CTAs are an important part of the foundation of any website, especially in today’s digital world. You need a goal when creating a website, and one of the more important ones is to drive conversions. But how do you drive conversions through your website? This is why creating effective call-to-actions should be a major priority when it comes to your website’s design. 

What is a Call-to-Action?

A call-to-action, in simple terms, is any line of text on your website that requires or encourages your visitors to take an action. Hence why it is called a call-to-action. The action can be them signing up for a newsletter or even just reading more of your content. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong! There is much more to it than that. The tricky and most important part is to create effective calls-to-action for all of your visitors.

Your website’s traffic can consist of visitors, leads, and customers. That means you must have effective calls-to-action for all of your visitors. Each of these must be different from the others to guide your visitors through your website depending on where they are in their buyer’s journey. 

Designing an Effective Call-to-Action

Designing an effective call-to-action can be a bit tricky as there are many factors to take into consideration. You can’t just use one popup as your call-to-action on every part of your website. What works on one page may not work on the other page. This also applies to the traffic that comes into your website. 

Your website will have many visitors that don’t fall under one umbrella. They can be leads, visitors, or frequent customers. You want them all to do different things on your website depending on what category they fall under.

• Visitors: Engage with call-to-actions that result in them sharing personal information such as their emails with your business.
• Leads: Engage with call-to-actions that lead them to make a purchasing decision on your website. 
• Customers: Engage with call-to-actions that keep them informed about your business and possibly social media sharing. 

As the website owner, you will want to turn visitors into leads and turn leads into customers. From there, those customers may hopefully become essentially ambassadors for your business as they have reaped the benefits from the purchases they made. This is why you should create effective call-to-actions for all parts of your website and all of your website’s visitors. 

Types of Call-to-Actions to Use On Your Website

Fortunately, there are many different types of call-to-actions that you can use on your website. You just have to identify who those call-to-actions will be directed and where to place them. Placing them on the wrong page or part of the page can lead to many people ignoring them. Here are some call-to-actions that you can consider using. 

No-Risk Offers

A great call-to-action that many people appreciate is the opportunity to try your service or product on a risk-free free trial. This call-to-action can turn leads into potential customers as the free trial can help them come to a more informed decision on whether or not to engage in business with your company. 

This free trial, if executed perfectly, will convince the person that they need your service or product to make their lives better. Remember, sometimes people might not realize they have a problem until you show them that problem and how to solve it! 

Form Submissions

Form submissions are great call-to-actions as they can turn visitors into leads. Anyone who clicks on a form submission button and takes the time to fill out the form with their name and email address is likely interested in what you have to offer. That is why form submissions should be placed on certain pages that people find useful and informative as they will be more inclined to fill out the form. 

Header CTA

One of the elements of a website you may see that grasps your attention are headers with a call-to-action. These headers work well as many people who scroll through any website page usually scroll back up, which is where your header will be waiting. 

A good example of visitors who can click on a header call-to-action are people who read your resources and keep scrolling back up once they’ve finished reading your content. You can put a form submission within the header for people who finish reading your content asking them if they would like more content like this. From there, they can sign up to receive similar content in their inbox.

Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are another popular type of call-to-action as they offer something to the visitor in return for some personal information. This personal information is usually their email address as it is a great way to send them informative content, and even exclusive deals.

Some more examples of what you can offer to those visitors are newsletters, ebooks, quick sheets, a course, among many other offerings. Lead magnets are aptly named as their purpose is to turn visitors into leads. That is why the offer should be relevant to whoever it is being offered to. 

Read More Buttons

Read more buttons are an effective call-to-action for people who enjoy reading your content. Some people who go to your site might have an issue that they don’t know much about. This can lead them to skim through your resources. They might come across your blogs and start reading the previews. This is where you should place a clever read more button. 

The read more button is encouraging the user who is interested in the topic to click on it to read more about the topic. Typically, if your blog was just displayed in its entirety, then the traffic would count towards the page it was on, not the blog itself. Having the read more button not only engages the reader, but also makes sure that the traffic gets credited to the correct page. 

Social Sharing Features

Another great call-to-action is social sharing which is also pretty easy to implement. Nowadays, most people have some form of social media that they use to engage with their friends and family. A great way to engage them more with your content is by allowing them to share content with those friends or family. 

For example, you can put a social sharing button asking readers if they liked the blog, and if they did, then they should share it with other people they feel would get value out of it as well. This not only helps inform others, but it can also grow your social media presence which can mean more people visiting your website. 

Contact Us CTA

One of the more commonly used call-to-actions are the “contact us” buttons on websites. Whenever a lead becomes a potential customer, you want to help guide them towards a purchase. A contact us button essentially acts as the last step before the lead contacts you about your services.

Let’s say that you have a roofing business and a lead has been visiting your website for some time and has read the reviews about your services. They like the reviews as well as the informational content that you provide. They even signed up for weekly newsletters from your business! That is why you should have a contact us button as they look like they are ready to pull the trigger on a possible purchase. They just need someone to talk to to make that conversion. 

Purchase Options

Many services offer different pricing plans based on the features that are included in each of them. This is where you can make an effective purchase call-to-action. Instead of just flat out showing all of your pricing plans to visitors, you can show them all of the options while making sure to highlight the one that provides them with the most value. 

Highlighting the pricing plan with the most value will help the potential customer compare it to the more expensive and less expensive options. This can lead to them becoming more willing to make a purchase as they feel that they are making a more informed decision. 

Exit CTA

Sometimes, a visitor to your website may not feel like making a purchase at the moment which leads to them exiting your website. That doesn’t mean that should be the end of their interaction with your website though. A well-placed exit call-to-action can be the solution that helps them stay on your website.

An exit call-to-action should be triggered whenever a visitor is about to leave your website. This can come in the form of a pop-up that can say something like, “Leaving so soon?” From there, you can offer them something that will help keep them on your website, or ensure that they come back. A great call-to-action can be a one-time deal that expires in 24 hours. Anything to make sure they don’t leave empty-handed. 

Promotions

Your website can also be a place for you to promote certain events as well as any other upcoming ones that you may have. The best part is that event promotions can be for anyone. They can be directed to your visitors, leads, and customers. 

An example of using an event promotion call-to-action is by placing them in your headers, dashboards, and even sidebars. All of these places on a page are good enough to ensure that you get eyes on it and even possible sign-ups.

Call-To-Actions Are Important For Any Website

Call-to-actions are an important part of any website that is looking to drive conversions. They help guide visitors through their buyers’ journey while keeping them engaged with your business. Without call-to-actions, you may find it next to impossible to drive conversions through your website. Use the right call-to-action to help reach your business goals. 

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