An effective website is a tool that optimizes your business by drawing in visitors and encouraging them to return. From a user perspective, it is very frustrating to have to search around in order to find out how and where to buy a product or how to connect with a company for more information. From a business perspective, the last thing you want is to drive visitors away, discourage them from making the purchase or in any way deter the process of converting visitors to leads.
In order to prevent this, you need to make it very easy for your visitors to take the next step. Strong and effective calls to action are the most important aspect of your website, yet this area is often forgotten by web designers. Remember, the reason you have the website is to encourage visitors to DO something. The strength or your calls to action and lead conversion rates can be improved by following a few simple tips:
Call to Action Placement
Place your call to action where it can be seen without difficulty. It should be above the fold so that visitors can see it without scrolling down over the site. The call to action should be just next to or within the relevant content so that visitors see it as they are ready to take the next action, such as making a purchase or signing up for more info. It should go without saying that if visitors have trouble finding your calls to action you will be losing opportunities and leads.
A Callout Should Visually Stand Out
The most important thing to remember in regard to color is that your call to action needs to stand out on the page. If you have a light background, use a dark, contrasting color to enhance the call to action and draw the visitor’s eye.
Use Imagery
You can also try using images to draw attention to your calls to action. Make the image a link to draw visitors to a new landing page where you can capture information.
Find the Right Words
Give an appealing description of the action a visitor is about to take such as ‘send me free offers’. The wording should explain to the visitor the benefit of clicking on the link or submitting their information, so that the visitor feels they are being rewarded instead of pestered for information. To this end, try to use descriptive language in the links, while avoiding use of ordinary language like ‘submit info’. This is also a great opportunity to for inserting keywords to improve search engine optimization. In addition to the descriptive language, you should attempt to use softer tones. Instead of using a phrase along the lines ‘buy’, use a phrase such as ‘try it’. Lastly, convey the immediacy of the action using phrases such as ‘start free trial now’. These suggestions about phrasing elements are meant to put the visitor at ease and should increase the chances of a visitor responding to your calls to action.
In Balance with the Rest of the Page
Bigger buttons do tend to have the highest response rate and are therefore more likely to convert visitors to leads. However, this advice should be taken within reason. Use your best judgment to create a button big enough to draw the visitors eye, but not so flashy or huge as to push the visitor away.
Testing
Most importantly, you need to test to find best call to action for your particular site by experimenting a bit. Try a variation of locations, colors, sizes. The best way to find out what works for your audience is to try different modifications and encourage users to give feedback. You can also use a tool like the Google Website Optimizer, a free testing tool that allows you to test different aspects of website to improve conversion rates. Find out which calls to action produce the best results for your business and then put them to use.
Calls to action are intended to convert visitors to leads to strengthen your website. The tips listed above can be used to form a coherent strategy for bringing your visitors closer to their objective, while also improving your conversion rates and ultimately increase your ROI. A successful website will help you do just that – improve your ROI to optimize your business.