Conversion Optimization: CTA Button Best Practices
Time to Read: 3m 42s
We all want our websites to be our personal salespeople that are effective. After all, a good website is just that, an investment that has a great ROI. But this isn’t always the case. Even if your site has amazing content and gets in a ton of new users, they still might not be converting. Why? The call to action (CTA) buttons are not prominent enough to guide the user to the action that will also benefit them. Although there is no one button that is the best converting, there are a few aspects of a button that can get users’ mice clicking.
Best Button Colors for Websites
This question is the million-dollar question for digital marketers! There is actually no answer that is the end all be all even though some articles may say so. The best button color to choose for your website is one that contrasts with your website. It doesn’t need to be obnoxiously bright or flashy, just something close to the opposite color on the color wheel. So if the main theme of your website is blue, you should choose an orange or red color for your CTA buttons. It isn’t guaranteed that these new CTA buttons are going to increase your conversion rate by 1000% but it should have an impact if you choose the right color for your site.
Call to Action Button Placement
The button placement is key in order to get the physical button noticed and in front of users. You can have multiple CTA buttons on the page, but they shouldn’t be competing with each other on the screen at the same time. Most user’s eyes look at a website in an “F” shape. This means that the top-right corner and about midway down the page are effective spots for a button. The top right-hand corner is typically noticed first though. When a user scrolls down, having a sticky header or more repeated CTA buttons further down the page are also effective and can catch a reader who has engaged more with the content and wants to learn more.
Call to Action Button Design
CTA buttons should always look clickable. No CTA button should be a hyperlink or plain text. This does not entice the user nor call their attention, no matter the color! This isn’t to say that you can’t have calls to actions within your body text, but it should never be your only method to attempt to convert people. Buttons should always be three dimensional looking with shading and contrasting text color. Typically, white is the best font color for a button, but simply because it stands out from almost all highly saturated colors.
Call to Action Phrases
When choosing the text on your call to action button, brainstorm your main objective for your users on the page. Category or information pages should have more general buttons like “Learn more” and “Get in touch” to get the conversation started with the potential customer. As the user gets deeper into the site, more specific buttons like “Get a Quote” are better because the user has already drilled down to a specific topic or product. Your button text should never be boring like “Request a Quote” or “Contact Us.” Think of better action words than “Request” and “Submit.” The button should call your attention and have a compelling clear message without being boring. Even changing words from “Request” and “Submit” to “Get” or “Contact Us” to “Get in Touch” will make a difference. This is because people aren’t excited about requesting things, they want the quote now! Give your user a sense of urgency to get the desired action done.