Have you ever carefully researched an item, decided to buy, then could not find out how to buy the company’s product through their website? In frustration, you probably gave up to purchase the product elsewhere. You have just witnessed that company’s biggest sales mistake. Many businesses have flashy websites with all the best marketing but with one major flaw – no clear call to action. I usually call them contact opportunities because you are really giving the customer another opportunity to contact you.

What is the “Call to Action”?

The call to action is defined in its simplest form as “an activity requested of a customer.” The activity can be purchasing a product or service, taking a survey, signing up for a newsletter, or any other desired action.

An interested visitor has read all about your product’s benefits and features, but now what? The call to action tells the visitor about the next step.

Why is the Call to Action Important?

In online marketing, the call to action can make or break your marketing effort. It is your prime opportunity to increase the conversion rate on your site. Having an effective call to action can improve your conversion rates by 25% or more.

Many times, people visit sites with the intention of “just looking”. Virtual window shopping can turn into a purchase through an attractive and effective call to action. A large chunk of visitors want to be sold on something.

10 Tips for Writing the Perfect Call to Action

1. Focus your page’s content by clearly identifying your objective
2. Write your copy in a way that is friendly and conversational
3. Tell people about your product versus trying to sell your product
4. Place a call to action at the top and bottom (and middle) of every page of your site
5. Center the call to action on customer action - that is, tell the customer what to do
6. Make the call to action easy to find and understand
7. Tell the customer what you want so the customer can decide if they want to do business with you
8. Add trust builders such as guarantees and…
9. Consider placing a well-worded testimonial near your call to action
10. Make key action words stand out and easy to use by making them hyperlinks
11. Bonus: Don’t use “click here” as your hyperlink. In fact, don’t use “click here” if possible

Writing Your Call to Action

You can easily write an effective call to action by answering these two basic questions:

• What action do you want your visitor to take?
• What will happen if they do it?

Good Call to Action Examples:

Contact us to enroll.

Call now. Operators are standing by.

Here is a passionate viewpoint as to why “click here” is not an effective call to action in high performance email marketing, written by Stefan Pollard.

Your Call To Action - Ask for the Sale to Improve Conversions

There is a lot of discussion about how to best draw in tire kickers so that they make a purchase and become customers. Studies have proven that you need to ask for the sale – repeatedly – throughout the sales process and it is important to ask tactfully, and in a non-harassing way.

For an in-depth look at web-specific marketing and sales techniques that focus on increasing conversion rates, read “Encourage Sales Conversion & Reader Response through a Clear Call to Action,” by Jeffrey Smith.

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