One of the main functions of a website is to encourage visitors to engage and interact with your organization. As the “hub” of your digital footprint, it is designed to offer audiences an immediate call to action such as:
- Sign up for a newsletter
- Take a quiz
- Watch a video or Listen to a podcast
- Fill out a poll or survey
- Make a comment
- Pose a question
- Register for a webinar, class or program
- Download an eBook or resource
- Make an appointment
A key benefit of these types of “actions” is that they capture contact information and help you build a list of potential customers, donors, participants or community members. NFP benchmarking statistics show that many visitors are happy to provide nonprofits with their information in return for tailored or personalized communication. But if a webpage isn’t generating results, it could be that your audience isn’t clear on the call-to-action or that your marketing communications team isn’t clear on the communication objectives, priorities and measurement plans.
Clear Actions Require Clear Objectives
Teams need to ensure the digital strategy has clear measurement outcomes resulting from the various communication tactics they employ. Is your organization focused on acquiring new customers, generating new leads, improving audience outreach, and increasing the flow into your donor or sales pipeline? Or are they focused instead on building brand reputation – positioning your organization as a thought leader, increasing perceived authority or credibility, improving the digital footprint and generating media coverage?
Once the team has clear communication objectives (S.M.A.R.T = specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) and priorities, it is much easier to focus on what your ask is to webpage visitors. Of course, this often sounds much simpler than it is. Depending on the complexities of your request, you might need to create several compelling ways for visitors to engage with your webpage and then test them with diverse audiences.
Creating a Compelling Call to Action
- Instruct users clearly on what to do
Consider the words you have been using to create your call to action. Have you defaulted to the standard “free”, “sign up”, “watch now” or “subscribe”? While concise, consider as well verbs that can be more persuasive v.s. descriptive – and then test to see the results.
For example, do your audiences respond better to the more traditional “Learn More” vs. “Discover” or “Check Out” or “Ready to Get Started”? What about “Buy Now” vs. “Get Yours Today”? or “Pick Your Plan” or maybe even “Reserve Your…” depending on the type of purchase.
It can be a great investment to work with an advertising or social media copywriter to distill down a list of options to test.
2. Explain your value proposition
Ensure your call to action also clearly communicates the “unique” value you are providing by getting them to complete the action. This can link back to your brand’s USP or Unique Selling Proposition (Why buy / donate / join / call etc.) and ensure your action is relevant for the desired audience. e.g. Order your custom, hand-crafted (product USP) today or Give X, the top-rated (product USP) a try – It’s Free for 30 Days.
3. Reassure them of the value and remove any doubt / concerns / perceived risk
I often critique webpages that ask me to “Download” a white paper as I wonder how many visitors wonder about downloading a virus, how long it will take to download, etc.
I find myself favouring pages that instead let me click to “View Full Article” by submitting my email or inviting me to “Get Access” or “Access Now for Free” by entering my email in the on-page box provided.
Test & Learn!
Of course, testing involves not only the language you have selected but the visual elements that ensure your copy is eye-catching and well-positioned “above the fold” (without users having to scroll down on their mobile devices). And don’t forget to test the entire process, not just the initial click. If your desired objective is to increase the number of subscribers this quarter, ensuring subscribers can click to subscribe AND get an automated welcome email will help measure and strengthen all the elements leading up to the intended result.