There is a bad call to action
The goal of any website page, whether it’s a homepage or a blog post, should be to get people to do something. That something can be the way you want it to be. fill out a contact form, pick up the phone and call you, download an e-book, register for an event, join your newsletter, your name. No matter what you want your visitors to do, the best way to get them to take the next step and do it is with a call to action (CTA).
CTAs come in many shapes and sizes on your website, but you know them best as the big enticing buttons scattered across the website, starting at the top of the home page. This call to action should be absolutely, 100%, without question, the most important thing you want your website visitors to do. However, not all CTA buttons have such high stakes. The button at the bottom of the contact form on your contact page is a CTA. A button at the bottom of a blog post that links to the relevant download is a CTA.
Regardless of where it is or what it is related to, the call to action must be able to convince visitors to take the action you want them to take on their own. For this reason, the CTAs you use on your website should be strong, enticing and well designed. This may seem like a big deal or something overly complicated, but trust me, after years of looking at bad websites, there is a very clear distinction between what makes a good call to action and what makes a bad call to action. .
There are many things to consider when creating a CTA on a landing page, but today I just want to talk about the most important dos and don’ts of call-to-action design that you should keep in mind when creating them. on your website.
Never use Submit
Please go back and read that title again. Then read it again. What the hell, go read it a fourth time. Here’s how deadly serious I take the word “submit” and why it should never be within a mile of any button on your website. But what makes “present” such a bad word to use when calling?
There are quite a few things that go against the word, but the biggest is the psychological impact it can have on readers. Think about the context in which “present” is most often used; You “submit” a job application. Are you “presenting” your term paper? You “file” your taxes. “Presenting” something is a very formal act and implies some weight behind the action you are about to take. This feeling can cause anxiety or second-guessing when it comes to the decision to press the button. The fewer obstacles you can put in front of your website visitors, the more likely they are to take action.
There are much better options for CTAs you can use that better inspire action and don’t create psychological barriers for visitors to clear them. “Let’s Chat,” “Buy Now,” or even a simple “Send” work better than “introduce” ever. Seriously. keep it off your buttons or i will be very disappointed in you.
Be bold with your call to action
Once it’s on the screen, you want your call to action to be the first to catch the visitor’s eye. So when you create a call to action, don’t be afraid to be bold in your design. CTAs need to be able to stand out, which is why the button is the most common design option for a simple hyperlink. By default, a button, being separate from everything else, is much more attractive than a highlighted word among other text. But that’s just the beginning of how you can create a bold and attention-grabbing call to action.
When designing your CTA buttons, consider every color you have available (basically…we’ll get to that in a second). Consult your branding guidelines and don’t be afraid to make your buttons an unused color that stands out from the rest. On the old Roundpeg site, for example, we used a bold orange color for the various CTAs on the site. Roundpeg’s primary colors are white, blue and brown, so using an additional orange that was rarely used elsewhere in Roundpeg-related content really made these buttons POP every time they were used. If it makes better sense in the context of the page, you can also consider simple outlines rather than crazy colors and any other design ideas. Using all-cap and bold fonts are also simple but effective ways to increase the visual appeal of a button.
When designing your CTAs, consider which colors stand out the best. However, there is one very important design aspect to consider when it comes to CTA design…
Don’t be too crazy
Being bold is essential to a call to action. But being bold within your brand is even more important. Yes, a bright purple button is actually likely to look very attractive on a Tish Flooring website amongst all its greens and greys. But would that make sense? Absolutely not.
Your brand and the consistent use of your brand elements in every aspect of your business is extremely important. Deviating from your branding confuses your identity, which can be confusing for both existing and new customers who are new to you. The reason Roundpeg could get away with using an orange button is because that color (although rarely used and very different from the rest of the brand’s usual colors) was pre-approved, used in other graphics and marketing pieces than the one used. and it wasn’t an unfamiliar color at all, even if it stood out.
If a color doesn’t make sense for your brand or is too inconsistent with its page environment, it doesn’t matter how much it stands out. don’t do it The same applies to fonts. Button fonts should be consistent and consistent with the rest of your landing page. Most importantly, it should also be easy to read. This button should prompt an action. If the reader has to take more than a second to understand what you’re saying, you’ve already lost them.
Use powerful words
However, what matters to the power of a call to action isn’t just how the words look, it’s the words themselves. Action words and phrases have power behind them and inspire emotion. If you want someone to take action, the first important step is to make them feel something. urgency, intrigue, surprise, confidence, ease, even fear, in some circumstances.
“Buy NOW!“. “LEARN More.” “Don’t OPEN THIS“. “Get it IT HAS BEEN STARTED“. “For download FREE“. These calls to action will not only draw eyes to the bold button, but also engage the mind. This is another reason why “present” is such a bad word. Aside from feeling wrong, “surrender” itself is such a weak word. It almost looks like the default version you get when you create a button without any customization.