Lois Brayfield, CEO
The world of marketing has exploded with opportunities to capture the heart of both customers and prospects alike. Whether it’s online or offline, marketers bombard consumers with a cacophony of messages that overload the senses and create confusion. Therefore, it’s more important than ever to present a simple, compelling directive to guide prospects to a desired action. While a “call to action” isn’t a new concept, it’s imperative you understand how to take advantage of this powerful tool.
Today’s consumers are savvy, and if your call to action isn’t bold, clear and relevant, they’ll simply ignore your request without doing anything. Here are seven tips to creating strong calls to action that will resonate and encourage consumers to take the next step of engagement. But first, let’s define what a call to action really is: asking your customer to DO anything. Understand that no matter what marketing tactic you employ, you’ll always be better served by including a call to action. Always.
1. Establish a hierarchy. A sound strategy is imperative for every marketing deployment, including a decision path that ultimately leads to a sale. Understand what exactly you’re asking readers to do, and always begin with a goal in mind. Be sure to include answers to questions that customers might have, like “What problem will this product solve?”
Strategically decide which decision path best fits your customer, and never create multiple calls to action that ask the customer to do too many things. Everything should support your overall strategy and end game. For example, if pushing customers to your website is the goal, don’t confuse them by consistently asking them to engage on a social site.
What do you want them to do first? Second? Do you want them to pick up the phone to learn more? Go online to order? Plan your message hierarchy accordingly.
One savvy brand that sells gardening supplies learned that its customers were confused by climate changes and how it might affect gardening zones. By creating a relevant “Personalized Zone Guide” the brand was able to create a strong call to action, directing prospects online for this free tool relevant to where they lived.
2. Do your homework. Relevance is critical. Before you market any call to action, spend time in the mind of your customers. What truly compels and motivates them? Find the “higher order benefit” or emotional reason they do business with your brand. What are they seeking? Comfort? Peace of mind? Confidence? It’s not just your product or service they’re buying, but the emotional hook. Multiple studies have proven that close to 90 percent of all purchase decisions are based on an emotional need, not rational cues. It’s critical you understand the emotional reason customers are doing business with you and then infuse that promise into your messaging.
Understanding customer triggers may require research. Once you know what motivates, your ability to craft a message allows you to reach customers more effectively and understand not only what they want, but also how to encourage action. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, coined the term ICEE, which stands for “Interesting, Compelling, Educational or Entertaining.” This acronym is a perfect filter when planning your call-to-action strategy. Always make sure your “hook” is relevant to THEM, not your marketing team.
3. Make your call to action a call to arms. Never be passive. The key word is “action.” Ask for what you want, but, more importantly, tell customers what’s in it for them. A timid “follow us” or “go online for more” isn’t enough. Be direct. Be specific. Lead with verbs. Look at the difference it makes when you take a few carefully chosen words and aim them straight at your customer’s sense of self-interest:
“Discover three secrets to dominating the finish line … call now.”
“Share your story and win front row seats to the Indy 500!”
4. Keep it simple. Make what you’re asking consumers to do easy. If the next step to get them engaged is too complicated or not readily apparent, you risk losing them before they can act.
This has certainly been the case with QR codes. Many marketers rushed to use this shiny new tool without fully understanding the steps to get users from point A to point B. Even worse, once marketers were able to get consumers to use QR codes, most offers only led to a company website, offering nothing new, useful or even interesting.
Don’t forget that simplicity applies not only to the messaging itself, but also to the destination. Wherever you’re asking consumers to go, make sure the process is incredibly intuitive or you may as well kiss your effort goodbye. Be specific. If it’s a landing page, offer them the actual URL; don’t assume they’ll find it by searching your site. Simplicity rules.
5. Follow through. Once you’ve asked consumers to do something, what’s next? How are you going to move them closer to a sale? Create a secondary call to action on the back end. If you’re asking them to watch a video, offer an opportunity for the viewer to purchase or get more information. If you have an invitation, allow them to RSVP. What are you doing to push customers to the next level once you’ve gotten them to act? Include this as part of your hierarchy as outlined above. Once you get them, don’t lose them!
In the gardening example mentioned above, it wasn’t enough to invite the customer online for a free Personalized Zone Guide. As part of the offer, the customer had to give their email address so the guide could be personalized. The offer was delivered along with a secondary call to action and followed up with two to three triggered emails.
6. Test, measure, adapt. Test and measure, if possible. If your messages don’t work, continue playing with all components, especially customer segments.
Email offers a great opportunity for testing. You can test different calls to action both in the subject line and the body of the email to find out what really piques interest and moves the needle. Test limited-time offers vs. exclusive product bundles, demo videos vs. relevant content, etc. Mostly, keep it simple.
On social media sites, test special offers or engagement techniques that will lead consumers to your website or retail stores. While many efforts may not work now, consumers’ purchase patterns are changing so rapidly that you need to stay ahead of the game. Testing helps.
7. Be bold. The brands that are growing exponentially are the ones taking risks. Who knew that a gecko could sell insurance or that a honey badger could sell pistachios? In both cases, these brands took a risk trying to break through the clutter — and it worked. Stepping outside your comfort zone and testing out-of-the-box ideas won’t work every time, but the one that does is worth the exponential growth that follows.
Perfecting your call to action with strategic and relevant messaging will ultimately improve your marketing efforts. Apply and repeat the steps above, seeking the most efficient method in creating the next stage in engagement.
As seen on Women In Retail Leadership Circle
Tags: branding, call-to-action, Lois Brayfield