What’s a Call To Action?
The term Call to Action, or CTA is regularly used when it comes to websites. Whether you know it or not, your website more than likely has a CTA. A call to action is a button or link that you place on your website’s homepage to drive prospective customers to become leads by filling out a form on a landing page. The purpose of having a call to action on your website is to attract visitors and turn them into customers. Your CTA can be anything that essentially pushes your visitor to do something. This can be a link or button to download something, starting a free trial, making an appointment, or getting a free consultation.
Call to Action Best Practices
To have a CTA that drives visitors, it’s beneficial to follow these best practices:
- Your CTA should be aesthetically appealing; it needs to make the visitor want to click on it
- The copy of the CTA should be brief, having as few words as possible while still getting the idea across
- Start the copy with a verb. Tell your visitor what you want them to do with the first word ~ download, register, sign up, etc.
- Make sure your CTA is located in a convenient spot and somewhere you know your visitor will see
- While it’s not crucial, it’s beneficial to make sure your contrasting your CTA to your website’s colors. This presents a sense of cohesiveness to your website and is visually pleasing; your CTA should fit with the overall design.
- It should stand out and be large enough to see, but not distract from other important content on your page.
Optimize Your Call To Action
In addition to these best practices there are also other ways to optimize your call to action usage. You can use your CTA to prompt visitors to share your content. Using buttons linked to your social media sites, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and more can drive customers to become more involved with your company as well as share it with their friends and follwers, generating a greater potential for new customers.
You also can use your CTA to further encourage leads to purchase your product or service. To incorporate this idea into your CTA, use it to tempt your visitor with an offer that relates to your product. For example, you can offer your visitor a free trial or demo, which will hopefully lead to a purchase and a new loyal customer.
Finally, you can use your CTA to close the sale. Use your CTA to inspire your visitor to buy your product or service. You can make potential customers feel comfortable enough to engage with your company by providing a friendly and clear CTA that prompts them to purchase.