Read This Now - Keys to Creating Effective Calls to Action
Strong calls to action are a key component to any effective marketing message, but they're especially significant when it comes to the web. Your target audience is often not in a position to follow your call to action while watching television, listening to the radio, or flipping through a magazine. Online, however, the chance to purchase, join, donate, or subscribe, is literally at their fingertips. So it's essential that your calls to action be effective.
Your calls to action are essentially how users interact with your website. What do you want users to do there? Whether it involves a purchase, donation, e-mail, phone call, test demo, membership application, access to information, or other engagement, this month we'll discuss how you can make your website's calls to action more effective.
What's in it for me?
When calling on users to take action, it's essential to provide them with compelling reasons to act. Let the user know how complying with the action will benefit them. A call to action like 'Sign-up for our newsletter' is not convincing on its own. However, when it's followed by a bulleted list that reads 'be the first to know about new products, receive special offers, and get free shipping,' the call to action is more likely to generate results. Incentives, such as free shipping, gifts, or access to members-only information can also be persuasive in getting users to take action.
Personalize it.
The average user views hundreds of calls to action online every day and has become conditioned to ignore most of them. By personalizing calls to action so that they call users by name and are based on their preferences, you can develop a stronger connection between the user and your brand, increasing click-through rates significantly. E-commerce companies can use this technique to recommend products based on user's interests. Amazon.com is the ultimate example of personalized calls to action. When registered users visit, the site calls them by their first names, displays products they've recently viewed, and recommends accessories for recently-purchased products. Non-profits can also utilize personalization to thank users for past donations, let them know what their donations have been used toward, and encourage them to give again.
Be direct.
Online, it takes users less than one second after reading your call to action to decide whether they'll respond, so it's essential to communicate calls to action clearly and concisely. 'Force yourself to design each and every page with one and only one primary objective,' advises Entrepreneur and Best-Selling Author, Seth Godin in his book Big Red Fez, 'make it obvious.' This means not only using active and urgent language such as 'register today' and 'buy now,' but also making the call to action visually prominent. Call to action buttons that use larger text and noticeable colors (within good taste and the appropriate color scheme of course) can be very effective tools for conversion.
Let me take my time.
Users won't do anything if they're not ready. So it's a good idea to use secondary calls to action on your website so that users can seek more information and take the desired action later if they're not yet ready. For instance, a user may be interested in making a donation to your cause, but may not click the 'donate now' button because he or she wants to learn more about what the money is supporting. By including a secondary call to action, such as 'why help?' or 'learn more,' you can take the user to a page where he or she can find the information needed to make the decision to donate. It's essential that appropriate calls to action be place on every page so that users are nurtured through the decision-making process and always have to option to take an action. Additionally, secondary calls to action should fall below primary calls to action in terms of visual hierarchy, so that they don't compete with your primary site goals.
Make it easy.
Finally, if you want users to follow through on your call to action, then doing so should be easy. Make sure that the calls to action and links associated with them are prominently displayed on your site, so that the user doesn't have to go searching for them. If you want users to make a purchase or donate, consider storing their information so that they can make future transactions more quickly. If you want users to sign up or contact you, avoid forcing them to fill out long forms of information and stick with the basics. Earth Fare does a great job of this, allowing users to join its community and start 'My Health Journey' by filling out just a few fields. The easier your calls to action are to carry out, the more users will take action.
Calls to action are often what ultimately what makes or breaks a website's success, and as such should reflect the website's goals. Creating the right calls to action and strategies surrounding them should be a key part of the web design or e-mail marketing campaign planning process. After all, an effective website does more than just look sleek and utilize trendy features, it compels users to take a certain action and delivers tangible results.