A CTA - or call to action - is a button or link that is placed on your website so that the customer can actually do business with you. Whether that means booking a consultation call, or downloading a pamphlet, a call to action is just that - asking the customer to take some action. Although this seems simple and obvious enough, its something that many online businesses actually struggle with. Luckily, a few small tweaks can go a long way in getting your customers to take the action you want.
In Marketing Made Simple, Donald Miller shares how he knew from the first time he met his wife, that he was going to marry her. However, because he hadn’t been clear with his intentions from the very beginning, he had to wait and watch as she dated someone else and only after they broke up could he finally make his move. He wasted years waiting to shoot his shot again. He uses this example to illustrate the mistake of having a week call to action on your website.
There’s two mistakes I see people that are creating a website for their business for the first time make all the time.
- Not making the ask clear
The purpose of your website is to sell your product or service, don’t be shy about it. Sure, you don’t want to push a million CTAs in the customer’s face before they even know your brand or what you do, but you also can’t make the mistake of not having a clear CTA on the site. Don’t overthink the CTA, its as simple as it sounds - just ask the customer what action you want them to take. For example: buy now, book a call, start your free trial, etc.
The actual words you use may differ based on what you’re actually offering, but the point here is to be clear about your intentions with the customer. Don’t pretend that you want them to “learn more” when you really want them to buy your product.
Personally, I feel like “learn more” is the worst CTA you can possibly have. A person may be ready to buy your product/service, but you’re making them “learn more” - and what does that even mean in the first place.
- Not having CTAs at different points on the page
On the landing page for Donald Miller’s online business learning platform, Business Made Simple, the same CTA - “Get Access” - is repeated 14 times at different points throughout the page.
People have different customer journeys, for some people the problem may be painful enough that only a little bit of information is required and they’re ready to buy. For others, they may need to see some testimonials and learn more about what you do and what you offer before they’re ready to make the leap. As you give more information, you need to keep adding CTAs so that as soon as they have enough information to buy, the button is right there for them.