The Importance of Buttons in Conversion

The Importance of Buttons in Conversion

Dennis van der Heijden
February 13, 2015

As business owners, we take stock in consistency, we favor routine, we regard scheduling highly, and we like being able to predict what is coming next. One of the big things that we have done as internet marketers, as an online business, is we started with the buttons we grew up with. One of the first and original conversion techniques used online were CTA (call to action) buttons.

In this Convert Academy webinar, we have the CEO of Conversion Consulting, Wyatt Ernst, take on the topic – Speaking to the Customer with no Added Surprises. To know more about the topic, you can visit the Convert webinar for the full presentation. Ernst showed a slide about buttons which, for the most of us, we grew up with during the start of the century.

The Importance of Buttons

Affinity for Buttons

A common denominator among these buttons is they have one word. This is something that we become stuck in. We enter in a mentality wherein if we make a button, it has to be short as possible. We often have the urge to put a little bit of content in a button. But that is the wrong mentality to be in. Sometimes, one word is simply not enough. As with the use of buttons, speaking to customers with no added surprises is very important. Wyatt offered some points to consider when making a button wherein it will not surprise our customers when they click it. And, yes, he meant surprise in a bad way. In making buttons, you should:

  • Make it snappy
  • Make it tempting
  • Fulfill what you offer
  • Give personal space

Be Concise. One wrong use of a button often affects your conversion. We must keep in mind that most people are not that motivated to make decisions. We must keep it simple. We need to understand the process they are going through. And most of all, we must be able to speak to them the way they would understand. It may sound rhetoric but,

[Tweet “Your CTA (call to action) button must be short and to the point”]

Actualize. Make sure you fulfill what you are offering. Making a promise to give a free quote instantly and having them wait for 24 hours is counterproductive. They probably won’t want to work with you anymore and will look for someone else to help them.

Space. It is also important that you give your customers a time to settle down before giving them a call. We get into a process with our companies that we want to be able to give the best customer service. We can surely withstand little things like letting the user know with a click of a button that they are going to be contacted instantly

Entice. One of the fun things about buttons is you can motivate people. If you have the button say something about what they are going to get then they will be very motivated to click the button. It will no longer be a problem to throw out the fields. But they will want to fill them out just so people can click the button. This is where you want to get to. According to an article by Neil Patel, using action words can help you improve your conversions. He stated that,

Verbs are the most important elements of a button copy. “Get” “Reserve,” “Own,” “Dominate,” “See,” “Give,” “Use,” “Try” — these are all words that suggest action and momentum

Button Testing

One of the great things about buttons is you can easily do an A/B test with them so. You don’t have to worry about the layouts. You don’t have to worry about the colors. And you don’t have to worry about the copy that you are putting on the button. An A/B test platform can do this within seconds and the great thing about it is you can test it once a week without the help of your IT department. If you have enough traffic, you will be able to find exactly what button you need and then you are able to get that submitted.

Adding Value

It’s super easy to set up a button. It’s easy to figure out exactly what we need to say to our customers, and there is a lot that can happen if you are going to put in the effort and step into the shoes of your customers. Make your buttons valuable. You can say something along the lines of ‘add to cart and save 20%’ or ‘buy now and get one free’ instead of ‘add to cart’ only. These will certainly add an excitement for your customers. Based on experience, some buttons convert 300% better because we add the word ‘free’ on it and told our customers what they’re getting for free. These are just one of the many things to get your website converting. If you wish to know more about the webinar, you can watch its full presentation here.

Originally published February 13, 2015 - Updated April 15, 2019
Dennis van der Heijden
Co-founder and CEO of Convert.com, Dennis is a passionate community builder and out of the box thinker. He spends his time innovating to make Convert Experiences better. Learn about his journey as an entrepreneur and leader on the SaaS Club podcast.
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