When sitting down with a potential website designer you may find your head spinning a little as they throw out terms like “SEO”, “CMS” and “CTA”. Today I’ll touch on “CTA” (although you can always contact me for further info on those other troublesome terms).

CTA stands for “Call To Action”…Basically your company has a website because, well, you want more business (duh). So when you have a visitor land on your site, not only do you want to impress them with your product or service and provide more information, but you’d also like them to DO something about their visit. After all, they’ve made a certain level of commitment already by merely visiting your site. This is where a CTA comes in: it can be in the form of a button that leads them to yet another page, or a form that they fill out for more info, join a newsletter list, or a “BUY NOW” or “ADD TO CART” button that clinches an e-commerce deal. Essentially the objective is to provide a compelling reason to finish, rather than defer, the sale

CTAs are an integral part of your site as they encourage the user to go further down the sales funnel than just ending up on your site. Obviously this is highly important and therefore deserves some highlighting on your site. But how?

There are a few common tactics to highlight your CTA. One is repetition: make sure your CTA appears more than once, on more than one page. Each individual is unique and therefore absorbs your content differently. Some people see a graphic in a sidebar somewhere, but others might be attracted a large button, centred on the main page. The idea is provide multiple ways of having the user finish that sale, or least contact you for further information.

If you are asking the consumer to commit to a fairly large purchase, you might precede your large request with a series of smaller requests, that eventually lead them to the main goal. For instance, you might have them upload a photo file that can be used to customize a product you sell, choosing different colours and features, so they can see a possible mockup, before you make the final ask. The idea of “no obligation” to start is an important feature of a CTA.

Another feature of CTAs is that they use the familiar tactic of creating a perceived urgency or exclusivity. You might mention that there are only x number of these items left, or that if they complete the sale they might be entitled to a discount that is only in effect today.

CTAs can not only be introduced on your website: they can be implemented in email campaigns, digital banners, Facebook ads, and any or all manner of digital advertising. What can you offer your customers, today?