People are inherently lazy. Especially internet users. They’d much
rather put off until tomorrow (or next decade) what they could easily do
today. Your website’s job is to motivate them to overcome their lazy
programming and actually DO SOMETHING today.
Creating an effective call to action is necessary to get your
visitors to take the next step – contacting you, signing up for your
newsletter, buying your product, etc. There are a few main techniques to
achieve this, and I will detail them below:
Make your offer timely.
By putting a time limit on your offer, it encourages your audience to
take action or they could miss out. By saying ‘This Weekend Only!’ or
another relevant time constraint, you’ll receive a much better response.
This could be coupled with a ‘Limited Quantity’ or some sort of bonus
gift or discount for taking action right away. Also, warning of a future
price increase is another great technique to get them to take action.
Offer a ‘Risk-Free Guarantee.’
The average person does not like to take a risk, so to make it worth
their while, take away their risk! Guarantee that you will refund their
money if they are not satisfied and they’re much more apt to give you a
try.
Make it easy for them to say ‘YES.’
Finally, once they decide that your offer is worth acting on right now,
you must make it easy for them to let you know. For example, if the
call to action is to buy a product on your website, make sure your
checkout process is as hassle-free as possible, or you could lose
business even after they decide to pursue your offer.
