This article is the second in a series reviewing how some of the biggest e-commerce companies are using their thank you page, and what we can learn from them. In the first article we reviewed the revolutionary Amazon.
In this article we will review the largest retail corporation of discount department and warehouse stores in the world:
Walmart
1. Order summary:
Like we said in the Amazon article, this section exists in all big e-commerce store's thank you pages, for obvious reasons- a customer finishing a purchase will want to get the details regarding his order and shipping.
But Walmart are doing a remarkably good job with their order summary section. For starters, its the largest part of the page- taking up all the space in the middle, with other, smaller sections pushed aside.
Secondly, they don't only show all the order details (products, price, payment method, customer details), they are also giving the customer an estimated delivery date, and show a progress bar displaying the shipment process, and the current order status.
This sections makes it very clear to the customer what to expect regarding his order, and inspires confidence and trust in the store.
2. Search bar
This is another very popular section for big online retailers. Search is another way to give your customers an easy way back to the store, in case they feel inspired to shop some more.
Walmart's search bar is small and simple, but it's white background located on the header's blue color makes it stand out clearly for the customer. The search bar includes a drop-down menu, allowing customers to choose the scope of their search.
The yellow search button makes it cohesive with the brand's colors, but also stand out some more and look inviting.
3. Navigation bar
Walmart's navigation bar stretches all over the header of the page, and is sectioned in a way that makes it full of content and links, but not overwhelming.
The top of the navigation bar contains general store links- help, registry, store finder etc.
Right next to the search bar is the account section- access your cart and account dashboard.
At the bottom of the header there are immediate-action links (daily deals, pickup etc) and the store's departments drop-down menu.
This navigation bar, much like the search, is a hook for the customer back to the store. And Walmart are giving many little hooks, playing with the locations and colors to enhance what are likely the most useful and highly converting links.
4. Social links/sharing
You can tell Walmart really don't want to impose on their customers. They are shoving their social links to the bottom of the page, in a way that makes them almost disappear.
Compared to Amazon, who give their social sharing links a much larger, more central place in their page, it almost looks like Walmart are trying to hide them.
It might be because Walmart, which was founded on 1962, did not base their growth on online and social for most of it's life, and it might be that they are conically trying to give the customer the feeling that they are focused on him and his needs alone.
Whatever the reason, and whichever approach fits you more- Amazon's or Walmart's- the one thing that is clear: you need to have these links somewhere on the thank you page, and offer the customers the option to connect with you in that way.
5. Continue shopping button
Walmart places this button at the top, right next to the order number, where it is in front of the customer's eyes and easy to find.
This, just like the search and the navigation bar, is meant to give the customer the gateway back to the store. It's not pushed aside and hidden, but it also doesn't particularly stand out.
If you've built your online store on Shopify, this button is already available on your thank you page out of the box, and located at the bottom of the page.
6. Distribution list sign-up
Just like the social buttons, Walmart are shoving the mailing sign-up form to the bottom of the page. It's a simple offer to save money through joining the mailing list, with a link to the privacy policy.
While most online stores would already collect the customer's emails at checkout, this option can still be used to collect sign-ups for other distribution lists, such as Facebook messenger, push and SMS.
Walmart's offer is rather ambiguous, and we assume it refers to deals and sales that will be sent by email in the future. But you can take it a step further and offer a specific discount or even a cashback.
7. Cashback/discount offer
Walmart are offering cashback on your next offer- now, this is a little tricky, because they are calling it cashback, but are in fact offering a discount for future orders.
It is one of the most colorful parts of their thank you page, they are clearly making sure it sends out. It is also not very clear what the customer has to do to get this cashback, which means he would just have to click the button to learn, giving them the option to track leads who didn't end up taking action better.
This is one of the best ways to encourage someone who just completed a purchase to purchase again- you have already established trust with the customer, and he has already shown interest in your products. This offer catches his attention before he moves on and forgets about your store.
8. Mobile app download
Another feature Walmart are "hiding" at the bottom is the option the download their mobile app.
Considering that 78% of users would rather access a store via mobile app instead of mobile website, it makes perfect sense that Walmart would encourage customers to install their mobile app.
Having a store's mobile app on your phone is also a deceleration of intention and loyalty- you wouldn't install it if you weren't interested in purchasing again, would you?
Conclusion
Out of all the retailers we've reviewed, Walmart seems to be squeezing the most out of their thank you page.
While their page is packed with elements and calls to action, meant to encourage the customer to interact with them again, they also make it very clear that they are focused on the customer.
All of their offers and requests are small and non-invasive compared to the order summary section- which is the most important section for the customer.