Three Things You’re Forgetting in Your Website’s Calls-To-Action (and How to Fix It)
You see them on Instagram posts, on websites, and anywhere you turn on the Internet…
“Buy now!”
“Click here!”
“Add that sh*t to cart!”
Okay, I made up that last one. But these are all examples of call-to-actions you've probably seen before.
I'm a firm believer that CTAs are misunderstood. So often, brands aren’t giving enough thought to strategic calls-to-action in their copy and content. Spoiler: it's not just about throwing a “link in bio to buy!” at the end of your IG captions!
What is a call-to-action?
A Call-to-Action (or CTA, if you're fancy) tells your reader you want them to take an action. It could be adding a product to their cart, inquire about your services, or checking out your About page.
Why do we need calls-to-action? Because your reader needs to know what action they need to take when they're scrolling on your site. In theory, they could go anywhere, do anything, read forever. But really, you don’t want your reader bouncing around from your home page to your blog page then somehow landing on your privacy policy page… then losing interest.
Your CTA keeps your reader focused and helps them figure out exactly what they need to be doing.
Think of your Call-to-Action as you gently holding your reader's hand and guiding them where you want them to go. Your Calls-to-Action is basically what helps us actually SELL what's on our site, and they deserve MORE credit and thought than we give them.
Because we need to show our CTAs a little more love, let's chat a little bit about what you might be forgetting in your call-to-actions (with some suggestions how you can improve them, too!).
Here are three things you might be forgetting in your Calls-to-Action:
1: Missing a call-to-action at the end of a website page
Someone scrolled alll the way to the bottom of your About page, and now they don't know where to go next! You don’t want to risk them heading somewhere entirely random on your site (or leaving entirely because they’re overwhelmed). At the bottom of your site pages, tell them where they're going next and what action you want them to take!
2. Unclear, unspecific calls-to-action:
Didn't anyone tell you not to click suspicious links on the Internet?! CTAs like, “yes I want this!” or “start my free trial” are much clearer than “this button here” or “here's what you need”. Tell your audience exactly what action they're taking!
3. Reaaaaaally long calls-to-action in clickable buttons:
In my opinion, it should be illegal to have buttons on your site with more than 4 words (and sometimes, 4 words is pushing it)!
Try “Download now” as a button instead of, “Download my free guide to living a better life”. Use the text BEFORE the button to explain what it is they're getting and where they're going (instead of making the button do the work).
BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY…
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