18 Oct 2007

Calls to Action

A "Call to Action" can simply be defined as "Getting your customers to do what you want them to do" once they reach your website. 

The "Call to Action" is the reason why you're website exists and the way to determine your websites success (see our article on "Measuring website success " for further information).    

Your website should have a main call to action as a focus, with secondary calls to action that can be converted later into sales/leads. Here are a few different types of calls to action: 

• Sales - for e-commerce websites
• Lead generation - filling out an online form or sending an e-mail via the website
• Requesting a quote - if your website has an online quotation request form
• Booking an event - booking through your events form
• Signing up to a newsletter - signing up to receive communications from your business
• Downloading a whitepaper or watching a webinar
• Filling out a survey
• Watching an online product demonstration

A good call to action should follow a few simple rules:

• Be obvious - make the call to action obvious.  Just having a "Contact us" page is not enough.  Tell your visitors what benefits they will receive by contacting you, and prompt them to act.
• Require an immediate response - calls such as "download now", "order now" and "sign me up" and "contact us today" are requesting an immediate action.
• Easy to complete -For example, providing an online response form is a great way of capturing data.  But don't ask for too much data - making data fields mandatory for information that is not crucial at the initial stages and can put people off.  Remember, you can always further qualify the information in the follow up response.
• Don't over do it - having too many different calls to action can be just as damaging as not having any.  Choose a primary call to action and focus your website on this. 

Don't forget to monitor your calls to action.  Using web analytics to review where people are abandoning the call to action is a great way of determining what you need to change on your website.  Are they getting to the enquiry form and exiting the website?  It's all about testing and measuring to get the best response.  The most simple changes can make a huge different to your conversion rate, and ultimately, the return on your websites investment.

Contact Bang! Online today to boost your call to action response.