The call to action is one of the most important parts of your landing page. You may have the best website and the best offers but if it isn’t converting and no one is clicking through your call to action then all your efforts mean nothing. A strong call to action is key to website conversion and company success. One small mistake on your call to action could translate to huge losses for your business.
Not converting your leads can be frustrating despite all the efforts you have put into your website and landing pages. If you are wondering why your website is not converting, it is possible that you made a mistake with your call to action (CTA). Your CTA is the first step to converting your website but you want to make sure that you do it right. In this article, we shall identify the common mistakes when crafting a CTA.
- Too Many Call-To-Actions
- Poor Placement of CTA
- Not Mobile Optimized
- You Left Out The Benefits
- Using The Wrong Language
- Vague Button Text or Missing Text
- Your CTA Is Not Aligned With Your Landing Page
- Your CTA Does Not Attract Attention
- Using A Long And Complicated Form
- The Guilt Trip
1. Too Many Call To Actions
A call to action is designed to instruct visitors to take a single action. It is important that you give them one path to follow so they can convert. Most businesses insert too many calls to action causing possible confusion for the visitor which could become a stumbling block for conversion. Giving your visitors multiple calls to action can become overwhelming for them and they may end up not converting and going somewhere else.
When it comes to call to action, there should be a balance between quantity and quality. Too many CTAs can confuse visitors and spoil the whole customer experience. It can also ruin your lead generation efforts as CTA overload may result in the visitor not clicking at all. Similarly, too few CTAs are not good as well. Not having a link where there should be one can be frustrating for visitors.
Each page in your website has different objectives so the number of CTAs will depend on those objectives. Your homepage will likely have more than one CTA because this is the first page where your customers get introduced to your brand. This is where they get to know about your products or services. In your product pages, there should be at least two types of visitors– one for prospective customers who are further down your sales funnel and another for the hot prospects.
2. Poor Placement of CTA
The position of your CTA can have a big impact on your conversion. Don’t make it hard for your visitors to find your CTA or it is unlikely for them to perform your desired action. One reason CTAs don’t perform is because users cannot find them. It’s either they are buried in text and graphics and/or far too down the page. Make sure that your CTA is placed prominently on your pages. Studies have shown that adding a prominent CTA button will increase conversion rate by a whopping 62%.
When it comes to the placement of a CTA, the best practice is to position it above the fold. “Above the fold” means making the call to action visible to potential leads without scrolling down the page. The standard position is on the right-hand side of the page above the fold as it has been proven that CTAs on this side of the page receive more clicks than those on the left. If you have a long landing page, you can include a scrolling CTA that moves with the visitor as they move down your page.
If you have multiple CTAs on your page, make sure that the most important has the most prominent placement. For long pages, you can have one CTA above the fold on the right and another at the bottom of the page. This way, your visitor will immediately know the focus of your page and still be able to read through and convert when they reach the bottom.
3. Not Mobile Optimized
Mobile search has gained huge ground in the last few years. Statistics show that 93% of customers use the Internet to search for local businesses with 34% searching every day and 73% searching weekly. This means that if your CTA is not mobile-friendly, you are missing out on the opportunity to boost your customer base. It is expected that mobile traffic will continue to increase and if you haven’t considered mobile commerce, it’s time that you do.
For this reason, you need to make sure that your website, landing pages, and other marketing campaigns are optimized for mobile. By doing so, you guarantee that your text, images, and CTA will correctly display on various mobile devices. Otherwise, your visitors will have an awful experience on your website.
So how do you do this? First, you need to ensure that your CTA buttons are large and not crowded. Keep in mind that your visitors will be using their fingertips to click on things. If your button is too small or crowded, it can become a frustrating experience for your visitors. Also, make sure that your layout is clean and easy to navigate. Since you will be working on smaller screen sizes, less is more.
4. You Left Out The Benefits
Another common mistake you might be committing is that your CTA is not emphasizing the benefits of your product or service. A CTA that does not clearly cite the benefits of what you are offering is unlikely to convert leads to potential customers. You need to evoke the “What’s in it for me?” mentality of buyers.
When crafting their call to action, many businesses focus on things like the color, curve, or kerning of the text in the CTA button. The truth of the matter is that none of it matters. Instead of focusing on the action or event, center it around your value proposition. Replacing a run-of-the-mill offer or CTA with a well-researched value proposition can lead to a 201% increase in conversion rate.
When it comes to creating a CTA, using words like “free” and “valuable” are not enough. You need to underscore the benefits and the outcomes that your buyer will get as a result of taking action. Your CTA should target the pain points and offer them a solution for those pain points. Create your CTA using different angles.
5. Using The Wrong Word/s
The words or language that you use in your CTA plays a vital role in conversion. You want to use words that will compel people to click on your button. Known as “trigger words,” these are words or phrases that trigger a potential buyer to click. If your visitors cannot find the trigger words they are looking for, they won’t click.
When creating your call to action, avoid using words that cause friction and are not individual to your page. Words that suggest visitors have to give something in exchange for return like time, money, or energy must be avoided. For example, words like “Submit,” “Buy,” “Sign Up,’ and “Download” are high friction words that imply visitors have to do something.
In addition, you should also avoid words that are not personalized. CTA wording is all about personalization. Your choice of pronoun will also have an impact on how effective your CTA will become. Research shows that using the third person (such as ‘my’) can boost your conversion by 24%.
6. Vague Button Text or Missing Text
A vague button text can create confusion for your potential leads. Using text like “Click Here” or “Submit” will not tell customers what will happen should they decide to click the button. Studies have revealed that landing pages with “Submit” at their CTA button translates to lower conversion rates than other text.
Your button text needs to be authoritative and clear to potential leads what their next action would be. In addition, it should clearly communicate the benefits of your product or service to visitors and what exactly is in it for them. You need to make sure that your CTA text is attention grabbing and can be easily understood in just a few seconds. Use trigger words to stir the emotions and make your potential leads click your CTA button.
It is not enough that you place your CTA above the fold. If the critical information that will help the potential customer make a decision is below the fold. Don’t add a CTA button just for the sake of adding it. Either a clear statement of purpose or an obvious result should come before your CTA button or should define the resulting event.
7. Your CTA Is Not Aligned With Your Landing Page
Another huge mistake when crafting calls to action is that your CTA copy is not aligned with your landing page. For instance, the language you are using on your emails or advertisements should be consistent with the language on your landing page. Also, the headline you are using on your emails should be the same with that of your landing page.
Aligning your CTA with the landing page means ensuring that your message matches with that of your brand promise. If your CTA is about a great deal on certain products, then the landing page should be about those products. Also, both the landing page and CTA should be aligned with the stage of your sales funnel the customer is in. The sales cycle is divided into three stages namely: awareness, evaluation, and purchase. Thus, your offer should match the appropriate sales category supported by an appropriate landing page.
Aligning the CTA with the landing page will help you meet your prospect’s expectations. You need to consistently test and compare data to determine the best performing CTA and landing page combination. Testing will allow you to optimize your messages, conversions, and click-through rates.
8. Your CTA Does Not Attract Attention
The saying “First impressions last”, can also be applied to your CTA button. The moment a potential customer finds your website and searches for a product, your CTA button should immediately catch their attention. There are many ways you can make your call to action appealing right away. Using a different color for your landing page background and CTA button can make your button more pronounced on the landing page.
Don’t make the mistake of using a consistent color pattern throughout the page or your CTA could get lost in the background. Experiment with colors like orange, green, and red to make your CTA stand out. Give your CTA button full attention as well as it can help maximize your conversion rate. Another option is to use whitespace as it will help prevent your CTA from blending in with the other elements of your page.
The size of your CTA button is also crucial to making it noticeable to your visitors. Some companies make their CTA buttons small to avoid being projected as being too aggressive or pushy. However, by having a larger CTA button, it will be easier for potential leads to convert. On the other hand, you also don’t want it to be so large that customers might feel pressured to convert. It should be large enough to be noticed and still small enough to appear modest and clickable.
9. Using A Long And Complicated Form
When it comes to sign-up forms, the golden rule is the shorter it is, the higher is the conversion rate. Having customers fill out a long form can be a frustrating experience and may cause them to leave without converting. Keep in mind that your customers are not applying for college or as your employee. While they can be used for generating qualified and relevant leads, it can also turn a significant number of customers away.
If you want to increase your conversion rate, see what fields are necessary to create a better user experience. The number of fields for your form will depend on certain situations. For example, customers who are looking for an estimate on the value of their house understand that their names and email address will not be enough. It will actually depend on your goal for the long form. The bottom line is that if you make it harder for customers to fill out information, it is less likely that they will do so.
In determining the length of your form fields, you can always test and modify to find out the most effective length. Forms can help generate bigger returns but you need to use them in the smartest way possible. Also, length is not the only factor you need to consider. The important thing is to reduce friction and achieve your ultimate goal of converting your visitors.
10. The Guilt Trip
Luring potential leads with various offers like discounts, free trials, or others is a surefire way of converting them to customers. However, making them feel guilty if they don’t take your offer can be annoying. For your call to action to work, you need to give them the opportunity to convert, not oblige them to do so. The chances of conversion is higher if you make customers convert because they want what you offer, not because they feel guilty.
Guilt-tripping CTA’s used to be a trend but it is no longer the case anymore. Nowadays, customers demand honesty, clarity, and professionalism from brand offerings. Guilt trip CTAs goes against the marketing mantra of driving conversions using only action words that elicit positive emotion. It makes your potential buyers second guess themselves giving them no choice but to click on your offer.
As a marketer, your focus should be on giving customers a better choice and experience and avoid the bitterness that results from guilt-tripping when they decline your offer. Make sure to keep your CTAs polite, enticing, and offer-focused for best results.
Your call to action is crucial in increasing your conversion rate hence any mistake can result in the customer going somewhere else to look for solutions. Avoiding these 10 mistakes can help you achieve your goal of converting potential leads and increasing your sales.
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