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3 Tips To Get Your Visitors To Take Action

The call-to-action (CTA) on each of your webpages is the most important element you’ll build into your design. A CTA converts visitors into sales and leads. A CTA that stands out has a better chance at being effective.

Crafting an effective CTA is a learning experience, as there are plenty of common mistakes that tank the performance of a CTA. Here are 3 tips to build the foundation of a strong CTA and get your visitors to take action:

  1. Stick to one CTA per page

When you’ve got plenty of content, it’s tempting to design a site with a handful of CTAs on every page. You’ve probably got downloads, videos, products, signup forms, and more. You might want your visitors to take notice of all the options.

However, having more than one CTA per page is a distraction. When you have a specific CTA, eliminate any other elements on the page that are calling for your visitors’ attention.

Maybe you’ve heard of “analysis paralysis” – the idea that when people are given too many options they freeze and can’t make a decision. That’s what happens to visitors when your webpage gives them too many choices. Sometimes too many choices can simply be more than one.

What CTAs can learn from jam

A famous study was conducted years ago by a grocery store sampling jam. The store conducted two tasting sessions. The first session offered customers the opportunity to sample twenty-four different jams. The second offered only six jams.

The results were surprising. Both tasting sessions attracted 60% of shoppers, who sampled two flavors on average. However, when presented with twenty-four options only 3% made a purchase. Of the shoppers who sampled the six options, 30% made a purchase.

This type of study has been repeated across various industries and online with different products and services. Most of these studies support the idea that more choices prevent consumers from making decisions.

So, what does a page with one CTA look like? Unbounce has a landing page conversion course that demonstrates this principle, and beyond. Visitors can only click on their CTA or the sections of the course to learn more. Additionally, they’ve cut out all other links, including top and footer navigation. There are no distractions on the page, and no two elements are competing for attention.

  1. Design your CTA to fulfill the purpose of each page

Your CTA should be singular and crafted to match the purpose of each page. For example, your home page might invite people to start a live chat like the Becker Law Office in Kentucky, your contact page will encourage people to contact you, and you might even have a page directing people to sign up for your newsletter like Wired News.

  1. Eliminate or subdue competing CTAs

Depending on your niche, you might ask visitors to join your email list, but what you really want is for them to call you for a consultation. In that case, you should make the CTA to call you more prominent than your email signup form.

On the other hand, if you only want leads that need your services immediately, or you don’t have the resources to manage an email list, eliminate your signup form from your pages. You can always add it back later.

If you let your leads go stale they’re essentially worthless. Especially when your services satisfy time-sensitive needs. By the time you get around to creating an email marketing strategy, they won’t need your services anymore.

  1. Use the same CTA across all pages when appropriate

Sometimes it’s appropriate to use the same CTA on all of your pages. For example, if you’re running a major email marketing campaign, getting people to sign up for your email list is essential. You’ll want your signup form to appear in the same place on every page. With one exception: sales pages people find only through PPC ads.

Unless the point of your PPC campaign is to generate email signups, don’t encourage a PPC visitor to sign up for your list or even navigate your website. Your sales page should be a direct invitation for them to take the one action you intended.

For some serious CTA inspiration, check out Hubspot’s 31 CTAs you can’t help but click.

Written by Jenna Cyprus

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