When you are in business, you want your phones to be ringing. Being online is certainly a good way to let the public know who you are and what you do, but how exactly do you get people to take the step from browsing to calling?
The phrase “call to action” (or CTA) is a common marketing term that applies to a broad variety of techniques designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage a sale. In most cases, calls to action relate to the words a business uses to promote contacting the company regarding a product, usually as soon as possible.
When you are developing your own call to action for your business, try to keep the following seven secrets in mind. With these actions, you will be far more likely to get more desirable results.
1. Make Them an Offer They Cannot Refuse
When you are seeking immediate action, you need to provide some kind of reward for taking the action. In other words, you want to focus on the value you can provide and eliminate any kind of risk for the consumer.
You may want to consider experimenting with different fonts. Boldface or italics could be used to emphasize certain offers you are making.
Similarly, also think about incorporating some sales perks that could be appealing. Anything free is always worth mentioning, but it can also be beneficial to mention discounted rates or bonuses for purchases.
Remember that you are trying to fill a need, so make sure that your call to action is addressing a need of your customer. Help the person visiting your website feel the need to make the purchase that they might not have even been considering.
2. Create a Fear of Missing Out
Also known as FOMO, fear of missing out was defined in the July 2013 Computers in Human Behavior as “a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent.” FOMO is extremely helpful because it creates the sense in a person that they will be left behind if they do not take a certain action right now.
FOMO is increasingly common as much of the world is transitioning to the social media age, as many people spend countless hours seeing pictures and posts from friends and family about various items that they wish they had for themselves. There are a multitude of different FOMO strategies.
Certain online sellers could benefit from displaying current stock totals to create a sense of urgency. Other sellers could benefit from limited time offers. Also consider free shipping bonuses.
3. Solve a Problem
Some of the most effective CTAs come at the end of a three-pronged approach: a problem, a solution, and the call to action. Your job as a seller is to demonstrate that there is a problem and then offer a solution.
Simply put, you will have to step back and create a message that identifies a problem before you can offer a way for solving it. You have to offer a solution to the problem to be effective.
4. Focus On Action
When you are writing your call to action, the action is the key word. Make sure that the first word you use prompts some kind of action by the consumer.
In other words, terms like call, click, or download can be remarkably effective in getting people to take desired actions. You want to directly tell a person what they need to do so they will take the recommended action.
5. Make It Short and Sweet
You do not want your call to action to be too lengthy, as you will run the risk of a person losing focus if you go on too long. In other words, you need to limit yourself to just a few words that indicate the recommended action to take.
When the goal is to get somebody to pick up the phone, “Call us now” is straightforward and direct. The same will hold true for many other kinds of actions you want taken, such as “sign up,” “watch,” or “download.”
6. Make It Stand Out
You will want your call to action to be the standout portion of your webpage, so make sure that it is highlighted somehow within the text. Use different colors in the background or the text if you have to, and again consider boldface or italics for certain phrases you really want to hammer home.
You can also experiment with different button shapes, icons, and illustrations. Also keep in mind your shite space and margins, so your call to action is not overly cluttered.
7. Test It
A/B testing is a user experience research methodology that consists of a randomized experiment with two variants, A and B. You can compare two versions of a single variable, typically by testing the response to one variant against the other to determine which is more effective.
When you do testing for calls to action, it will be important to change only the CTAs. If you do A/B testing with other elements being different, you could inadvertently skew your results.
SERP Matrix | Delivering Calls to Action in Houston, TX
When you need help creating strong calls to action for your company’s website, you can count on the experts at SERP Matrix to deliver CTAs that deliver. We know how to write the most effective calls to action for a wide variety of businesses in the Houston area and help clients get the results they are seeking.
Our content writing team will work with you to better understand the goals of your webpages and deliver strong material that will help generate more phone calls and customers for you.
Call us today at 713-287-1134 to have us address all of your web design and landing page designneeds during a free consultation.
