Most marketers think that the headline and the body copy is the most important. Of course, they are but do you know what is equally (if not more) important?
CTA!
CTA or Calls to Action is typically the closing thing in your ad, blog post or landing page. It may look small yet carries a huge impact.
Do you know emails that contain a powerful CTA get more than 300 percent more clicks than those without one?
You have got your potential customers’ initial attention with the headline, created interest and built a desire with the body copy, but it is the CTA that will convert them into actual buyers.
Without a powerful CTA, your ad, blog or landing page would just be another interesting piece of content and nothing more!
But just putting a plain vanilla Call to Action button at the end of your content may not actually get you the desired result.
Effective CTAs should be –
- Able to cause desired action
- Offer a clear benefit
- Carry on the momentum built by the content
Audiences are now bored of looking at “Submit,” “Buy” or “Purchase,” buttons, which they tend to ignore or skip.
So, here are a few methods that you can utilize to turn your boring CTA into a powerful, compelling conversion machine!
What Value do you Offer?
Look at what your customers want, not what you are offering. Clichéd as it might sound, it is absolutely true. You may be offering the best product or service but if it doesn’t solve a problem of the customer, it is of no real value.
No one wants to “Submit” their email.
No one wants to “Buy” your product.
No one wants to “Order Now.”
Remember the benefit you are offering.
The words you use should remind the customer that they’re getting a benefit instead of sending them the message that it’s going to cost them something.
Here are a few examples –
- Instead of “Order Now”, say “Get”
- Instead of “Your”, say “My”
- Say “And Get Started”
With an abundance of choice, the present day consumer needs consistent reinforcement that the benefits are real. If your CTA breaks the momentum you’ve built with the headline and the body copy, you lose a game you were winning.
Do Orange Buttons Really Work?
If you think orange CTA is omnipotent, visit the websites of successful businesses and check out their CTAs. Do all of them use orange CTAs? Don’t you think the color of the CTA button is chosen such that it is distinct from the background?
Positioning your CTA
Imagine that you go out shopping. A store is selling fruit — a simple product and obvious benefits. As you walk in, a sales assistant asks whether you want to buy apples. He adds they are fresh, delicious and nutritious and available at only $5 a bag.
There’s a high chance of you buying, isn’t it, especially if you are out to buy apples?
The next store, however, is selling cameras. As you walk in, a sales assistant asks you, “Looking for a DSLR camera? Here, this one’s good. It’s 24 megapixels, with EF-S 18-55mm IS STM & EF-S 55-250mm IS STM Lens, and is only $1,500.”
Would you buy it?
Why not?
Because you don’t have sufficient information about it for you to spend $1,500 without some serious thought.
If you wanted to buy a new DSLR, you’d spend some time looking up the best options, checking out reviews, talking to sales assistants, and making sure that the one you wish to buy offers everything you need from a camera.
Asking potential customers to buy a product or service as soon as they come to your store isn’t the best way to convince them, even if they are looking for it. It appears pushy, takes away trust and puts people off.
So, consider whether you would like to position your CTA lower than where it currently is.
Businesses that offer simple products and services that are not very expensive can have a clear CTA above the fold for a free trial or even purchase.
But sites that offer a variety of products, require a demo, or are expensive; it may be good idea to take the visitors to a more product-focused page before you ask them to sign up.
Figure out the point where sufficient information required to buy and has been given and the desire to buy is still at its highest.
Add a Little Urgency
Urgency is a great positive effect on conversion. The thought that you may miss a sale that ends today or a product might be the last one left in its category may sometimes be enough to persuade your audience into immediate action.
Urgency can be created in the CTAs quite easily. For example –
Get your free e-book right now!
Get 50% off today only!
However, remember that adding too much urgency, too often may actually turn out to be counterproductive. The reason urgency works so well is that it makes the action the user is about to take feel more important than all the other potential actions they could take.
That’s why you may want to save this strategy for your most profitable CTAs.
One Page, One Purpose, One CTA
All great landing pages follow the simple rule of having only one CTA on one page. Do not confuse your users with multiple CTAs. Too many choices confuse people leading to no choice and users abandoning your page altogether.
CTAs can be powerful, if done well. Give it due attention and your conversion rate may increase dramatically. Here are a few tips that can help you do so –
- Use words that solve a problem or describe a value for the customer
- Use a color that stands out yet fits in the overall design of your site, page, products etc.
- Place CTAs at logical decision-making points on the page
- Use urgency to prompt immediate action
- Stick to one CTA for one page and purpose
Above all, test your own ideas from time to time variables and measure how your audience responds to them.
To know more about conversion rates and CTAs, talk to Team OgreLogic, one of the leading digital marketing agencies in Austin, Texas. OgreLogic is your natural strategic partner providing responsive web design, virtual resourcing, content focused digital marketing services and game changing mobile apps.
