When you want to get your customer to do something, you need to tell them to do so. In the world of eCommerce this is known as a ‘call to action’, and can relate to imploring your customers to purchase a product, sign up to a mailing list or join the site as a member. Whatever it is you want your visitor to do whilst they are on your site or going through your email, you need to give them the positive reinforcement and ‘call to action’ they need to make the decision on the spot.
Here are a few ways you can strengthen your calls to action and see a better response from your target online audience.
1. Focus on your subject lines
Online readers love to skim, and will quite often read only the subject lines of an article. So if your subject lines seem uninteresting or are full of technical jargon, your readers are likely to fail to absorb any of the details on the page. Popular and successful subject lines typically feature offers, discounts, freebies or big brand names - ones that quickly grab your reader's attention.
2. Use buttons
Buttons simply scream out ‘press me’, so if you want your calls to actions to get good responses, consider the use of buttons on your site at appropriate places. Experiment with different designs, shapes and colours and see 'which of these' get the most clicks through. Check out other websites that feature well used buttons, such as Facebook for instance and notice how simple and straightforward their button designs are.
3. Say what you mean, and mean what you say
You need to speak the language of your reader if you want to truly communicate with them. Use confident language and speak with an assertive voice (using the same style and tone that is associated with your brand) to get the best results
4. Capture the urgency
It sounds obvious, but using terms like ‘now’ and ‘today’ will guarantee a better action rate than just implying that the reader should do something, sometime. Urgent words are proven to be more successful in getting people to take action than just using words like ‘free’ or ‘50% off’.
5. Keep it clean and simple
Remove all distractions from the page, so if you are putting your call to action in an email, avoid the use of bright colours and fussy backgrounds while keeping the writing to a minimum. On a web page, keep the call to action away from other interactive elements - putting that video or animated graphic in another part of the page or site actually works!
6. Focus on good content
All the efforts that go into the design of your buttons, text and background will be wasted if your content doesn’t communicate the right thing. Offer the reader something of value to them, such as a voucher or discount code. Asking a question is a good way to grab their attention, and when it comes to your call to action itself, you need to tell them firmly what you want them to do. Start with a verb and follow it with the subject and end with an urgent word, e.g. “get a copy today” or “ask an expert now”.