Do your calls to action give visitors a logical plan B?

Chances are, you know the exact questions potential clients get hung up on before they're ready to commit to a sale. Sharing the information that answers these questions at the right time becomes a standard step in your sales process because an educated prospect is your best shot at a successful sale.

The same rules apply to the prospects viewing your website. By placing well chosen links to additional information to answer these questions, you give visitors the tools to answer these questions for themselves. These 'Plan B' paths for those not ready to take the leap and sign up/buy/register are called "Secondary Calls to Action (CTAs)."

Secondary calls to action in practice: WinWithoutPitching.com

In a recent redesign for winwithoutpitching.com we gave the client the ability to always include a secondary call to action for sidebar items. The end result was a far more usable site that gives visitors a clear sense of where to click next in case they need more information. After a few months of traffic analysis, we found that the secondary calls to action were receiving anywhere from half to equal traffic as their primary call to action counterparts.

Offering a visitor options does not mean diluting conversions

An unfortunate side effect of the drive toward increasing site conversions is the fear that offering links to additional info might distract the user and reduce the chance of conversion. You end up with dumbed down CTAs that scream 'BUY NOW!' or 'REGISTER TODAY!' in an attempt to funnel the visitor's attention to one end point alone. But the reality is, we don't make decisions through tunnel vision online. We are in research mode, comparing one site to a long list of others from a google search. If it's not clear where we can find more information to help make the decision, we leave. You stand a much higher chance of users bouncing (leaving after the first page visit) by not offering links to additional information than the opposite. Just keep the additional paths to a minimum.

Repeat the primary call to action on the secondary call to action page

Always repeat your primary call to action on whatever page you link to for further browsing. In the case of the Newfangled site below, visitors who click on a newsletter call to action in one of our sidebars will always be greeted again with the sign up fields on the following page. Within seconds of scanning the page, they know exactly where to sign up and that it's a quick and easy process.

Examples of secondary calls to action in use

It's great to see sites using primary and secondary calls to action more and more.  It's not just common courtesy, it's common sense. Below are a few examples of other sites that use this approach well. Note the use of language and design in these examples.

Example 1: Xero.com

Xero uses the same kind of language on their site as you'd imagine they'd use in real life. The small notes beneath the signup button give visitors a preview of what lies beyond the next click, putting visitors at ease.

Example 2: Fitbit.com

Fitbit is speaking directly to the 'researcher' mindset by repeatedly listing "Learn More" along with primary calls to action.  There never is a moment when visitors could feel like they've reached a dead end about a potentially confusing gadget.

Example 3: Campaignmonitor.com

We're big fans of Campaign Monitor, and it comes as no surprise that their website has great usability and communication style. At a moment's glance, a visitor knows exactly where they should take the next step, and never uses overly pushy 'Buy Now!' or 'Sign up Today' language.