Guide Traffic With A Call To Action

CTA’s are most recognizable as buttons on a webpage used to compel visitors to take specific actions

 What Is A Call-To-Action (CTA)?

A Call To Action or CTA is happy marriage between marketing strategy and design. It is a familiar and commonly used marketing tactic – you probably just didn’t know it has its own acronym.

Why Are Call To Actions Important?

A CTA is not a new concept; just think of all the infomercials that told you to “Call Now!” But because the Internet is so full of information and users’ attention spans are decreasing, it is important to use CTA’s to ensure key parts of your website quickly draw attention.

CTA’s are most commonly used as buttons to encourage an action. “Watch a Demo”, “Read More”, “Contact Us” and the list goes on. The intention is to move visitors through the sales funnel and increase website conversion.

Surprisingly, CTA’s Are Underutilized!

CTA’s are under utilized as a tool to highlight key information on a page and to quickly draw visitors deeper into your website.

Granville West Group – less effective use of CTA’s

Elementus Wealth Management – a more effective CTA implementation

These two examples are both Vancouver, BC based financial planning companies. The Granville West Group has a typical corporate homepage and even uses CTA’s (“Ask an Expert” and “Contact Us”) but their informational CTA’s are not compelling. What they’ve highlighted doesn’t promptly answer any key questions a potential client might have.

In contrast, Elementus Wealth Management uses Call to Actions to answer questions which draws visitors deeper into the website. When looking for a professional, especially one in a competitive industry, your number one question is “why pick you?” Here, the company addresses that by using 3 Call to Actions and each one appeals to a different type of person; there is the typical ‘about us’, a video for visual people and a top 5 for the direct types.

CTA’s Provide Great Insight

When properly set up, Call to Actions also improve the measurability of your website by showing what visitors have clicked. The simplest way to review this is with Google Analytics’ visitor flow tool which tracks how visitors progress through your website. A more precise way to measure CTA clicks is to set up event tracking on Google Analytics. The set up is a little more complicated but the data generated is more accurate and easier to analyze.

Call To Action Best Practices

1. Be Relevant – Whether you want visitors to take action or read key info make sure your Call to Action is important to their needs.
2. Be Concise and Compelling – There should be a clear reason why visitors should click a CTA and the benefit received of clicking them.
3. Don’t Overuse Them – A Call to Action is meant to create focus and highlight particular actions or information. Too many will confuse visitors – a good guideline is 3, at most 4, CTA’s per page.
4. Order of Importance – We always ask clients the top 3 things they want visitors to do when visiting their website and try to create Calls to Action from that. Depending on your business/website this could be difficult to do. Creating a hierarchy of importance helps a lot. Our hierarchy starts with website structure and trickles down to information and actions per page.
5. Get Noticed – Ensure your Call to Actions stand out from the rest of the webpage. A CTA that is visually lost will not garner clicks.

Here’s an example from a Vancouver hotel. Of course, it is important to present why this hotel is a great place to stay. But the most important action taken on this website is to generate bookings.

How long does it take you to find the #1 CTA above?

Here Are 4 Simple Design Aspects To Help Avoid the Same Mistake:

1. Placement: in general the top and left side of a webpage are more prominent when visitors scan a website. That said, size and contrast can greatly affect where eyes travel.
2. Size: the larger the item relative to its surroundings the more noticeable it will be.
3. Contrast: an easy way for CTA’s to stand out is by using contrasting but complimentary colours in the web design.
4. White Space: give your call to action breathing room. Too much around it will distract from it.

Conclusion

It is important to create focus on your website. Incorporating Call to Actions on your website will direct visitors to key information or actions and draw them deeper into your website. This will increase engagement and conversion on your website if done properly. Guaranteed SEO offers an array of internet marketing services that includes website analysis. Our experts will identify opportunities to place CTA on the website to maximize leads.