Best Practices for Winning Calls to Action

After putting together that wonderful offer that is sure to get your business to the next level, you set up your salespage and other selling materials such as emails, landing pages, thank you pages and more.

Then you send it out, and it falls flat.

What happened?

While any or all of these can play a part to be sure, frequently the answer lies in a simpler solution. Your calls to action.

What Makes a Terrific Call to Action

One of the most true things ever said about calls to action is that if you don't make it a point to tell your reader specifically what to do next, odds are what they choose won't be what you wanted.

Strive to be very direct, and use plain language, no matter the action you are asking them to take, from a free download to a sales button.

Craft a Sense of Urgency

You want your readers to act now, so creating a cloak of urgency around your product or offer is essential. If there are limited quantities, or the sale is for a limited time, state that. If the promo pricing ends soon, highlight that. Do whatever you can to induce them to act today!

Tips for Creating Awesome Calls to Action

• Use several calls to action on the page, including one “above the fold”
• Consider using numbers as they increase user attention
• Make your offer pop by contrasting colors with the rest of the page
• Inject emotion into your calls to action whenever possible
• Be sure and stress benefits and not features

If your goal is to increase conversions as I'm confident it is, you need to make sure you test out the various elements to find the things that work best for a particular offer and audience. This is especially true of your calls to action. This is where the money is!