Center-align! Above-the-fold! Big Fonts! Red, Keep It Red! – Conversion rate optimization (CRO) shouldn’t feel like following a commander barking out orders.
If you have been following some quick techniques and checklist to get started, please take note that CRO is an art and science combined. There is no single formula that works for all and apparently there are many myths out there when it comes to CTA best practices for optimal conversions. Let’s demystify some of them.
Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons That Stands Out
A CTA button that stands out smack in the middle, right in your face and can’t be missed will always work better and show higher Click Through Rates (CTR) than a button that is more camouflaged into the surrounding content. False.
In reality, a CTA button that stands-out will of course capture the audience interest. Nevertheless, too much of anything can’t be good. If the button is way oversized and flashy, it can become annoying instead of appealing. The truth is, CTA buttons that stands out do not always work better than CTA buttons that have been designed to closely match the website look and feel better.
Put Everything Important Above The Fold
This is a misconception. Some important elements function better below the fold. It depends on the user’s current thought and expectation when they arrive on a landing page. Did they come from clicking on an ad, from a referral blog or via search engines? If they came from an ad, a signup form and button above the fold might perform quite well.
On the other hand, if the visitor arrived by clicking on a search result from the term, ‘What is leadership’, he/she is more likely to be looking for information to read, as opposed to signing up for a course or newsletter. In this case, having valuable text content and information above the fold to slowly lead the user’s thinking process to the sign-up form at the bottom of the page may result in higher conversions.
Hence, is it right to say that the key is to put everything important above the fold? Yes and No. It depends on what you categorize as important. While the signup form is important, in the second scenario, the text content is much more important than the form for conversion.
Mini Changes Like Button Color Has No Impact
Mini changes to the website can have much bigger impact than you might imagine. Let’s consider changing the color of the menu bar or the homepage button CTA for example. How much impact can you expect?
Consequently, it can have huge impact (of course depending on other factors such as the industry, target audience, etc); and it has to do with consumer psychology. For instance, did you notice that fast food chains all tend to have the color yellow or red in their logo? The color red is associated with appetite, hunger and attention, while red triggers feelings of happiness and friendliness.
Another example, what kind of impact can you expect from maybe a mini text change that invites users to download your whitepaper? From perhaps, ‘200 Pages Consumer Survey. Download Now!’ to ‘200 Pages Consumer Survey 2017. Download Now!” My guess is that the extra text, ‘2017’ can result in a higher conversion rate.
Start Your CTA With A Verb
CTAs are meant to prompt actions, clicks, so anything that starts with a verb such as ‘Buy now’, ‘Learn more’, or ‘Signup Now’, should perform much better than CTAs that do not start with a verb.
In reality, this isn’t the case and the best way to go about it is to test. For example, if you’re offering a 15-days trial for your service, which CTA do you think will perform better between: ‘Download Brochure’ or ‘Free 15-Day Trial’?
Here are a few more examples: A text that says, ‘Don’t think you can make it?’ followed by a CTA button that says ‘Yes You Can!’, Or simply a CTA that says, ‘What You’re Missing’, ‘Why?’ and ‘Yes, Take Me There’.
The Magic Word Is ‘Free’
This one is easy, the word ‘Free’ is likely to work every time. That is why marketers continue to use this magic word throughout the history of marketing.