Why Your Visitors May Not Be Calling & How to Fix It

The Importance of a Good Call to Action

To be effective, your website must clearly state what action you want your visitors to take, whether it's buying a product in your online store, booking an appointment using your online appointment calendar, or something else which will turn them from viewers into customers. Your website needs to emphasize your goal and convince visitors to take your desired action.

Focus on Only One or Two Actions

In some cases you may have many actions that you want a user to take, but be cautious to not overwhelm your visitors - identify one or two important and distinct actions and make them the focus. The rest can simply be referenced in your content, for those users who take the time to read your site in more depth (a.k.a. the minority.) For the users who are landing on your site for the first time and are glancing around the page, be direct and clarify how each action is unique and which should be taken under what conditions. You essentially need to hold the user's hand and guide them around your site.

Selling Your Action

How do you sell your action to visitors and make them want to take it? Different techniques are appropriate depending on the type of action you're asking visitors to take. If your goal is to have users buy a product or service you should sell it to them directly - identify a problem and tell the user how your product or service fixes it and the benefits they will reap. Sometimes an incentive may be necessary to entice users into taking an action - a free entry into a gift draw, for example, or a t-shirt for donating a certain amount of money to your cause.

Making Your Button Juicy & Clickable

Once you have identified your call to action the next important step is to construct the visual element, whether it is a stylized button or a simple box of text. Four attributes to decide upon are size, position, color, and text. These attributes must all work together to communicate the action to the user.

1. Size - bigger is not always better, but in this case it usually is. Since you will only have a small number of actions, and since they're the most important aspect for your users to notice, it's ok for them to be the biggest things on the page. Having a large area for the user to click on also ensures that they won't get frustrated when they're ready to follow your action and click on the link.
   
2. Position - lead your visitor's eye to the link on which they should click and let it stand apart from the text by leaving plenty of white space around it. This ensures that the user will not only see the clickable area clearly but won't mistakenly click on an adjacent link.
   
3. Color - create a contrast between your site's regular color scheme and your call to action links. If most of your site is blue, use a red button - this makes it stand out from the rest of the page.
   
4. Text - the one attribute of a call to action element that ties the rest together is the actual text that the user will be reading. A prominent button is good, but the user will be lost without knowing exactly what happens when it's clicked upon. Surround the link with a large sentence or two about why they should be clicking, then have a couple of action words on the button itself, using urgent language, to convey what it does. "Donate Now", "Book Online", "Buy Now - Sale ends in September" are all examples of good call to action button text.

Finding a Home for Your Call to Action

Finally, once your well-thought-out call to action is ready to go, you should decide on what pages of your site are appropriate for it to appear. In most cases the answer is every page. You will usually have a sidebar next to the main content area where it can exist in almost the same spot on each page, reminding the user about the action while browsing your site and ensuring that they won't have to hunt for the button once they are ready to click.

A call to action is an important (perhaps the most important) aspect of your website and should be given careful thought. When a clear call to action is combined with techniques to bring visitors to your, it can make a significant difference in the amount of sales your website generated.

Want more tips? Check out: http://boagworld.com/design/10-techniques-for-an-effective-call-to-action