Call to Action

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• Published on Monday, 09 January 2012 02:03
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Call to action buttons are very important for websites and should not be neglected in any case. Getting a visitor do to a certain action translates into a conversion and that’s an important part of any site. Making an effective call to action is not as easy as people might think. It’s not only the color that matters, but also the shape and the message that you apply on it.

You want the visitor to do a certain thing, like adding a product to cart, or registering for a service or downloading a file.The Call to Action button needs to be clearly visible and distinguishable to the user. Here are some techniqiues:

Size

Size does matter in this case, the size of an element relative to its surrounding elements indicates its importance: the larger the element is, the more important it is.

Placement

Placement is key, the "Call to Action" should be either placed high in the layout or centrally located to draw attention to it.

Whitespace

Whitespace, don't be scared of it. Allowing the page to flow and including whitespace can effectivly make the "Call to Action" standout from the rest of the page content.

Colours

Use alternative or high contrasting colours to make the "Call to Action" standout.

Actions

Urgency is probably the next step, including key words like:

• Call
• Buy
• Register
• Subscribe
• Donate

All of these encourage users to take an action. To create a sense of urgency and a need to act now, these words can be used alongside phrases such as:

• Offer expires ....
• For a short time only
• Order now and receive a free gift

Finally, consider what happens when a user does respond to your call to action. The rest of the process needs to be as carefully thought through as the call to action itself. Most web users are hesitant to take things they’re presented on the web, so you will need to build trust, anticipate users’ scepticism and tell them what they will gain by taking the action you’ve presented to them. When designing a call to action button, think of all the potential questions users will have, and make sure that you answer them in time.

One particular word of warning – if you require users to provide personal data about themselves, resist the temptation to collect unnecessary information. This will more than certainly lead to user drop offs.