In sales, one of the most effective methods of making a sale is to ask for it. You confront your client, and ask ‘Can I ring that up for you, or did you need something else?’. Another great example of asking for the sale is the fast food ‘do you want fries with that’. It forces the clients to make a decision, and by suggesting the action you want them to take, they don’t have to think about alternatives, the easiest choice is the one that has been provided.
A clear call to action serves the same purpose. It tells the user what they should do next, it forces them to make a decision. When properly done, they should command attention and clearly tell your users what the next step you want them to take is.
Clear call to actions are one of the easiest ways to increase your conversions. By telling your users what you want them to do, you can drastically increase your conversion rate. From our experiences, the addition of a very basic call to action can, at the very least, double your conversion rate. With a really well formed call to action your conversion rate can increase even more.
If you take a look at advertisement, you will almost always see a call to action, and to demonstrate why, take a look at the three advertisements below. The first one is a simple ad, the second one has an added call to action, and the final one has a call to action as well as a reward for the desired behavior. In the first one, would you do anything more than just look at it, say “that’s nice” and move on? Out of the three which one would you most likely click?
Most websites out there are like the first advertisement, no call to actions. People go there, say “that’s nice” and move on. If your website happens to be one of them, it’s time to stop, define goals for your website, and and a call to action. You will see your conversion rate go up. You don’t have to go all out with incentives, just a simple phrase saying “Why wait, get yours TODAY!” or “Contact us for more info” is enough to increase conversions.
Don’t miss next weeks article about how to create great call to actions. <– See what we did here, this is a call to action