Print This Post

How to Create Effective Calls to Action in Your Website

A “call to action” is defined as an activity requested of a consumer. It could be purchasing a product, requesting for information, completing a survey, or subscribing to an online newsletter. Call to action is your signal for communicating to visitors or users what you expect them to do.

An effective call to action can increase your conversion rates, whether that means sales, leads or however you define the end-goal. Examples of call to action include:

• “Order today before supply runs out!”
• “Click here to subscribe!”
• “Sign up now and get your free gift!”
• “Join our affiliate program.”
• “Add to your shopping cart.”

But how do you craft an effective call to action? Here are some strategies for improving your call to action:

• Instill a sense of urgency. The sooner you can make them respond, the better. Otherwise they can forget or be distracted by other matters.
• Consider using exclamation marks — just don’t use them excessively where every sentence ends with an exclamation mark.
• Be specific about what you want the visitors to do. “Click here” or anything as vague as this phrase just won’t do.
• Pump it up: there are no rules that “call to action” signals need only be 1 sentence. Explain why the person has to do what you want them to do in a paragraph or even more.
• If you are using buttons or graphics, make it stand out in terms of its design and colors. Make it stand out from the page.
• If you are not using buttons, highlight the text by using colors, underlines, even arrows to make the call to action distinguishable and attention-calling.
• Don’t put your call to action for the last, especially if the visitor will scroll down just to see it. Put the call to action above the fold.
• D0 a test to see which phrase, manner of presentation, and location within the site works the best.