A call to action is the door between an interested visitor and a customer. Most small business websites leave the door half-shut. This eBook gives you the words, the placement and the path that opens it.
Members ebook·7 chapters· 35 minute read
Chapter 2
Choosing the Right Next Step
Why the right call to action depends on where the visitor is in their decision - and how to pick one for each page.
Different visitors want different next steps. Someone who landed on your homepage from a search result is at a different stage than someone who arrived on your services page after reading three of your blog posts. Asking both of them to 'Buy Now' would lose half of them. Asking both of them to 'Read More' would waste the half who were ready to act.
The skill in calls to action is matching the action to the readiness of the visitor. That means having different calls to action on different pages, sized to where the visitor probably is in their decision. It also means resisting the temptation to put a single 'Contact Us' button on every page and call it done.
This chapter teaches you how to pick the right next step for each page on your site. By the end you'll have a clear picture of what your homepage, services page, About page and blog posts should each be asking for - and why those are usually four different things.
The full chapter walks through the three readiness stages, the right call to action for each and the simple page-by-page audit you can run in an hour.
Three readiness stages
Most visitors arrive on your site in one of three states.
Browsing - they're vaguely interested. They might be researching the topic. They might be comparing options. They're not yet ready to make contact.
Comparing - they've decided they probably want what you sell. They're looking at you and a couple of alternatives. They want to understand what you offer, how it works and what it costs.
Deciding - they've decided you're probably the option. They're ready to take a small step towards becoming a customer. They want a clear, low-friction way to start.
Matching the call to action to the stage
For browsing visitors, the right call to action is small. Sign up for the newsletter. Download a useful guide. Read a related post. The point is to keep them in the conversation without asking for commitment they're not ready to give.
For comparing visitors, the right call to action is medium. See the packages and prices. Watch a short video about how it works. Read a case study. Get a written quote. These actions help them compare without putting them on the spot.
For deciding visitors, the right call to action is the actual one - book the call, submit the enquiry, buy the thing, start the trial. They're ready. Put the action in front of them and don't dilute it with smaller alternatives competing for the same spot.
The right call to action by page
Homepage: medium - usually "see how it works" or "get a quote".
Services or product pages: deciding - the actual purchase, booking or enquiry.
About page: medium or browsing - "see our work" or "sign up for updates".
Blog posts and articles: browsing - "read more on this topic" or "get the related guide".
Pricing page: deciding - the booking or the purchase.
Contact page: deciding - one form, no distractions.
Why one call to action per page
Each page should have one primary call to action. Multiple primary actions split the visitor's attention and reduce conversion on all of them. If you absolutely must offer two paths, make one clearly the main one and the other clearly secondary - in size, colour and prominence.
The exception is the bottom of long pages, where repeating the same primary call to action is helpful for visitors who scrolled all the way through. Same call to action, second appearance - not a different one.
The page-by-page audit
An hour of work that pays back for years
01List every page on your site.
02For each page, write down which readiness stage the typical visitor is in.
03Write down the right primary call to action for that stage.
04Note any pages where the current call to action is wrong - too big a step or too small.
05Pick the three highest-traffic pages to fix first.
Most small business sites have between five and twenty pages. The audit takes an hour. The fixes take another two or three hours over the next week. The conversion lift usually shows up within a month.
When to ask for less
If a page is converting badly, the most common cause is asking for too much. The visitor isn't ready. Move the call to action down a stage. A homepage asking for an enquiry form might convert at one per cent. The same homepage asking for a free guide download might convert at five per cent. The five per cent are now in your email list, where you can introduce the larger ask later.
There's a separate book in the previous category called 'Creating Irresistible Lead Magnets' that goes deep on the smaller-step asks. For now, the principle is: when in doubt, ask for less.
When to ask for more
Less common, but real. If a page is converting well to a small action but the people who take it never come back, the small action might be too small. The visitor was actually ready for the larger step and you under-asked. The fix is to test the larger ask and see whether the conversion holds up at a slightly lower rate but produces better customers.
What to do this week
Run the page-by-page audit on your top five pages. For each, decide whether the current call to action matches the visitor's readiness. Note the mismatches. By Friday you'll have a clear picture of which pages need work and what the right next step is for each.
Start with the customer. The right call to action depends on where the customer is, not on what you'd most like them to do. The next chapter is about the words on the button and the words around it.
The rest of this chapter walks through the practical steps, the templates and the checklists you need to put it into action. It includes worked examples, copy frameworks and the small decisions that make the difference between a plan that sits in a drive and one that gets used.
Inside you'll find a step-by-step playbook, a downloadable template, a checklist you can run this week and a short list of common mistakes to avoid before you start.
The full action plan, broken into weekly steps.
Ready-to-use scripts, templates and checklists.
Worked examples for different sized businesses.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them.
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