Call To Action On Your Dental Website

What is it and why is it critical for your marketing materials?

One of the phrases we tend to take for granted in the world of dental marketing is “call to action” – but what does it really mean and why is it so critical when it comes to producing marketing assets such as websites, blogs, landing pages and even traditional collateral such as posters or flyers?

It may sound common sense when I say that your marketing materials, digital or otherwise, need to “hook” clients and make it easy for them to take action to get in touch – and here’s where “call to action” comes into play. Let’s take a quick look at the various types of call-to-action (CTA) so you have some insights for when you are developing your own dental marketing materials.

Fundamental CTA

Let’s start with the simplest of features which could be considered to fall under the CTA umbrella. This is your immediate contact information and primarily, your telephone number. You might find it quite surprising, but we still see many dentist’s websites which don’t have a prominent telephone number. Typically this should be prominent in the header of each page of your website but also consider other useful positions such as the footer or at the end of pages and blog articles. People are lazy and so you must provide easy to use information without them having to look for it. Another error we see very often is failure to make contact telephone numbers click-to-call. This is critical for mobile ‘phones where the user simply wants to click your number to get in touch rather than copy and paste it to call you.

You should also consider where to place your website contact forms. One main contact form linked prominently from the website navigation is a given, but also consider the use of “quick” or “mini” contact forms on the treatment pages of your site. Doing this makes it easier for users to get in touch – for many it can be too much effort to try to find your main contact form, so why not make it easy and place them strategically around key parts of the website.

Action buttons

These are key elements on your web pages which attract the eye and encourage a response. In its simplest form it may be a button with text saying “Sign Up Now”, “Contact Us” or similar, but there are many variations depending on the response you are trying to elicit. Irrespective of the message, such buttons need to stand out and so you would typically see them in a prominent colour e.g. orange, with equally stand-out text. Placement of CTA buttons is also important, so for example if you want people to sign up to your email list, don’t hide it out of the way. Instead make it easy to see, perhaps with supporting information, maybe a punchy bullet-list, illustrating the advantages of signing up.

Perhaps you have an offer you want your website visitors to know about, but in exchange for the offer you want them to sign-up to your email list? It may sound like common sense but you must make such offers prominent. If for example it’s 15% off a particular treatment, then that information needs to take precedence. Consider including a stand-out banner with the pertinent information placed in the top section of the web page and designed to catch the eye immediately. Also consider coupling this with a quick contact form so that the user can get in touch without having to leave the page.

Pop ups

The pop up is a pain for many, but lots of studies show that they work when implemented correctly. Intrusive pops are not recommended and Google is now actually penalising websites which do this to excess. However, new techniques such as “exit intent” pop-ups are becoming increasingly popular. You’ve probably experienced these when you’ve tried to leave a website by moving your mouse up to the top of the screen to click to navigate elsewhere? The pop-up appears, typically with an offer or free download and usually in exchange for you submitting your email to a marketing list. These can work well, but be sure to make it a compelling offer as it’s your last chance to grab the user before they leave your page!

Supporting your call to action

Simply adding lots of call-to-action buttons all over your website isn’t very sophisticated and typically doesn’t work too well. Without engaging information and lots of evidence to show the user how you can solve their dental issues, it’s unlikely that they will contact you, big orange “Contact Us Now” button or not! So getting the basics right is essential. Write your content in a user-friendly style, make sure it is orientated towards the user and that it clearly illustrates how you will solve their issues. You should also validate your claims and services with patient testimonials and reviews. Your skillfully crafted call-to-action will have a much better chance of working when it is supported by credible information and “social proof”!

Summary

Appropriate, prominent calls-to-action are an important component of successful web pages. They are used to catch the users eye very quickly and elicit a fast response, for example getting in touch or perhaps submitting an email address in exchange for an offer of free information download. When you are configuring a call to action for your own web page, try to put yourself in the mind of a user and work out exactly what would encourage you to react. Also be sure to discuss this with your website designer and check to make sure that the calls to action they configure meet the brief. If you feel your calls-to-action aren’t working, change them!

If you need help with setting up calls-to-action on your website, please get in touch with the Dental Media team on 01332 672548 for a free, no-obligation discussion.