03/22/12

Get People To Take the Action You Want On Your Website

Getting people to respond to call to action

Do you wish people who land on your site would take a specific action (like opt-ing in, viewing a featured product, reading the latest blog post, watching a video )? Are you left wondering why they don’t?

When I coach people, I live for making sure visitor behavior is consistent with my client’s goals.  Here are some helpful guidelines to accomplish your user action goal:


1. Ask Yourself the Right Questions

  • What will make this website successful?  The answer can be a specific metric – increase online sales by 300% in the next 12 months. Or it can be qualitative – be perceived as a thought leader in the industry.
  •  What is the primary action I want visitors to take when they get to my home page? Be specific here. For example, I want them to click on a Join Now button.
  • What is the secondary action I want visitors to take when they get to my home page? Again, be specific.
  • Are you clear on the what (they should do), why (they should do it) and when (they should do it).  You have to be clear because you have seconds to convey the What, Why and When.
2. Write your home page copy with the primary action in mind.  You don’t need to make every point on the home page.  There is so much to write on this topic so I will give you three quick tips.
  • Write a headline that draws the users attention, has a sense of urgency and begins to influence them to take the action.  Then transition to a second headline with the call to action.
  • Use results driven language (the what) on the first headline so the second call to action becomes the how.
  • Write copy that engages the reader and moves the reader to act.  All of your copy should support the call to action.

3. Stop looking at other sites.  I love to look at other websites. Some inspire me and others serve to remind me what clearly does not work.  But at some point you can get into the ‘copycat danger zone’.  This is when a client calls me up and says, “I saw this thingy on xyz site and I think it is cool. Can you put it on my website?”  Before you want to copy that ‘thingy’ ask yourself, “Will this drive users to take the primary action or accomplish my site goals”?  Because the site you like may have different goals than yours, it may not be appropriate for your website.

You are now ready for design.  Next week, I am going to share the guidelines I use to design for action.   If you want to hear more, sign up below and I’ll put you on my how to increase sales through your website list.

Go ahead and post your website address below.  Now don’t tell me the primary action you want visitors to take as I want to guess.

About Gina Nieves

Gina Nieves is an expert at getting increased sales through websites. Since founding MarkNet Group, she has overseen the design of 500 websites and $30 million in sales. She writes about how to increase sales through your website. You can follow her at Google+ or Twitter.

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