There are two key elements to marketing. The first is to drive traffic to your website and the second is to get the traffic to convert into customers. You can have a million visitors going to your website, but if you can’t convert them, what’s the point?
Over the years I’ve learned a lot about improving conversion rates. Some of my knowledge has came from hiring conversion rate consultants, or even running my own a/b tests, but most of it has come from co-founding 2 analytics companies: KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg.
One of the easiest ways you can boost your conversion rates is by optimizing your call to actions (CTAs). Here are 11 ways you can improve your CTAs:
Tactic #1: Test button copy
So what button copy should you use? Click here, buy now, add to cart, purchase now, and order now are a few call to action texts that you see around. But I’ve found that generic verbiage like the words above don’t really impact conversion rates by much. If they do, then there are other elements on your webpage that need to be tested.
And just copying other people’s tests, like how 37 Signals started using the call to action “see pricing and plans” because it boosted their conversion rate by 200%, won’t always work for you.
We tested that same call to action on Crazy Egg over a year ago and learned that it decreased over conversion rate by over 10%. But what did increase our conversion rate by over 20% was the CTA “show me my heatmap”.
Lesson learned: call to actions that are related to your product or service tend to convert better than generic call to actions. Try testing button text that is highly related to what you are offering or selling.
Tactic #2: Color matters
Gmail once tested 50 shades of blue for their call to action color and found the highest converting shade. The end result was a boost in signups. You probably won’t be able to test 50 shades of a color, but you will be able to test a few different colors.
SAP found that the color orange boosted their conversion rate by over 32.5%. Performable found that the color red boosted their conversion rate by 21%.
Lesson learned: different colors have different meanings, such as red can sometimes create a sense of urgency. The main goal with your CTAs is to make sure they stand out and there is a good contrast between your button color and the color of your website design.
Tactic #3: Location, location, location
Just like with any business, location is one of the most important factors. You should test adding CTAs above the fold, below the fold and anywhere you think it makes sense.
I tried testing the call to action placement on NeilPatel.com and found that placement had a big impact on the conversion rate. I tried adding one above the fold, but it didn’t perform as well as placing it right below the fold.
Through surveying I quickly learned that people wanted to read a bit more and learn what I had to offer before seeing a call to action. For this reason having a call to action above the fold caused a decrease in conversions by 17%.
Lesson learned: don’t assume that placing your call to action higher on the page will boost your conversion rate. Make sure your visitors know what they are going to get before you present them with a call to action.
Tactic #4: Design matters
I ran an a/b test on the Quick Sprout Traffic System in which I tested the overall design of the call to action. The original call to action was just a button that said “add to cart”.
But through surveying I found that people were a bit confused on what they would get with the system. So I decided to make a quick tweak with the CTAs.
The new button also contained the text “add to cart” but it also contained an image of the product. The end result? A whopping 28% increase in conversions by modifying the button design to include an image of the product that was being bought.
Lesson learned: just because everyone else uses simple buttons that may contain a few words and round corners, it doesn’t mean you should do the same. From testing different sizes, to round corners, to even including an image of your product within your CTAs, you can boost your conversions by being creative.
Tactic #5: Timing is everything
You would think that showing a call to action button on your site would boost conversions versus not showing it right away, right? Kimberlysnyder.net recently did an a/b test in which they required you to watch a sales video before showing you a call to action button.
The video was 30 minutes long, so you would assume that it dropped their conversion rate. Especially because you couldn’t fast forward through the video or skip to the end. But because they delayed the button from appearing, it forced people to watch their video, which caused their conversions to increase by 144%.
Lesson learned: by forcing people to understand what you are selling and the benefits of it, you can increase your conversion rate. A great way to do this is to not show a user your call to action button until you get them to read what you are offering. This helps prequalify potential customers and helps get them excited on what you have to offer.
Tactic #6: Be creative
CTAs don’t have to be buttons. We recently tested something unique, in which we added a call to action button within a video on our KISSmetrics blog. Once you are done watching the video within it we show you a call to action to signup for our analytics service.
That call to action gets 380% more clicks than our normal sidebar call to action. And it drives 65% more clicks than our call to action within our Qualaroo survey.
Lesson learned: don’t assume that the standard call to action converts the best. I would have never thought that by placing a call to action within a video it would cause more clicks than a simple button.
Tactic #7: Tell people not to click
Can you change your call to action text to “don’t click here” and expect to boost your conversions? It doesn’t work for everyone, but it may work for you.
For example, on TimothySykes.com we recently tested a call to action that stated, “don’t click here if you’re lazy” and it performed 39% better than “click here”.
Ramit Sethi from I Will Teach You to Be Rich uses a similar concept where he tells people to NOT click here.
Using reverse phycology can be an effective way to get people to do what you want. Test different variations of this tactic and try to tell people why they should click by using negative language. For example, if you run an ecommerce site, your call to action button could be “don’t click here unless you want to save 10%”.
Lesson learned: by using call to action phrases that are the opposite of what people are used to seeing, you can potentially boost your conversion rates.
Tactic #8: Special effects
Another great tactic that sites like TimothySykes.com use is that they add special effect to their CTAs. From making the call to action scroll with the user to having it wiggle to draw attention, you can do many things to boost your click throughs.
The call to action “next big pick” on TimothySykes.com has a 21% more clicks because it scrolls. The call to in the sidebar of Quick Sprout of the Michael Arrington ad gets 218% more clicks and 159% more conversions than the Ben Huh ad.
And when I tested the call to action in the Hellobar it converted 3x more when I selected the setting that made it scroll with the user versus not scrolling with users.
Lesson learned: little effects can bring more attention to your call to actions, which can cause them to get clicked more often. This doesn’t mean your conversion rates will go up, it just means they will gain more clicks.
Tactic #9: Exit call to actions
One type of call to action that isn’t used a lot is an exit call to action. I recently did this through BounceExchange on NeilPatel.com in which you only see the call to action when your mouse moves towards the back button on your web browser.
BounceExchange detects when someone is about to leave your website and it shows them an offer to try and grab their attention. The end result was a 46% increase in conversions.
At first I was a bit hesitant to try it out, but no one has complained yet and the conversions definitely make up any small complaints that I could potential receive from an exit call to action.
Lesson learned: you may feel that tactics like exit call to actions are a bit spammy, but others may not feel it is spammy. You won’t know if something works or if it bothers your visitors unless you try it out.
Tactic #10: Whitespace
A great way to make your call to action standout is to place nothing around them. Whitespace can be your friend as it can help make your button standout. You can do this through the following steps:
- Reduce elements within your web design.
- Reduce the number of bright colors in your design.
- Don’t place too many things around your CTAs.
I tried using more whitespace on my Traffic System landing page and saw a small increase in my conversion rate. The increase was 8%, but I didn’t have statistical significance. It would take 30 to 60 more days for the test to end, so I stopped it. Hopefully you will have better luck with testing this method than I did.
Lesson learned: Putting too many elements around your call to actions can be deadly to your conversion rate. Use whitespace to draw more attention to your CTAs.
Tactic #11: No call to actions
Would you dare to remove your call to actions? Tim Sykes did this with his site on his store page and found something interesting. He didn’t do this because he wanted to run an a/b test, but instead his developer didn’t finish his ecommerce store.
His products weren’t connected to a shopping cart, so he removed the call to action buttons on the page and learned that more people were interested in his products because they felt that they couldn’t buy them anymore.
By removing his CTAs and by adding an email address on his store page, he got more inquires from potential customers than what he used to get when he had CTA buttons in his ecommerce store.
Lesson learned: flooding your website with call to actions isn’t always good because it may cause people to feel that you are there only to sell them on something. When you remove your call to actions it can potentially cause a reverse effect in which people may want something they feel they can’t buy anymore.
Conclusion
What worked for me and the other websites above may not work for you. And what didn’t work for them may work for you. In the end you are going to have to test your call to actions if you want to find out what’s best for your user base.
The big takeaway that you should get from this blog post is that you need to constantly run a/b tests. If you don’t try to improve your conversion rates they won’t go up. Don’t be afraid to test!
What other ways can you improve your call to actions?
This amazing course will teach you, step by step, how to double if not triple your traffic over the next 30 days.
Great post Neil with a lot of great info! Thanks as always!
You mentioned design is important, do you mind sharing who you use to design your ads, opt-in forms or landing pages?
Thanks in advance.
Brodie
Great one Neil! Big, attractive, user friendly Call to actions on the page which is getting lot of quality and engaging traffic (home page in most of the cases) will be very fruitful. Enticing people to click is very important and hence being tricky and creative helps. Just like “Do not click here” concept employed by you on Tim’s site.
Definitely, thanks for reading
Brodie, shoot me an email.
Thanks! I appreciate it.
Great tips! I never thought about split testing my call to action buttons. I will certainly give it a go!
Let me know how it goes..
Very Good Tips @Neil, Thanks.
Thanks for reading!
Not having a sufficient way to measure your results is one of the main reasons most websites fail to deliver. Providing content like this will definitely help website owners.
Great post Neil.
Glad you found it helpful
Great post Neil, thanks for the tips.
I think this is an area often neglected by marketers, which is a shame when the potential returns are so good.
I have been getting into split testing a lot more lately, so I am going to be trying a few of these in due course.
Mark, awesome. Let me know how it goes . Would love to hear your experience..
hi neil, these are the best tips to increase Call to actions and in all tips i really like “Tell people not to click” this gives higher click compare to “click here” i experienced it in my site for feedburner subscribers. i got much more compare to previous banner. thanks for these best tips.
Awesome news! Thanks for sharing your experience..
Very informative.
Thanks for sharing
Glad you found it helpful
Do you remember…
A few years ago a blogger did an A/B test on his website that tested his social media follow buttons for either twitter or facebook (I can’t remember)
Results (Not exact, but you get the idea)
1. Just the Icons had about a 3% CTR
2. “Follow me on Twitter/Facebook” had about a 6% CTR
3. “Click here to follow me on Twitter/Facebook” had like a 10% CTR
That being said, it seems like using the words “Click Here” is very effective, even though it may seem like an outdated phrase from the late 90′s.
Thoughts?
Thanks for these stats… very interesting !
Thanks for STATS ..
Glad I could help
Excellent advice Neil, and perfect timing as I soon plan to start marketing an ebook I recently finished
Thanks again!
Great, let me know how it goes
Great post. I have honestly never thought of removing the call to action from a page. I guess it would depend greatly on their intent once they reached the page.
Chris, definitely. Intent is key!
Hi Neil,
Informative indeed!
I liked all your points but the one which really goes well with me is
ne need to be creative enough to keep on doing the things using hit and trials and prepare well based on that.
How does nocall to action has really helped the company, I couldn’t make out from the post because they could have lost the potential business. It is really detrimental to the business.
Thanks for this great share Neal, keep rocking.
Sapan
Sapna, thanks for reading. Glad I could help
Nice tactics. Telling people not to click on buttons works well for sure! Of course its not recommended to use everywhere as its for experiments purpose only.
Definitely, it’s for testing purposes .
Good post Neil but how do you know if your visitors are bothered by exit pops? They leave so its not likely you’ll ever find out, right?
Thanks
Sometimes they come back and leave feedback or email me
Very interesting as always, thanks for sharing Neil.
One thing I’ve been wondering is whether you use a plugin for the ad you place on this blog that stays in position as the page scrolls down (the green one with Michael Arrington of Techcrunch)… if so, could you let me know what it is?
It’s a great idea to keep this in view on long posts
Cheers.
Tim
It’s not a plug in. Email me and I can tell you how to do it..
Actually it’s called the Cloud Box. You can find the same type of ad with KISSmetrics Blog also.
Eugen Oprea had a great post on this with a tutorial on how to implement Cloud Box into your site. You can find it here: http://www.eugenoprea.com/above-the-fold-myth/
You can take it as reference also there he also busted the above the fold myth. Actually the post is on that where he later on included the trick to add cloud box in your site.
Hope that helps
Ha, excellent tips Neil! I need to practice my call to actions – they are non existent now :/
Thanks for sharing!
Siegfried.. let me know how it goes
Great post! I’m currently doing a lot of A/B testing to see which forms convert better, colors, places and more.
It’s really interesting, and it gets even more when you have a lot of traffic to test.
Great post Neil! Would really love to try a couple of these. It really matters about testing. What worked best for others doesn’t always mean will work for best for everyone.
Seth Godin calls these buttons “bananas” and users are “the monkeys”. The goal is for the monkey to find the banana in less than 3 seconds (before they give up and leave).
“Force yourself to design each and every page with one and only one primary objective. That’s the banana. Make it big. Make it blue (or red). Make it obvious.†– Seth Godin
What about making it bigger than all other buttons? Making it obvious? Giving users as much area as possible to click on.
On other thought what do you think about including “No credit card required” to boost CTA? Why do you require users’ Credit Card information for a free trial sign up?
Thanks for the great post!
Do you have any other solutions you would recommend other than Bounce Exchange (a little more reasonable for starting out) for that exit pop up?
Thanks again.
Great tactics Neil!
In terms of UI, when I’m designing CTA area/button the main thing I’m trying to make is more white space for a better focus.
I’ll keep in mind all the other tactics you’ve shared here for my next landing page
Thanks!
Another great article Neil! I’m redesigning our website and this will help a lot!
Thanks
Parvez, glad I could help. Thanks!
Neil, do you think it’s a good idea to start A/B testing from day 1? I feel like paying for an A/B test service like optimizely doesn’t make sense if my site is only getting 10-20 visitors a day because I’ll have to pay for the service for months before I get statistical significance…if I even do.
Michael, you should definitely drive some legit trafic to your site before you start testing in vain..
The color, the position and the message they are based on CTA. Very good article.
Lucas, glad you found it helpful
Hi Neil,
You mentioned testing BounceExchange and ended up with 46% increase in conversions.May I ask you why are you not using it anymore if it worked so well.
Thank you for the great article = another great lesson.
Mark, I continue to use it for some other sites. It works really well!
Hi Neil,
Thanks for the great post!
I found Tactic #1 #5 #7 #11 very interesting.
Amal, glad I could help. Thanks!
Great points Neil..just goes to show one shouldn’t always assume what seems obvious to use doesn’t necessarily work for your own website. Care to share how you split tested or a recommendation.
Herman, if you shoot me an email we can discuss in more detail..
Hey neil,
That was a nice post. Thanks for that
Is there any A/B test method for measuring the same using google analytics.
Yeah, you can set it up and sync with analytics ..
On my web store, add to cart buttons are part of the template used. As it’s a hosted subscription there is nothing I can do to change CTA buttons… Any suggestions?
Peter, shoot me an email and we can discuss ..
I’ve changed my hosting provider and now a new store has been built using Prestashop. Some issues with tags though. Would you consider an Prestashop SEO tips article?
Peter, let me look into it…
Nice work. I will try out some Google Analytics A/B testing and see how I go. Another informative Neil Patel blog post
Steve, glad I could help. Thanks for reading
Niel,
This was really a good posts, throwing light on website design essentials to improve conversions.
Thanks for such an insider.
Glad you found it helpful
Great post Neil, did you use a third party service for #6? I’m curious as to how you added that hyperlink/CTA button to your video. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Katrina, shoot me an email and we can discuss..
very very informative after reading this blog post I need to take my web designer class for better call to actions. Yes, I tried lot to make helpful but not like this. I am following you on yours FACEBOOK WALL as well @Neil Patel
Sourabh thanks for reading
It is really funny that @bestseo do comments on the blog of SUPER SEO @Neil patel
Thanks, Neil! Something to put on my stick-it board. You are full of creative and priceless ideas. Incredible! You’re a find!
Thanks for the kind words. Thanks for reading as well
that should be ‘calls to action’, surely?
Definitely..thanks for pointing that out..
These are pretty good recommendations. I’ve done a ton of CRO myself. I can tell you this, if you can play to the users emotions you’ll increase the rate every time. Put yourself in the mindset of the users and think where there pain points are as well as their opportunities. What problem are they trying to solve with your product and at that point in time, do they simply want to learn more or buy and get the heck out of your site. The time to purchase report in analytics can give you a little insight into this, base on the type of traffic the landing page is build for. – @johnelincoln
“their” pain points… hate errors!
Nice post Neil btw… J
Sorry, thanks for pointing that out. I’ll make sure I get it fixed..
John,
Thanks for these additional insights
Great info…I’ve now got some great ideas to try on my landing pages!
Casey, best of luck!
Excellent tips Neil thanks for sharing,
Any type of logic that could be added to a CTA in my opinion is an awesome enhancement.
The what would seth godin do plugin is an example where it shows one message for new visitors only.
This could be taken to the next level using popups, etc.
I like Tim Sykes example the best i think he should use that trick periodically and build scarcity, stock dudes know all about that.
Darnell, definitely great points. In my experience, you are correct, stock dudes do know a lot about CTAs..
Playing with user emotions i think it works…as you do with us ..Am i right Neil Ji.
Definitely
Good read even got me to post. We will try a few of these on our micro custom button sites.
Great, let me know how it works
Neil,
Your ‘Don’t Call for Action’ reminded me of the book ‘Break your selling rules’. The salesperson got his photocopier sale by discouraging the store owner that his shop doesn’t have the location and the traffic for the product!! The owner felt offended and asked for the product!!
Well, you can’t do this often but it is worth a try, when everything else fails!!
Thanks for sharing
Badri
Thanks for reading. Glad I could help
I am curious about one thing can you tell me how much ctr your hellobar generates?
Peter, email me and we can discuss..
Thank you on the great tips. I have introduced some of them, but need to work in introducing the ones relevant to my business.
Great post.
Thanks for reading
Great Post as usual Neil,
I have found out colors do aid conversion especially bright and attractive colors. I love all the tips you shared here, thumbs up for the work done.
Joseph, glad I could help
This post is looks great for my new website, i am going to try some of the tips of CTA.
Let me know how it works
Thank You Neil………….
Thanks for reading!
Great article Neil… Thanx for the info, I’m going to use these tips on my money-making-online site, right away!
Collin, great! Best of luck!
Really interesting article. Taking notes in preparation for discussion on website re-design.
Thanks, glad you found it helpful
Awesome article! Thanks for taking the time to provide us with this material. I look forward to testing some of these methods myself.
Great, Glad I could help
Very clever ideas here. The reverse psychology tactic is one of the most effective I’ve tried.
Awesome, glad it works
Great info here Neil! I believe the big take away for me is that every situation is unique – don’t copy what the mass does. Continuous A/B testing based on your products services is best. Thanks for sharing this info. Valuable!
Gary, thanks for reading
I need to make some landing pages to test these techniques on. I always put off making landing pages for some reason.
Can never get my head around the content for them!
Tony, yeah.. it’s definitely tough. Best of luck!
Time and again, you deliver the goods, Neil. This post is no exception.
I’m right at the ‘fish crawling out of the ocean’ stage of marketing, with my own product in development while I manage social media and all the content for a not dissimilar product and try to get a few affiliate sales for it via my site, to boot.
Having little success driving traffic to my site and its blog through social media, I’m building up to my first shot at landing pages – the content in this post will be super-useful to that end, I’m sure.
I’ve literally just discovered Tweetdeck and am at the listening/engaging stage, with some encouraging early successes – as you point out, all the engagement in the world means nothing, though, if you can’t convert.
It’s time to start implementing some of your advice and not just reading it. Ooh, it’s scary, innit? Thanks again, bud. Great post.
Jason, thanks for reading. Sounds like you are definitely on the right track
I couldn’t think of more ways.. thank… very helpful and gives much understanding of what a call to action should really be!!
Glad you found the post helpful
Yes this Good post Neil,
11 Ways to Improve Your Call to Actions yes it is good article it sharing lot of information about elements to marketing. Yes Neil but You can have a million visitors going to your website ok good expiation about Improve Your Call to Actions
Thanks for reading!
Thanks! Your blog is awesome.
Glad you enjoy it. Thanks for reading!
Sharing Your post.
Great article Niel! While a pretty call-to-action will certainly draw the attention of the eye on your website. t is the written copy that accompanies the graphic that will ultimately determine if a visitor clicks through. To make it even more challenging, you don’t have much time or room, so your content needs to be brief yet powerful.
Anika, Great point!
I am small time website owner with not much expenditure. These tests are little bit difficult for me as I don’t know coding and designing pages. Is there any alternative?
Patrick, you can always outsource these skills for a minimum cost or profit sharing..
This is really helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad I could help !
Neil, thanks for the great post. would be ok to use hello bar and CAB too close to each other?
yeah, it would be fine..
Good info Neil! I will be starting as an In-House SEO in about a week. It will be interesting to see SEO at work at the enterprise level. I keep your tips in mind when I start.
Thanks!
Johnny, best of luck!
Hey Neil,
I’m still building my website by starting off with blog articles. Getting to read your tips excites me and drives me to prepare for what is to come. Thanks for your valuable techniques! I hope to share my success with you soon!
Lyka, sounds like you are on the right track. Can’t wait to hear of your success
Great advise, test, test, test… If a client has a website with a lot of pages already but no email capture yet, what is the best way to start capturing visitor emails? Add a bunch of sign up forms to every page? A pop over sign up, that pops over the page that is the same no matter what page they come in on? Some other quick start?
It depends… you’ll have to test it out.
From my tests usually a popup performs the best.