Call -to-Action Words That Work

• By: Olivia
• On: 06/07/2010 18:46:09
• In: Copywriting

Lower commitment calls to action, by design, will get more click-throughs . . .

- "Buy online and get . . . "    versus     "Start shopping now"            

Shopping" sounds like a lot more fun than committing to "buying."   Unless you're really ready to buy, most people will hesitate to click on a "Buy" button.  Because it might dump you directly into a shopping cart page where you're expected to enter your information and complete the sale.  But "Start shopping now" seems to give me permission to just look around.   And what do each of us say when asked "Can I help you?" in a retail store?   We reply "I'm just looking around . . ."  without even thinking.  That's all we want to SAY that we're doing.  So when you appeal to that natural interest to look around on a website, click-throughs go up.  Use "Start shopping now."

- "Buy now"         versus        "Add to Cart"         

Adding something to a shopping cart is a low commitment activity.  It's sort of like bookmarking something you like as you shop around -- you find something you like, and you put it in the cart, so you can evaluate it after you finish shopping around.   Using "Add to Cart" typically produces more sales than "Buy now."  It actually encourages visitors to "save" the item by adding it to the cart -- and then the visitor can do a final evaluation later.   The process of reviewing your shopping cart actually gets each product a second look -- a look the product likely wouldn't have received had it not been added to cart in the first place.  Use "Add to Cart" over "Buy Now."

"Read more"       versus       "Continue"

When you prepare your e-newsletter, do you give an introduction to each article in the email, and then have a link to the full article on a web page?  If you're been using "Read more" on those links in your e-newsletter, time to use a lower commitment term, like "Continue."    These days, no one actually wants to "read."   We want to learn what you have to share with us, but we really don't want to work too hard -- or "read" -- to get the information.  "Continue" or "Click to Continue" works better than "Read more."

Testing your response buttons can significantly boost click-throughs, number of leads, and number of sales.  If you've got "Buy now" buttons on your site, or a "Submit" button on your lead generation form, time to craft some lower commitment copy to test.