An effective, profitable web design bridges the gap between your users' goals and your ultimate call to action. It helps your visitors do what they came to do, then gently nudges them in the direction of conversion. Not with hard sell or flashing graphics, but with goal alignment. After they've achieved their original goal, it inspires them with another, then another and another, each one slightly closer to conversion. Until, finally, you inspire them with the goal to buy (or subscribe or whatever your conversion is).
For example, if your visitor wants to learn about network printers, and you want to sell network printers, there's a fundamental divide. To convert the visitor, you must first help them achieve their goal, and teach them about printers. But that, in itself, isn't enough. After all, having done their research, they may simply drive down to their local computer shop. Before they do, you want to inspire them with a sequence of new goals, perhaps as follows.
| Call to action | Gives visitors a new goal... | Visitors start thinking about... | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Watch a demo | To see proof that the printer works well | How the printer looks, sounds and works in a real operating environment |
| 2 | Read some testimonials | To find out if the printer is as good as you say it is | How their peers feel after using the printer |
| 3 | Read about your money-back guarantee | To feel sure it's low risk | Post-purchase scenarios |
| 4 | Buy now | Buy now | Personally putting the printer into action in their office and deriving some tangible benefit from it. |
As you can see, each new call to action gives the reader a new goal, and each new goal is conceptually closer to the act of buying.
With each step, you're answering the visitor's questions and progressively changing the way they think about the printer.
You ease them away from thinking of it as merely a 2-dimensional photo and list of features, and towards imagining it within their own office.
Best of all, whether or not they actually buy, your visitor walks away satisfied, so there's a very good chance they'll come back.
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