Web design is a crucial aspect of any online business, as it can make or break the user experience and ultimately determine the success of the website. A well-designed website not only looks good, but it also makes it easy for users to navigate and find the information they need.
One of the most important elements of web design is the call-to-action (CTA), which is used to encourage users to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. In this article, we will explore the basic principles of web design and how to optimize your CTAs for maximum conversion.
The importance of CTAs?
It is essential for all sellers to have CTA’s to get the user's attention and invite leads to buy, contact or click for more information. What exactly is a call to action? A CTA is one of the key elements on a web page that acts as a sign to tell the user what to do next. If you pay attention, you will see that every day we find different CTA’s: “Push this button”, “open this link”, “buy here”, etc.
When there is no CTA, users may not know what to do next or what the next step is to make a purchase or sign up for a newsletter. The most likely thing, in this case, is that they will leave your website without taking any action.
Psychologically, our brain is always attentive to instructions and signals from outside: where to order, where to turn left to reach our destination or which key to press to transfer the call to the director of the company. We instinctively seek guidance on what to do next.
The same goes for users who visit your website. Once they access it, they will look for instructions to continue to the next step. Should they subscribe to the newsletter, download an ebook or buy a product/service? Make sure your website has a CTA to guide and help visitors, otherwise they will quickly leave your site.
All these signals exist to indicate what we should do and how to interact with a website. Optimize your CTA and make evident what is the next step in your sales funnel. There are several possible actions, such as registering for the newsletter, filling out a form, downloading, requesting a quote, getting a free trial; and it is easier to have an explicit message to guide your visitors and tell them what to do next.
The importance of a call to action
What is the main objective of your website? Sell products? Invite users to subscribe to the newsletter? In order for users to take a specific action, you'll need to create a persuasive CTA.
Imagine that you designed a page with a headline and an attractive offer. But you didn't add any call to action. What should the user do? Although the action may seem obvious, visitors may leave your website without taking it because there is no next step or button to click.
The success of your online business will depend, to a great extent, on the calls to action that appear on each page of your website, since all of them are great opportunities to convert users into customers.
On a website or blog, CTA’s are a critical part of your marketing campaign because behind a CTA there is always a goal: to convert a user into a lead and finally, complete a sale. For this reason, CTA’s are a fundamental part of your selling process for moving your leads forward. So we're going to show you how to make your CTA’s stand out and get more leads.
1. Direct your CTA’s towards an action
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CTAs are useful for telling your leads what to do next. Don't let your leads think too much about their next step. On the contrary, tell them what to do and keep your message short and actionable with only one message per CTA.
Save your customers time and don't let them think about what to do next. You must think for them and tell them what is the next action to take.
Likewise, it’s important to segment your audience well and choose the best CTA for them. The more segmented your audience, the greater the attraction (and conversion). For example, you can segment your CTA’s based on whether they aim at visitors, clients or prospects.
In fact, personalized CTA’s perform 202% better than general CTAs (Hubspot). So, don't forget the segmentation process before creating your CTA’s.
2. Look for a good copy
The design is important, it is evident, but the copy of the button will convince users to click. So the text of the copy is crucial. The fewer words you use, the better. Even two are enough and CTA’s use imperative, direct messages like “Download your guide”.
3. Include keywords consistent with the offer
Try to make your proposal always aligned with the content in which your CTA is and don't forget to customize the message.
By the way, if you include a subtitle with a very brief explanation of what is going to happen, you are providing more useful information for the user. At this point, you can explain to your buyer persona how they will solve their problems and you'll be offering content that you know they like.
In addition, the more focused and specific the offer, the more likely to convert because a CTA with a high click-through rate, but which doesn’t convert, is not fulfilling its function. To illustrate this, if you’re offering downloadable content in your blog posts (for example, an ebook), use the keywords from the article to include them in your download button.
4. Make your CTA’s attract attention
Design matters. Take care of the design of your website, it is important because it’s what they see before "buying". Boost your brand and take care of your image as much as you can and your CTA will complement the entire design.
CTA’s on your website have to be striking, intuitive and standout. To achieve this, use colors and contrasts to attract attention, choosing a color that stands out from the rest of the content will increase the number of clicks your CTA will get.
Similarly, enlarging the CTA button will work as long as you place items in contrast and if you show your CTA in a spacious format, leaving a free space around to make it gain visibility, allows you to gain amplitude and capture the user's attention on the button. In this way, you ensure that the call to action button is noticeable and not confused with any other element.
Finally, you can use pop-ups, arrows or images to naturally attract more attention to your CTA. Or even, you can make your button with texture or shadows to make it more eye-catching.
5. Proper CTA location
Put your CTA in the most appropriate place as your CTA should blend with your website and it shouldn't interrupt the reading. Look for a place where it naturally gets attention such as at the beginning and at the end of your message.
Focus on placing in a visible place, in which the user is more likely to see or remember it later after reviewing the content of your site. A reader who enters your website and is clear about the next step and wants to enjoy your benefits, products or services, is easier to convert.
6. Have a button on the CTA
It seems logical, but if you choose an image format, it is advisable to include a button to make clear where to click. Regarding the type of CTA’s you can use, there are infinite versions of CTA’s, such as:
- Buttons. Buttons are one of the most found CTA formats and you find them in email campaigns, e-commerce purchase pages, among others
- Banners. It is currently one of the most used formats in blogs, social networks and ads. It is an image that, by itself, provides more context than just a button.
- Links in texts. This format is common in blog posts, but you can use them in emails, ebooks, videos, etc.
7. Perform tests to optimize
Do you think that a specific page on your website is not converting as it should? Is it possible that the call to action is not persuasive enough?
The only way to know is to do an A / B testing and see if a call to action with a different style, color, text, or location can yield better results. Performing A / B testing by changing an element is a good practice to test, measure and optimize your CTAs. Now, let’s take a quick look at the keys to optimizing our CTA’s:
- Clear and specific offer
- Alignment with content
- Give answers to a specific “pain” of the buyer persona
- Include a subtitle with a very brief explanation of what your lead is going to achieve
- Create curiosity and the desire to click
- Originality
8. Keep the CTA always visible
The first rule of thumb is keeping your CTA visible. No one can click on something they don’t see or notice. No matter where the user is on the page, you should always have your CTA close at hand. The key is that if you want a page to convert, you must make sure that the main call to action is always the most visually striking element on the page.
9. Use the right colors
When designing a web page, the first colors to incorporate are the colors of your brand. But these colors are not the most suitable for certain elements like the CTA’s. Your CTA must stand out and use a color that conveys a certain emotion. So you may consider picking a complementary color to really make it pop.
For instance, if you want to inspire a certain feeling you can choose one of these colors:
- Warm colors. These colors evoke joy, energy, creativity and passion. With yellow, you can highlight yellow optimism or with green, tranquility.
- Cold colors. Cold colors refer to calm, cleanliness and professionalism. The most common are blue (confidence), purple (creativity), white and black.
So, choose your colors wisely and remember that the CTA should have as much contrast as possible. Designers often go for the highest conversion colors, but there really isn't a certain color that works best. Instead, visitors tend to look at that element that stands out from the rest of the elements on the page.
Therefore, to capture the attention of users, you should use a color that contrasts with the rest of the page, while still conforming to the overall color scheme.
Bonus tip. Create a sense of urgency to increase conversion. For this, the content around the call to action, whether on a landing page or newsletter, has to encourage the user to click at that moment. For example, offer limited units, a countdown, or a deadline.
Final thoughts
You should not overwhelm the visitor with excessive CTA’s located everywhere on your webpage. It’s better to have a few located strategically. With these guidelines, you’ll be able to create really effective CTA’s with the potential for conversions. Remember that the perfect complement to a CTA is quality content.
In fact. there is no perfect or universal call to action to create the right buttons for your website. But if you follow this advice, you'll be one step closer to creating calls to action that take your visitors to the next step.
But if you still have doubts about how to optimally make calls to action within your page ... no problem! Contact us, we will help you and advise you on everything you need so that your page has a maximum conversion!
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