There’s a lot of advice out there about Calls to Action (CTAs) – where to place them, how to write them, what kind of verbs to use.
They’ll tell you how to match the right CTA with the right channel to optimise your click-through-rate.
And that’s great.
But despite the pile of stats, there’s one fact most marketing people don’t like to talk: making people click isn’t enough.
Most CTAs don’t produce results not because they use the wrong verb, but because they aren’t followed up properly.
They invite your leads to take action, but immediately fail to repay them for the effort.
You could have a 100% click-through-rate on an advertisement, but if those clicks don’t lead anywhere interesting or keep the conversation going, you’ll end up with nothing to show for that perfectly crafted CTA.
And that’s what I want to talk about in this article: how agencies consistently waste marketing opportunities, and how you can do things better.
The trouble with websites
For most agencies, the problem can be boiled down to this: they don’t know how to turn a marketing interaction into a sales conversation.
Time and again, I see agencies producing compelling content or ads that really build interest and momentum. But then using that momentum to send prospects…to visit their website.
Now, this might not seem like a problem. Getting people to visit your website is surely a good thing, right?
But most websites simply don’t provide what a lead is looking for when they click. The average estate and lettings site is cluttered, difficult to navigate and, crucially, leaves prospects with no one to talk to.
While some industries can get away with just providing information on their websites, estate and lettings prospects generally want a proper conversation, to discuss their needs in detail and establish an actual relationship.
The best case scenario is they give you their email or send you a message. Maybe they even call the phones.
But a lot of your website traffic is going to be outside of office hours, and that means they’ll be left waiting on a response for hours, either talking to an answering machine or simply giving up and looking elsewhere.
That window of opportunity is brief, and you need to consolidate a prospect’s attention as soon as you get it. There are good reasons for this.
So bringing a lead to your website only to have them unable to make direct contact is like junk mail –alienating and counterproductive, a waste of a great opportunity.
Turning action into conversation
Here’s my advice: you need to close the gap between your content or advertising and an actual human interaction. The faster you can do this, the more chance there is of building a relationship and ultimately cementing a deal.
This is why people are starting to use CTAs which link directly to a phone call.
But the problem with this approach is it still only works during office hours. If you miss the call, you’ve paid for the ad but likely lost out on the business.
So ultimately, agencies need a way of responding to leads immediately at any time of day. And that’s where a Customer Experience Management (CXM) system comes in.
How a CXM system can help
A CXM system allows you to automate replies, so that as soon as a lead reaches out or clicks through to your website, they receive a personalised message in response.
This ensures they don’t feel they’re being ignored, and makes them far more likely to want to continue the conversation when your salespeople are actually available.
By closing the gap between interactions, you're essentially repaying the lead for acting in the way you’ve compelled them to - and making good on the promise of your CTA.
So yes, you can improve your conversions by tinkering with your CTAs and ensuring they’re right for the channel they appear on.
But the fastest way to improve your results isn’t simply increasing the number of clicks you get, it’s ensuring that you have a system in place that guarantees customers won’t be disappointed when they click.
If you’d like to hear how Active Agent’s CXM system could plug this gap and help you make more from your marketing, book your free demo today.