher website is missing valuable opportunties to grow your business if you don’t have “thank you” pages.

Remember, each page should be specific to the action the user has just taken. A generic “thank you” page won’t cut it.

So go ahead and add those pages to your site if you don’t have them. Use the opportunity to strengthen the connection with your audience, position your brand and maximize the return on your website investment.

Have you seen a “thank you” page that inspired you to take further action? If so, please leave a comment below and tell us more about it.