A lot of users find themselves on the internet due to several reasons. One is that they may just browse for random things, or they are maybe looking to buy something. For page owners and business people, it is always a good thing whether these visitors are “agnostic” or fully pledged leads.
These types of leads can build good traffic and can produce better revenue for the overall marketing campaign of a web owner. Agnostic users are those who are doubtful or non-committal towards an agreement.
Fully-pledged leads, on the other hand, are the ones that campaign owners choose. They are the customers who want, need, and have the capability to purchase their product.
A common problem for firms, whether huge or small, is that they work hard to attract thousands of visitors to their page. The work that these companies do eventually pay off and a lot of people come to the site.
The problem here involves conversion. Although traffic can be healthy, the conversion rates stumble and produce less desirable effects for the marketing campaign.
CTA or Call To Action buttons are the things that these visitors interact on a web page. These buttons are responsible for conversions a.k.a. “Profit” for the overall marketing campaign.
A lot of companies believe that creating a CTA is difficult and decide to rely on their product alone. Here are important things to take note of to make a great CTA.
Visibility
Visibility is essential when a company wants high conversion rates. After all, users buy a product from companies that they know or see online, right? Also, choosing the right type of CTA for your site is crucial. For content-heavy sites, a good CTA should be a single and separate line of text that is very engaging for visitors.
For sites that heavily rely on ad-based CTA’s, a button should be attractive and should be the first thing that a customer will notice when they land on the page. Colors should also play a significant role in regards to the overall appeal and aesthetics of a web page.
Bonus Tip: Psychology of Colors
This fact is the reason why CTA’s can be very tricky to conjure. Colors may alter the mood of incoming visitors. Marketers and business owners who are very perceptive tend to use the psychology of colors when making CTA’s.
Web sites that manage
Black and white are bad choices to use as CTA buttons because they often have the impression that a seller doesn’t put in much effort to pull in potential customers.
Value
People don’t give out e-mail addresses and business info just for nothing. People often do it because they feel that it is worth it. For a customer to purchase a product, a business owner should convince them that they get quality satisfaction from using the product.
Bonus Tip: Click baits
A lot of business owners tend to give false promises that entice people to click certain buttons on a web page. These acts are called “click bait.” Click baits, when clicked, redirect a user to another page. This plan is always a bad idea because the users can be doubtful the next time they visit the site, granted if there is a next time.
Sometimes, it can be very hard to distinguish because they are excellent in convincing people to click them. A warning sign for most click baits is that they are usually too “Extravagant” or they tend to use over sensationalized lines that can sound too good to be true.
Reassurance
Always make sure that CTA’s are for intended purposes only. Never use valuable information for anything else, this may lower credibility. These reliability scores can significantly affect
Also, CTA’s should have a fail-safe in case an “Agnostic” user happens to visit your site. This situation means that a button should have a risk free statement right underneath or above it.
Bonus Tip: Fail-safes and Risk-free clauses
Free trials are good examples of these risk-free statements that users should comfortably know. Spotify is a known user of this trick. Another giant in the industry that uses fail-safes is Netflix. Right above their trial button, a user can see a “Cancel Anytime” clause that comes with subscribing to their services.
Images and Icons
Marketers and businesses alike should incorporate visual cues and icons in the key factors that they need to pay attention to improve call to action strategies.
Images and icons are big factors that help increase conversion rates. The icon for a shopping cart on the “add to cart button” or an arrow on a “download button” are both good examples.
Envisage of unique icons to use, but make sure the icon suits well to the user experience by clarifying the purpose of the button to avoid any confusion.
Guidelines to follow:
- Ensure that the icons you use will help explain the meaning of the button, rather than make it confusing.
- Easily-recognized icons can quickly convey meaning to the visitors.
- Don’t hesitate to use less-familiar icons. They’re good to use as long as their meaning is coherent.
Negative Space
It’s not just the position of your call to action that matters. It’s also the space around it. The more space you provide around the call to action, the more attention you will draw. If you bombard your call to action with too many surrounding contents, you will only lose it in the sea of page litters.
It’s also important to balance the quantity of negative space around the buttons and the size of the buttons around themselves. It’s a matter of proportion. You need to incorporate the buttons, the surrounding contents and the space around it, even when there are disparities in size.
Guidelines to follow:
- Provide sufficient space around your button to avoid a messy look.
- Put into consideration the principles of Golden Ratio or rule of thirds when measuring how much space to include.
- Negative space should give your call to action button a room to stand out among contents and put classify them.
Use Scarcity To Your Advantage
There’s psychology in determining the efficiency of your call to actions. For instance, fabricating a sense of urgency through limiting the supply will influence the people to act. You should know, people don’t like to miss out!
To create a sense of urgency, consider the following factors below:
- Give time-limited discounts.
- Put a limitation to the supply.
- Highlight your quick sales turn-out.
For instance, Booking.com is a good example of a platform that utilizes the idea of scarcity very well. The company shows how many rooms are left, and tells how many people are viewing the same rooms. The strategy spurs some action on the part of the consumers. People fear that if they do not book right away, the rooms will be gone. So, this is the power of scarcity.
Size and Color Matter
Most web designers often get vexed with clients who insist on making things bigger. While it’s true that size isn’t everything, we can’t deny that size does play a significant role in any call to action improvement plans.
The same thing applies to color schemes. The brighter and more appealing the hues, the more chance users will notice it. Furthermore, a larger call to action button allows you to add more riveting copy.
Guidelines to follow:
- Call to action buttons should be the largest buttons on a given page.
- Use opposing colors to make the smaller buttons stand out.
- Make oversized buttons fit in better by using less distinct colors.
- Make your call to action buttons to command attention without overthrowing your design.
Extra Information
If necessary, utilize your call to action buttons to provide extra information to the visitors about what they’ll get if they click the button. This scheme is very visible on download or trial buttons.
The typical example of extra information is the duration of free trials, the size of downloadable files as well as the version information.
When it comes to inclusion of additional information, you need to remember that your focus should still be on the actual call to action. Ensure that the text is enticing enough because it is one of the most prominent elements on the page. Make other pieces of information less visible.
Guidelines to follow:
- Add extra information only if it will enhance the user experience.
- Additional pieces of information are only appropriate to selected types of call to action buttons like download or trial buttons.
- Make sure the primary call to action is still the most prominent text on your button
Create Calls-To-Action To Every Page
The rule of thumb here is to produce a call to action to every page and not just on the homepage. Every site pages should possess some call to action forms that will convince the user to click.
And to make sure that you don’t miss it, place it at the bottom of every page. It doesn’t need to be identical for each page. You can create variations if you like. You can also use a smaller call to action buttons that will bring the user towards your goal.
Follow Up
After the major revamping project for your call to action campaigns, the rest of the process should be well-monitored.
And besides, the journey of every call to action plans don’t end when the user clicks the button. There are signing process, email communications and the like that you still need to follow up. You need to streamline these factors to avoid distractions which might hinder the users from finishing the process.
Takeaway
Business owners who are being hands on with the internet is no longer an option nowadays since it is already a necessity. It is always great to welcome traffic to their sites and pages. After all, traffic is good. However, it is the conversion rates that they are after the most. And a good conversion rate means a company can catch the interest of their clients.
CTA’s or Call To Action buttons play a significant role in getting high conversion rates because they are the last line of interaction with customers who want to buy a product or service. Creating CTA can be tricky due to the psychological nature it brings. Small things such as colors, transparency, and assurance, are the things that can make or break a CTA.
Do you have your own strategies for an effective call to action? Are you struggling with telling people to respond? Let us know in the comments below.
