Rules for CTA button design

Pumpkin Web Design Manchester

As one of the most fundamentally important aspects of any website, the CTA buttons, or Call To Action buttons, are used to direct users to specific action. “Buy now”, “Sign up today”, and “Find out more” are some of the most commonly used, and these will be positioned on the home screen, landing page, and product pages of every website. But for many websites and companies struggling with low conversion numbers, these CTA buttons are simply not working effectively enough. So what can you do? Well, by following the specific rules for CTA button design, you can be sure that your website performance will increase. Here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design professionals. We work with a variety of companies across Manchester, and the North West, including  those in Blackburn and Chorley, to provide high quality web design solutions. As a result, we have produced this guide to the different rules for effective and well designed CTA buttons.

1. Make buttons obvious

There is nothing worse in web design than ill-defined features or confusion surrounding your design elements. If your users are not sure what to do, or what is expected of them, then they are likely to have a poor user experience, and perhaps even leave your website for that of a competitor. Because CTA buttons guide users through the purchasing and browsing processes, it’s imperative that these re clear and obvious. This means that not only do your call to action buttons need to stand out from the website, but they also need to clearly be “clickable”. Users need to know that they ca interact with the button, and be taken to a different part of your website. This should include designing the button in a familiar way. Ghost buttons, filled buttons and rounded or rectangular buttons are some of the most common button options, and this is what your users will be expecting from your button design

2. Position buttons effectively

Your CTA buttons need to be easy to locate, so position these in places where your users would expect to find them. Using standard user interface and layout patterns means that your website users, and potential customers, will not need to hunt for buttons. Instead, they will stand out freely and easily. This also means using enough white-space around the button to ensure that attention is drawn towards the CTA, and not away from it.

3. Provide clear direction

CTA buttons are there to direct users to action. But if the meaning or purpose of the button isn’t clear, than your website users may avoid using them at all, and this can mean that your company misses out on potential sales and signs ups, because of poor design. As a result, you should consider:

  • Clearly labeling the button with the intended outcome- “Buy now”, “Sign up today”, or “Find out more” are clear examples of different CTA buttons you would find on different website pages. And they clearly show the user the purpose of interaction.
  • Using urgent language- another thing you might have noticed about the above examples is that the user is called to action with urgency. Words like now and today are frequently used to instill urgency and prompt immediate action.

For more information or advice, or for high quality, professional web design solutions, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.