Has your company website got a "Call to Action"?
“There is no point having a lot of website visitors unless they do what you want.”
A company website needs to be effective in achieving its objectives. These objectives vary for all sorts of companies. It may be persuading the website visitor to carry out an online transaction, or contact the company via the telephone or email. It could be to get the visitor to fill in a form to subscribe to a service, or receive information such as a newsletter.
On a company website, persuading your visitor to do what you want them to do by carrying out your “Call to Action”, will ensure that you can have a successful website. All websites should have a “Call to Action” embedded within them. Some are more obvious than others but ultimately it is making sure that the company website is effective for the company.
If your website doesn’t achieve its objectives then you should question why your company has a website in the first place. It is often the case that a company website is ineffective and represents a cost centre (time and money) to the company rather than representing a profit centre. If you want your company website to achieve these objectives then the sooner you address the problem the sooner your website can start contributing to your company.
So what is a “Call to Action”?
Drawing visitors towards a website and keeping them coming back is key to any company website. For a truly effective website, however, the important factor is driving consumers through a website and down the conversion funnel to taking the action you desire. Effective calls to actions are of paramount importance in this process. So how do you develop your “calls to action”.
A call to action is defined as any action which visitors can take to complete your website requirement. In a perfect marketing world, calls to action would be so perfectly crafted that users have no choice but to do exactly what you tell them. The problem is most never reach that marketing position. They remain mired in tradition ("buy now," "add to cart") or are not specific enough ("click here to order") to motivate a user to do anything out of the ordinary. When consumers are provided with information, they're able to make better buying decisions.
The calls to action that consumers encounter online should couple an imperative verb with an implied benefit. For example, on a e-commerce website “buy now” contains no reference to the benefit consumers will receive by doing so, and neither does "add to cart." A better call to action alternative might be one of the following:
- Buy Now & Save on Delivery Costs
- Add to Cart – Save 10% Today
There are a whole range of methods to improve your “Call to Action”. There are some basic ways to review the effectiveness of the calls to action currently deployed on your website. Firstly there is no substitute for testing different variations of a particular page and the specific calls to action for your own offers. Ask for feedback from friends, work colleagues, suppliers and business partners and look at competitors’ websites. If you are still unsure an independent professional opinion can be always provided by an internet marketing company.
The ultimate aim is to ensure your company website is achieving its objectives and is effective, because if it isn’t, then you should question why you actually have one.
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