E-commerce Link : Leads by Design

Strong calls to action and form architecture enhance lead capture

Think about the e-mail messages you receive in a day. Whether from colleagues, family or friends, this amount of e-mail adds up quickly. In fact, studies show that, on average, business users receive 133 work-related e-mails daily. In one year's time that totals 35,000 e-mails.

Lead generation campaigns have the challenge of competing with this full inbox. To break through the clutter, you must: 1) be a trustworthy, respected or notable brand; 2) offer content of real and continuing value; and 3) make it easy for customers to engage in a relationship with you as a marketer.

I intend to address the third point, providing advice on creating an online call to action that entices your users to click through to a subscription form that then promotes completion.

The Call to Action
A call to action on a Web site is a button or widget to be clicked. Clicking initiates an interaction: "Add to Cart" or "Send to a Friend," etc. In the case of a lead generation campaign, the call to action is typically "Subscribe," "Register" or "Sign Up." As a marketer, you should pay careful attention to the language you use on your Web site. For example, "Subscribe" may connote having to pay a subscription fee. The threat of a fee, imagined or otherwise, may be enough to turn off a cautious prospect. "Sign Up" or "Learn More" are potentially more benign.

The action word itself is not enough to interest most customers. You need to hook them with a description of the benefits of starting a dialogue with you. Let users know how regularly they can expect to hear from you, and assuage their fears about what you'll do with their personal data. Make sure to use language or imagery to reinforce your brand personality. In providing this information, remember that users generally don't read on the Web; they scan. Use bullets and bolding to shape a clear, focused pitch.

Consider allowing your customers a taste of the type of information they will enjoy once they subscribe. In the interaction design field, this is called "gradual engagement," and it helps make visitors more amenable to signing up to access the rest of your content.

So where does this call to action get placed on your Web site? Ideally, you can make the ask in several places: on the purchase confirmation; within your resource library; or on the search results, contact us, or news and notices pages where users obviously have an information need. Your offers will be received better if they are positioned in a relevant context than if they appear randomly as a callout; particularly in the right-hand column or footer. After years of using the Web, people have developed "banner blindness." Eye-tracking studies confirm that users don't look to the portion of the page traditionally reserved for promotional banners. If your call to action too closely resembles an ad, it likely will be ignored.

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