A strong call to action

CloudEngage makes it easy to add a modal (aka popup, overlay, lightbox, interstitial, etc) to your website. But without a strong call to action, your customers won’t know what to do, your conversion rates will suffer, and you will be leaving sales on the table.

The best calls to action have similar attributes:

1. They are localized: Customers are more likely to engage with a local, relevant offer. By localizing your call to action, you’re more likely to hit that point of interest that gets your customer to engage with you.
2. They are easy to understand: The customer sees the benefit to clicking, and understands exactly what he has to do to get the benefit.
3. The text itself is engaging: Keep your offer short and use your action verbs. Also, use the benefit itself in the link text rather than wasting real estate with “Click here”
4. The promised benefit is real: Tricking people with a misleading offer will ruin your reputation, so keep it real.

Always be calling (for action)

CloudEngage has three ways to create a call to action.

• Add a Form
• Add a Link
• Add an Image Map

If your Modal campaign has any of these three elements, it will count as an “Actionable” campaign on the CloudEngage Dashboard.

Don’t forget that you can make the modal look different for Desktop vs. Mobile, so consider customizing the Call to Action for those different users.

Add a Form

This is the most direct call to action and has the highest value. You’re clearly asking for something from the customer, and they’re giving it to you directly.

• Be sure that in the modal you explain the value they will get in return for filling in your form.
• In the Form success message, be clear what the next step and when it’s going to happen.

Add a Link

This is the easiest call to action, just add a link that points to some deeper part of your site that has high relevancy but they might not have found without help, or sending them to a more in-depth form where you can capture lots of valuable information.

• Be sure the link you’re sending them to has high value to the Customer since you’re derailing their original journey
• Be sure that if the customer takes the action that it will contribute to your bottom line.

Add an Image Map link

This is also easy to do, but there’s a strong risk that unless you make the call to action clear, the customer might not know you want them to click.

• Be sure your image has the call to action clearly spelled out in text so the customer know what the offer is and where they should click.
• Don’t just image map the entire image. Without an explicit call to action, your customers won’t click, and your conversion rate will suffer.

A well crafted, localized call to action will make the difference between a good website conversion rate and a phenomenal customer generating machine that’s the envy of your friends and the dread of your competition.

For help with any of these, please send a note to support@cloudengage.com and we’ll help with your next campaign.