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Improve Your Website Conversion Rate by Understanding Call to Actions (CTAs)

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There are many factors when it comes to the determining if your web presence is a raging success or a giant flop. One critical factor to take a look at are your CTAs, short for “Call To Actions”.

Ask yourself – “What is it you actually want someone to do when visiting your website?”

Examples of different call to actions include:

  • Clicking on a link
  • Filling in a form and submitting an enquiry
  • Opting in for a newsletter
  • Downloading a document
  • Making a purchase
  • Viewing a certain piece of information

By learning how to present these call to actions in the most effective manner, you can dramatically improve your website’s conversion rate and set you on the right path towards reaching your global website dominance. Muhahahahaha.

How to nail your CTAs!

Define your website goals
Most people never actually define what success actually looks like. Usually floating through the universe in a “reactive mode”.

By defining what you actually want, it is much more likely to happen as everything else is geared around this.

Example might be:

  • 5 sales through my shop every day
  • 10 email opt-in for my amazing free gift of XYZ PDF
  • 2 highly qualified email enquiries per week

Document this and it more likely to become real.

You then setup all your website copy, the layout and how the site is structured to achieve these goals. Everything funnels users through to these 3 specific actions.

No two sites are the same so every website will have a different conversion goal. If you clearly understand what your goal is, you’ll be able to tailor your CTAs to achieve that goal.

Camping out in your customers mind
I love this saying.

It is as if you are going to pitch a tent in their head, pull out your camp chair, crack a beer and just wait for the thoughts to flow through. The magic is in capturing their thoughts. Anticipating what they want, and knowing precisely what is going through their head.

Maybe they want to be educated before getting in touch. Maybe they just want validation they are in the right place (through trust elements or social proof). Or maybe the visitor is looking for a quick win.

By understanding this you know WHY they visit your website.

As an example, if you’re a law firm, chances are your website visitors come to your site to get a solution to a very real problem happening in their lives right now. Your prospective client is a man who has just walked out the door to work and has had another massive fight with his wife that morning. Things seem hopeless and unfortunately getting a divorce is a very real prospect. He is worried he will never see his two young kids again. He does a Google search “divorce lawyer Gold Coast”. Finds your legal website and jumps on a “live chat” conversation. He gets an instant response from an operator that a lawyer will be in touch that same day. In his desperation all this man wanted to feel is he is moving forward. That he is taking a step forward to making the situation better.

Understanding this and applying it to all your call to actions will get you great results.

Adding CTAs to your website

Make them stand out
It’s no point having a great CTAs if they are buried somewhere on the page. Your CTAs need to stand out and shout “CLICK ME!”. Think about the colour tone, size and placement on the page. Design plays a big part here.

Keep them short and sharp
CTAs work best when they are short and to the point. They simply need to describe the action a visitor needs to take immediately, like ‘Download Now’, ‘Register Your Seat’, ‘Sign up for Free’, ‘Contact Us Now’, ‘Claim Discount Now’.

It might sound a bit boring and maybe a bit sales-y but don’t forget that effective CTAs are the last step in the process.

Create urgency
Adding some urgency to your CTAs is another way to increase the potential of a conversion. You want your website visitors to ‘click’ without hesitation or overthinking it. Simply adding words like ‘Now’, or ‘Today’ will encourage a quicker reaction.

Test & measure
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”!

It would be silly business to go through all the above steps, create the perfect CTA and then not know how effective it actually is. Tracking the results of your CTAs is crucial in determining your websites success. You can use something simple like Google Analytics to track each CTA option.

Once you’re armed with the stats of your CTAs, you’ll be able to tweak accordingly to ensure you’re moving closer to your website conversation goals.

Want to establish a powerful online presence? Get your customised Website Performance Report by clicking here.

About the author
Jon Hollenberg
With over 20 years experience within the web industry, Jon is an expert in online marketing and online growth strategies. Over the last ten years he has worked with iconic brands such as Qantas, Jeep and the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary plus hundreds of other businesses Australia wide. Jon is a published author of "Love at first site - How to build the website of your dreams".
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