This week we’re going to be talking about call to actions and how they can play an important role on your site, but first we need to establish what a call to action is. We use the term call to action as a way to describe an engagement or decision-making moment when a user is navigating a site. We want to turn potential customers into purchasing customers and that all starts with clear language and calls to action! Let’s talk about some of the ways we can integrate them into a site.
1. Business to Consumer
When we think about a business-to-consumer model and calls to action, we often want to think first, “Where is the point of sale going to occur?” If that’s in-person, there needs to be clear language encouraging a visit. Solve a hypothetical problem for your client and tell them how visiting the store will help solve that problem. Encourage an experience they haven’t had before with other stores, something that sets you apart. If nothing else, create savable content, you can do this easily with a blog. If a customer returns to your site frequently to get information, they will be more likely to purchase from you in the future.
2. Business to Business
Calls to action for B2B business models can boil down to whether you want interested users to fill out a form or pick up the phone. Making buttons to a contact page with information, or including your phone number in multiple areas of the site are a great start. Use language at the bottom of your copy that encourages them to pick up the phone or click a link. Others may choose to include a lead form at the bottom of their services pages for ease of use. *Pro tip: don’t have too many fields in your lead form, which could discourage users from submitting.
3. E-Commerce
Using calls to action with e-commerce sites can be a great way to convert to a direct sale. Using links through the home page and other areas to highlight featured products or categories can be considered call to actions. A temporary sale with a discount code can be a great way to encourage customers to act on that callout. Remember to make the cart and checkout process simple with as few steps as possible so that you don’t lose a customer after you’ve got them interested.
Hopefully, we’ve squashed all your fears about call to actions and how to use them within a site. Remember that there are multiple ways to create that interest from a potential customer and you won’t win over everyone. Having clear messaging and concise language will keep your users knowing how to make a sale with you easily. At Web Strategies, we make sure to keep your target audience and messaging in mind when creating your site and work with you to make sure our calls to action are clear and visible. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to give us a call to discuss your next project.