So you have a website. Amazing! But your website isn’t converting. Not so amazing. Before you start giving up on your website, take a step back and review your call to actions (CTA)s. 

• Do they prompt the reader to click? 
• Do you even have CTAs? 
• Are they relevant to your website?
• Do you have way too many CTAs?
• Do you have CTAs with conflicting actions?

Marketers say this all the time, but CTAs are the key to conversions. But what does that even mean? A CTA can be seen as a bridge between your website and the goals you’d like to achieve from your website. Whether that be to ‘learn more’, subscribing to your newsletter, or booking in a call with you, your CTAs should help achieve this. They should act as a guiding force that directs your visitors to achieve a certain goal. 

Powerful CTAs are a crucial element of your website that generates unmatched results. And having only one on your website isn’t enough. Visitors aren’t convinced to click just by the first button or pop up. Having your CTAs only at the top of your page, isn’t going to work. They don’t have enough information about your business or what you have to offer to make a clear decision. Your CTAs should be bold and eye-catching. They should be spread across different areas of your page that will not only increase the chances of your user taking action, but also give users the freedom to take action whenever they’d like. 

The power of a good CTA:

Increase conversion rate:

The number one reason why every website should have a CTA is you’re practically inviting conversions. Call to actions are designed to convert visitors into customers. Using them strategically takes your standard visitor into a regular customer. This is because your customers want clarity. Clear CTAs provides your customers with a sense of direction and helps give them a little nudge in the right direction. 

Not having a CTA is like a shop with no entrance. You’re showing off your tempting products, but teasing your customers by not giving them an entry point to purchase. This nudge in the right direction is like putting up the ‘Open’ sign, opens the door, and lays out the red carpet for all your customers.

Lead nurturing:

The goal of a CTA is so much more than getting your customer to perform an action. While that is your initial goal, it doesn’t just stop there. Usually CTAs are attached to forms where the customer needs to input their contact information. Once a visitor fills this form out, this is the perfect opportunity for you to start building a relationship with them. Sending out personalised emails, monthly newsletters, and special offers, will help you build their trust. 

From just a click of a button, you can transform someone who just so happened to stumble across your website, to a loyal customer that wouldn’t even think twice of choosing a competitor over you.

Enhanced user experience:

Maybe your user is ready to book that call or purchase your product, but needs to read your testimonials section of your site. They scroll down and they’re convinced! Luckily for them you’ve placed a CTA for them to click on on that section. They now not only had a good impression of your brand based on your website, but also had a good user experience. They’re happy with their journey with you so far, and are now continuously visiting your site to keep up with your brand.  

Angles for improvement:

With CTAs you can collect insightful data such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and other key metrics. By collecting this data, you’ll be able to understand whether your call to actions are even working, and make informed decisions about what needs improving and steps needed for improvement. 

Building customer relations:

Your customers are on your website for a purpose. Whether that be to purchase a product, learn more about your brand, or are interested in your story. Each and every customer who scrolls through your website has a purpose. By creating CTAs that resonate with their purpose, you’re able to make your customer feel heard and understood. Call to actions such as:

• Download this free guide to level up your marketing
• Get 15% off on all products until March 31st
• Book your free consultation to learn how to grow your business

… are some unique ways to get your audience to interact. They’re different from your traditional ‘Buy now’, ‘Read more’ CTAs. These CTAs add value to your customer and showcase how you can provide something beneficial to the customer. 

How to create killer CTAs?

1. Continuous Improvement:

Unless you miraculously have a 100% click-through-rate, you need to continuously improve your CTAs. Always analysing your CTAs and looking for ways to improve them can help you keep up with the ever-changing customer behaviour. Changing the wording, colours, placements, type of CTA are just some of the things you can change to make your CTA much more appealing. Improving your CTAs can also help keep your message fresh and in-line with your business goals.  

Using tools such as heatmaps and eye-trackers can help you to figure out things to improve when you’re a little stuck on what to change and feel that you’ve tried everything. Heatmaps provide a visual representation on the ways customers are interacting with your business. Using heatmaps can showcase the sections of your website that users are paying the most attention to. This can be a neat tool to use when you’re feeling stuck on where to place your CTA.

Eye-tracking tools can be used to help with placement, but can also showcase areas of your website where users are just completely ignoring. This can help to see whether your CTAs are just being flat out ignored, and can see which elements are stealing the show, and how to bring more attention to your CTAs.

2. A/B testing:

So you have two designs you feel like your customer will love. Great! Don’t just choose the one with the better design, font, or colour. Choose the one that performs better. But how do you know which one performs better if you haven’t even launched them? This is where A/B testing comes in. 

A/B tests will help you to gather insightful data that will help you to figure out the CTA that you know will bring in results. You’ll be able to figure out the your audience will click on from the data you’ll collect, completely removing the guesswork.

3. Adjust your language:

The language you use is one of the most important element of your CTA. And your words should pack a punch. Generic phrases such as ‘Read more’, ‘Buy now’, ‘Book call’, doesn’t make the audience feel something. There’s no sense of urgency or need to click the button. Your customers will scroll past your CTA, and won’t think twice about ignoring it. Using actionable and effective language creates an impact in the minds of your readers, and helps keep them engaged.

It is important to envoke emotions with your CTA. Your CTA should make the audience feel something, whether that be excited, motivated, or happy, making your audience feel something creates a connection between your customer and your CTA. It willl also help shape the way your audience feels which then helps associate that emotion with your brand. For example, take Nike. Their marketing campaigns are heavily based on motivation. Once you’re done watching a Nike ad, you’ll feel motivated and like you want to hit the gym ASAP!

4. Visual elements:

The way your CTA looks plays a crucial part in its success. Using striking colours, and visual icons are just some of the ways you can enhance its look and feel. Get creative with it. As long as it works, and people are clicking, who cares if it looks over-the-top. Here are a couple visual aspects you can play around with to create the perfect CTA:

• Icons
• Colours
• Typography and fonts
• Shapes
• Images
• Animations
• Outsider visuals such as arrows pointing to your CTA button
• Hover effects

Make sure that your CTA is responsive to various devices and different screen sizes. It’s all well and good that it works on computer screens, but with the increasing numbers of internet usage on mobile devices, it’s important it works on mobiles as well.