If you had to choose the one universal call to action (CTA) you find on most websites, what would your answer be? “Contact Us,” right?
But here’s a better question: does this ever make you want to reach out to a company? We’re fairly confident the answer is a resounding “No.” It’s passive and ineffective—and often completely ignored. Maybe a customer who desperately needs your products or services will bite. But you’re potentially allowing your sales funnel to act more like a sieve with uninspiring content such as “Contact Us.”
Be it web, blog or social media content, positioning your company as a problem-solver within your industry is the right route to take. Again, the goal of inbound marketing is to place customers within a traffic beam that attracts them to your company’s products or services. The way to do this is by aligning with their interests. The way to align with their interests is with quality content.
This represents the ground floor of content creation. By blasting it out via all of your inbound marketing channels, your customers will catch wind of you. The best content positions you as an industry leader, and makes that website visitor want to learn more. Like any good TV show, your content should satisfy a visitor for the moment; but when the credits roll, it should also leave them wanting more.
This “wanting more” comes in the form of your premium content. Be it a report, a consultation, or a demonstration, the offer that turns a visitor into a sales-qualified lead must be worthwhile for the customer. A web visitor will typically make a swift decision. And if the offer isn’t compelling enough, they’re clicking away. In the haggle-free world of the Internet, you rarely get to make a counteroffer.
Only through experimentation will you learn what content will resonate with your customers. Of course, one simple way to get to the bottom of what works is by asking. You have your inbound marketing channels, so use them. Asking existing customers in an email or followers on a Facebook page might give you insight as to what problems they need solving, and what will be the most valuable information to them. And what is valuable becomes premium.
Now you’re ready to scrap that “Contact Us” button and use a call to action that is clear and easy to find. Make your language clear, and give it prominent placement. Even if you’ve created valuable content, a great way to miss the boat is to be too clever and confuse visitors, or to bury your CTA at the bottom of a webpage where no one will ever find it.
The true point of conversion is when the visitor provides that information in exchange for your premium offer. That is when they become a lead. Much like a fish that wiggles off a line before being landed, a customer—even an interested one—will walk away at the last moment if you make them click through too many pages, or answer too many questions. While you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for the information you truly need to qualify the lead, always remember that the fewer hoops they have to jump through, the better.
As you can see, this turns “Contact Us” into something more like “We’re here to help you solve your specific problem.” By approaching all of your content as solutions for your customers, visitors become leads. And remember this isn’t just for that final moment where a customer is faced with a CTA, but in the lead-up to that moment, too. What’s the next step? Nurturing those leads instead of creating them. But that’s a post for another day.
Are your current CTAs working? If so, we hope you’ll share your success stories.
