5 Terrific Call-to-Action Examples You Can Use on Your Site
Many website owners think that having a site that just presents information out their product and services is enough. The truth is that a website must do a lot of heavy lifting.
Your site must sell, educate, and be compelling enough to get visitors to purchase, call or enter an email or fill out a form. In other words, it has to be a salesperson that performs without talking and without meeting in person. How can your site become one of your best salespeople? It all starts with a clear, concise call to action.
Without a call to action, your visitor won’t really know what the next step is to engage with your business.
5 Examples of Effective Calls to Action
When we designed this website, we knew prospects wanted fast answers about price more than any other information. We put a conversion box “above the fold” in lighter colors than the darker photos we used. By using “now” and “free” we imply that the prospect’s problems (a fast solution without hassle) can be solved quickly. Who wants to spend a lot of time evaluating cleaning services? We also put images of sparkling rooms up front to demonstrate the tangible outcome of using this cleaning service.
When we updated Nine-Ten’s website, we thought carefully about what prospects wanted to do next after weighing restaurant options. Well, if they like what they see, the next obvious step is making a reservation. We provided two quick ways to make that reservation and put the conversion button and phone number on every page in a bolder orange than the more pastel orange shades in the images. As for tangible? Just try to leafing through those photos and feeling satisfied just eating last night’s leftovers.
We liked this page for its multiple conversion opportunities. The video warms prospects up a bit before leading to its own conversion opportunity. Those that can’t resist videos will start there. The bright orange button stands out boldly against the dark background, and we like the pun on the button copy: “Let’s go for a Scroll,” the humor of which makes us want to like the site creators. Finally, there’s even a chat box that gives the business an opportunity to speak to a trained sales person.
Each conversion opportunity appeals to a different personality. The steady, methodical buyer most likely will go for the Chat Now button to get more solid information. The more gregarious would respond to “Let’s go for a scroll” button just because it’s clever and implies togetherness and interaction. Finally, a prospect at the beginning of the buying cycle will appreciate a video overview. After learning more, he or she just might go for the conversion that exists at the end of the video. Nice job segmenting, Ekklesia.
While most of this background is dark, notice how bright the two call to action buttons are. “List your space” up top catches those interested in making money by renting rooms in their homes or rental properties. The magenta “search” button catches the attention of those intending to travel. They quickly scan to the left to read “where do you want to go?” (Hard to see here in this size.) Exploration of their dream vacation is quick and hassle-free on Airbnb.
Nice on the tangible, showing exactly what those using Disqus get: more conversation and reach. Comments can be difficult to get and just seeing “3 comments” excites those hankering for more attention. The bright orange against the blue background creates urgency. Our last tip: the word “Get” does seem to incite website visitors to action.
5 Examples of Bad Calls to Action
Remember, the website is a salesperson tasked with gathering leads. It’s not just an internet brochure. Put the website to work!
Ineffective Calls to Action have these qualities:
- Lack of focus.
Pick the most important thing a visitor can do on your site, and make it crystal clear what will happen if your visitor clicks on that button. - Too many buttons, rendering the primary button useless.
Too many calls to action can be just as bad as not having any. Use button images for your primary call to action and text for your secondary calls to action. - It’s lost in surrounding content or design.
Be sure that your content doesn’t overwhelm the button. Buttons should get prime real estate on your website. Remember, content is good, but it’s really there to support the call to action. Use a different color for buttons than the primary colors on the site to ensure the button stands out from other design elements. - It doesn’t use action words
Click here, Submit, and Next are not very exciting words. Remember, your job is to get that click, so offer compelling reason to see what’s behind the button.
Don’t Miss the Call! The Call To Action, That is
Even the most beautiful websites fall short if owners don’t include the calls to action that warm prospects up to the idea of doing business with them. Since website visitors are notoriously both rushed and overwhelmed with information, it’s imperative that websites tell them in concrete terms what to do next to solve the problem they came to the website for! Want to work a great call to action into every page of your website in clear terms and great colors? Contact us today and let our team of Internet marketing experts help you get more leads.
About the author: Jeune Ortiz is VP of Marketing and Creative Director at future-ink. With more than 20 years of experience in graphic design and marketing, Jeune brings extensive knowledge and creativity to each website and internet marketing solution to grow your business. 
Share/Save
Good link building is one of the most important things you can do to help with your 
If you have a website you run the risk of having your site hacked. Your chances of being hacked are significantly higher if you have an ecommerce website or any site that has a database like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal.