You’ve put Sales Navigator to work for you to build your audience on LinkedIn. You’re making great connections, producing great content, and sending more traffic to your website than ever before. But you just don’t seem to be converting as many of them as you should.
One of the biggest reasons you’re not getting more conversions is because you have a weak call-to-action with no sense of urgency. Or even worse, no call-to-action.
Do your prospects even know what to do or where to go next?
A call-to-action can do many things. It can ask a visitor to your site to sign up for email marketing. It can help define the journey you want to take visitors on in order to tell your story, by telling them what to do next. Calls-to-Action make the experience of visiting your website better because visitors no longer have to wonder what the next step even is. A strong call-to-action helps direct them and direct them on their journey.
It shows them the next step, and the easier you make it to take the next step, the more prospects will do it. It’s an important micro-commitment along the way to qualifying a prospect.
But 70% of small B2B businesses don’t even have a call to action on their websites.
What makes a good Call-to-Action?
- Let your audience know exactly what you want them to do. This should be a simple action that is easy to take and removes risk.
- Be clear and concise. Tell people what you want them to do next and what’s going to happen.
- Provide them with a reason to take the action. Tell them what taking that action will do. For example, what is the reward for taking the action?
- Use strong words for your desired action: subscribe, download, order, find out, shop, buy, or call.
- Know your devices – Most of your visitors will come to your website or read your emails on a mobile device. Customizing different calls-to-action based on the device being used to view the site can help ensure it always looks good and functions properly, no matter what device they’re using.
A good call-to-action requires a deep understanding of your audience.
- Identify a Problem – Find your prospect’s pain point. You need to really understand your audience and the problems they’re facing. 45% of consumers will abandon an online transaction if they feel their questions/concerns aren’t addressed quickly.
- Create a Sense of Urgency – Build urgency around the problem they’re facing – that makes them feel like they need to follow your call-to-action. You can do this in your landing page headline, subtitles, or bullet points and that will increase or decrease conversions for your call-to-action.
- Offer a Solution – Offer a solution to the problem they’re facing. Whether it’s a reward article, the chance to talk with someone, or even to sign up for more key insights, offering some sort of solution to help with your prospect’s pain point will make them more inclined to follow your call-to-action.
A good call-to-action is relevant, useful, and easy to understand.
Do Some Testing
There is no golden rule for writing a good call-to-action. You have to test different versions in order to see what works best. Just a small tweak or change can make a huge difference in conversion rates.
- Test where the call-to-action is on the landing page
Just like a popup, where the call-to-action is located on the landing page can have a huge effect on conversion. Test out a few variations to see which location works best. - Test the headlines and copy
How we talk about ourselves and our offering can have a huge effect. Testing out multiple iterations of the headline and copy can help you determine what works best. Even a minor change can make a huge difference in conversion rates. - Test different calls-to-action
One call to action may be way more effective than another, even when everything else is the same. Try testing out at least 2 versions of the call-to-action to see if one drives more conversion.
Follow the Data
I say it all the time, but it’s really important to take an iterative approach. Follow the data. Test different iterations to see what’s driving more engagement. And then keep testing and keep refining.
Learn more by listening to our B2B Word of Mouth Marketing podcast.
All the best,
Bill Bice
CEO
