To illustrate a lesson learned in the early days of mobile, I often tell the story of the campaign run by Snickers about seven years ago. The candy brand looked to engage with consumers through a giveaway promoted via a call to action on pack.
That all sounds good, of course, until I throw out one additional element – the CTA was inside the candy bar wrapper. Who the heck back then – or even today – would think to look inside a Snickers bar wrapper to see if the brand was asking me to do something?
As the commercials say, when you’re hungry, you are hungry.
I recall that moment when reading about a survey of small businesses that says 70 percent of SMB B2B websites lack a call to action. http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/08/b2b-small-business-websites-lack-call-to-action.html
Examples of a call to action might be:
The study by Small Business Trends reviewed 200 websites of small businesses. The businesses all had under 100 employees. All were B2B, i.e., businesses that sell to other businesses, not to consumers.
But the need is the same whether it’s consumers or business pros that you are looking to entice – the call to action needs to be clear and prominent or it will result in inaction and a waste of effort and dollars.
The survey found other issues with many B2B sites:
Many web presences were not readily found by search engines.
Some do not have a phone number listed for site visitors to follow up.
Eighty-seven percent don’t do anything to make their “contact us” option stand out.
I can’t conceive a scenario where any of these mistakes are excusable. Getting these basics right isn’t a luxury – it’s a way to compete and win.
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This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program http://Goo.gl/t3fgW, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
