When users visit a website, their goal usually is to perform a certain action on it. In most cases, the so-called Call to Action represents this request for an action by the visitor and is therefore one of the most elementary components of a website.
In e-commerce, a call to action can prompt different actions, for example:
- buying a product (Sale Conversion)
- adding a product to your shopping cart (Basket Conversion)
- subscribing to the newsletter
- downloading content (whitepapers, case studies, etc.)
- starting a video
- social media sharing
- and much more
According to the examples above, the Call to Action (CTA) can take different shapes.
For example, a pure text link may be sufficient for forwarding to a new page, while a button is normally used for adding products to the shopping cart. For newsletter subscriptions, a form is used directly.
When creating a CTA, you should make sure that the request for action is as clear and simple as possible, so that each user immediately understands what needs to be done.
In addition, a meaningful positioning is a decisive factor for success. For example, a button that is used to place a product in the shopping cart should not be found at the end of the product detail page, but directly next to the corresponding product, preferably in the visible area of the page (above the fold).
In order to find out whether a CTA is an understandable action request, different approaches can be tested for their success in A/B or multivariate tests.
CTAs are not only used onsite, they can also be found in classic marketing (e.g. TV, direct marketing or radio advertising) and for traffic delivery channels (e.g. SEA, email or performance marketing).
Example for CTA, e.g. inserting a button or form as screenshot