It’s impossible to get by in the world of business today without a website. People look to the internet when they want to find a product or a service, and if they can’t find you there, you won’t see much in the way of custom. Your potential customers will want to research your company history, check out reviews, and of course, browse through your website before they decide to buy. That means your site needs to look professional, sharp, and current.
However good-looking your website might be, though, it won’t achieve much in the way of results if you don’t have well-placed, well-thought-out “call to action” buttons. For those unfamiliar with the term, a “call to action” button is an on-screen button that your customers interact with to communicate with you. When they’re used properly, they follow the same psychology as call to action marketing. By clicking on a “call to action” button, a potential customer can request contact with you or even immediately buy something you’re trying to sell them.
Because of the purpose they serve, your “call to action” buttons are the most critical pieces of content on your entire website. They can’t be carelessly dropped anywhere on your page, though. There’s a proven methodology when it comes to coaxing people into clicking on them – and we’re going to share that methodology with you now.
Think About Placement
It might sound like stating the obvious to say that your “call to action” buttons have to be prominently placed, but some prominent places work better than others. Psychologists say that people follow an F-shaped pattern when they’re skimming across web pages, and placing your button somewhere in the “F” is your best chance of getting results. The first few lines of content aren’t a good bet because people like to travel a little further down the page before they interact with anything, so forget the “top line” of the F. Think about the right-hand side of the bar across the middle, or maybe even at the foot of where your imaginary “F” would appear.
We appreciate that this sounds counter-intuitive, so we invite you to do a little research. Go and find an online slots website and look where they’ve put all the buttons that allow players to start playing online slots immediately. Websites like that live and die by persuading people to interact with their buttons, so if they don’t get it right, they’ll earn nothing at all. More often than not, you’ll see this ‘F’ formation replayed on online slots IE websites, and that isn’t a coincidence. If it works for them, it will also work for you.
Make Them Pop
Your buttons have to stand out from the rest of the website around them. Leaving a little white space around the borders of your buttons is a good idea, but the color of the buttons is also important. We’ll come back to that in a moment. Experience tells us that rounded or rectangular buttons work better than square ones, and buttons with borders stand out more than buttons without them. Think about the text on your button, too. You don’t have much space to work with, so make it count. Immediacy is good – i.e., “buy now,” and so is a suggestion that you’re doing something for the customer (“get a free consultation.”)
Returning to the theme of color, think about the connotations of color in nature. There is such a thing as color psychology in marketing, and it’s an important field for you to master. We all know the basics – green means “go” and red means “stop,” so your “call to action” buttons should never be read. Color psychology goes beyond that, though. Every color has a meaning even if we’re only subconsciously aware of it – purple, for example, implies prestige. Get to know the connotations of each color and use them appropriately.
Use One Strong Image
Your button shouldn’t “just” be a button. There should be something directly above (never below) the button that reminds the customer what they’re doing when they click the button. If the button buys a product or service, there should be a clear image of that product or service above the button to remind the customer what they’re purchasing. The image helps to create and reinforce desire in the mind of the customer. If the purpose of the button is to solicit contact from you, there should be a picture of you (or someone who represents you) looking friendly and approachable.
The image should be small – no wider than the button – but effective. Simplicity is the best approach. People don’t take the time to read long, complicated words on “call to action” buttons, and they don’t stop to decode complicated images either. Take the “route one” approach.
Think About The Copy Around Your Button
You’ll inevitably want to include some text above, around, or to the site of your button to further re-enforce your “call to action.” Our advice here is to employ the same tactics you’d use when writing headings. Never use more than sixty characters. Avoid words with more than three syllables unless you desperately need to use them. Be direct and inviting.
Phrases that work well in this context include “take the next step” or “take action today.” It doesn’t have to be long or elaborate, and it certainly doesn’t need to be longer than a single sentence.
Get everything we’ve mentioned here right, and we’re confident that you’ll soon be getting better conversions from your website. Get them all right in the process of setting up your business website for the first time, and you’ll have an immediate edge over many of your rivals. Mobile phone apps are great, and social media marketing can still do great things, but ultimately it’s your own website that’s still the best sales tool you have on the internet. Treat it that way, and it will do wonderful things for you.
Thanks for visiting us today and taking the time to read our article. If you found it useful, we have dozens more tips and friendly pieces of advice for you to browse through at your leisure. Happy reading!
