How do you make effective calls-to-action on a web page?
I am working with a web developer right now to improve my business's website and have been reading up on what goes into a good webpage. Everyone keeps talking about calls to action, but I'm still a little confused on what makes a good call to action. I ultimately want to turn web visitors into customers for my production company.
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Sep 11, 2014
There is a whole science behind that :) Hire the right consultant.
Jul 8, 2014
Everyone here has some great advice. However, something i did not see(with a quick scan) was advice on making sure the call to action (whether it is a button, a fill able form, etc) is "above the fold."
Placing something "above the fold" means that it is seen without any scrolling down on the web page. Calls to action are exponentially more effective when seen right off the bat, above the fold.
In my own experience, I have seen great success with having a contact form in the sidebars of my website, above the fold.
Jun 26, 2014
I will throw my .02 in --
The call to action is supported by all other elements on the page. You want to educate the prospect, but first need to pull them in with a result/benefit oriented headline.
The headline should entice the visitor to want to read more, typically pulling them down to the bullet benefits.
These elements should establish the unique value proposition of the offer, the visitor's benefits, and follow with a call to action that clearly outlines what the visitor can expect (i.e. a downloadable e-book, a phone call, a white paper, etc)
Jun 23, 2014
Hi
Effective call to action is really problem of numbers , I would strongly recommend
A/B testing for best results . Secondly the call to action is again depends on the product and content . Also You can iterate various combinations as described in mashable or Hubspot .
Regards
Jun 19, 2014
All these answers are great and should be taken into consideration. I think the real questions is how do i get a better conversion rate out of my website. My company markets thousands of business online and website conversion is very important to a successful online marketing campaign. Yo should also consider adding a live chat program to your site. It increase our website conversion up to 30%.
Jun 19, 2014
You can put a quick inquiry box / popup which will automatically open after few seconds once visitor visits your website. Refer this site - brevitysoftware.com which is the best example of quick call to action.
Secondly, you can put some materials / case study to download regarding your products and services and in return you can ask for customer's contact details that way you will be building your leads database.
Third, you can put quick contact details (always visible) on site like your contact number, Skype id or email.
Jun 17, 2014
Hi Zack! , A good call to action is any graphic or link that encourages visitor to ‘click’. Now, your question is how to make effective call to action buttons. I think the most important element in making a good call to action is to understand buyer psychology. Once you know what your customers actually want, you will be able to create effective call to action. Fortunately, we recently wrote a blog post that covers call to action creation in detail. Here is the link, http://www.fatbit.com/fab/create-best-call-action-buttons-better-sales-leads/
Here is another link (http://www.fatbit.com/fab/?s=call+to+action) I think you will find helpful. See whether your web developer is taking care of these points while creating call to action for your website. In case you need any other help, our team of designers will be glad to assist.
Aug 21, 2014
yes i also agree that call to action elements are the most important for business leads.
Jun 17, 2014
Zack - CTA need constant optimization based on AB test results for maximum convertions. You want to map out two things first: which service gives you the highest profit and what is the sales cycle of this service. Once you have that you pin down each "micro conversion" of the sales cycle and make sure there is a CTA on the web site that mirrors this step of the process. I have yet to see a CTA with a conversion higher than 5% on a consistent basis, so not much room for errors. Testing will help you zoom in on 5% for each CTA
Good luck
Jun 17, 2014
Hi Zack,
In order to create good call to action, it is important to define the ideal action. To do this, think about what is the first step your perfect client would take to contact you. Is it to call you? Email you? Fill up a form on your website? Once you decide on that, here se a few simple steps you and the developer you hired can use:
1. Keep the text short and clear - I know you may be tempted to tell more about your service and how good it is, but try to keep things short . A visitor should understand what your service is about just by browsing through a few titles and buttons.
2. Put a big phone number on a visible place, add working hours and something catchy like "get a quote" or " call us for the best offer"
3. Use buttons - people love buttons. If you can give them the option of asking a question or booking a service with a few buttons, that'd be awesome
4. Price - where you stand on it? Put it on the website? Give it over phone? Be clear about it in your landing page.
5. Use photos
Those are some basic tips I can give as an ex part of online marketing team.
Hope it's helpful.
Regards,
Maya
Jun 17, 2014
Hi -What's your objective, (everyone wants customers from there website). How do you typically promote your business off-line. In order to provide a strategy I need to better understand your business process and/or service /product.
Jun 17, 2014
Zack, the creation of an effective CTA depends on how well it is written, since words are all you have to convince the user to act. Any other criteria to create a good CTA is purely subjective. Keep in mind that It is highly unlikely you will convert anyone who visits your website through a CTA, therefore the objective of the action should be contacting you. If you can get a user to do that, you're chances of conversion will increase significantly.
Jun 17, 2014
Howdy from Colorado Zack,
I visited your profile to see what kind of business you have, film production; short videos & music videos. Nice, there is this thing we call conversion architecture that begins with the keywords you use in the page titles and descriptions of your website that aligns with the keyword rich content you provide and what you do and how you do it as well as credibility stuff like examples and testimonials etc. The battle is half over when someone searching a production company that can help them creates a short video or music video. I call that the "Ta Dah" moment > I found what I was looking for!!! So the prospect is interested, now comes the setting the hook with the STRONG CTA > "Join us on a production shot this week to see what we do", Now through the end of the month we are offering a 20% discount if you'll give us a good review on three review websites after you are completely satisfied with our work", We have several openings for custom video productions in the month of July and will offer extras or discounts if you contact us NOW! There is no rule about how many contact forms you can have on a website, each page should be a landing page. Mobile optimization is critical, you'll loose biz if you can't collect info from prospects using smart phones.
Marketing 101; Be intrusive and disruptive! Be wild and crazy! GET ATTENTION. Use signage when you're in the field, setup practice shoots - passers bye don't know if it's real or not ;- ) Promote your website with your signage. Use Social Media > Make promo videos for garage bands and make sure you heavily "BRAND" all pro bono work.
Good luck dude,
CJ in Denver
Jun 18, 2014
"Now through the end of the month we are offering a 20% discount if you'll give us a good review on three review websites after you are completely satisfied with our work", Honestly, I think this is way too complicated to be an effective call-to-action. A call-to-action should be something the visitor can do NOW, not something they need to jump through hoops to get. Maybe, "Get a 20% discount on your project! Click here for more information" Clicking would take them to a contact form, where they would enter their email. This would have the benefit of giving Zack a new prospect he can send email to when he has other offers to send out, whether or not they take advantage of the offer specified in the CTA.
Jun 17, 2014
Good advice below! Keep in mind that there are several steps before people purchase a service or product (usually referred to as the purchase funnel). So you want to test and track your efforts. Some questions to consider: how are people getting to your site, do they have enough information to make a purchase and how easy is it for the to complete their transaction?
Jun 17, 2014
What they said, plus...
Use analytics to track and test various CTAs. Google Analytics can be used to show exactly show what leads to Conversion.
~:-)
Jun 17, 2014
It needs to promise value, create urgency - and most importantly: the page it leads to needs to fulfill the promise made in the CTA (no generic content - very specific next step that allows the user to complete the action).
Jun 17, 2014
The simple answer is to give them reason to click/buy. I personally believe that internet users are a lot more savvy these days than they were 5 years ago and calls to action are less effective. I'm sure there'll be some who disagree, but it's just my personal opinion. People are a lot more interested in the price and quality of your product these days and make an action based on that primarily.
What I think you'll need is to read some material by some well known copywriters. You often get people in sales writing books like this and that kind of knowledge will do you a lot of good.
Jun 17, 2014
A good CTA is no-obligation with clear benefits, has a prominent button to click, doesn't ask for too much information and states how that information will be used.
I agree with above answer,call to action elements are most important for business leads.