These days, a website isn’t just a website. It’s an essential tool for building trust, establishing authority and increasing sales.
But if you looked at your average building materials homepage, you wouldn’t be able to tell how much these sites matter. Many companies still design their homepages as if it was an afterthought. They’re difficult to navigate. The information customers need is buried two or three pages deep. The content is bland and doesn’t offer much value to customers.
Then there are the calls to action (CTAs). Too many building materials websites have ineffective CTAs – if they have any at all.
This is a missed opportunity. With the right call to action, you can capture an audience of prospects, get better leads and start building a relationship with potential customers.
When you design your site and create content for it, you need to put some serious thought into your calls to action. Think of your CTA as the moment of truth. It’s when a potential customer will either click away and move on to the next site or keep engaging with your company.
Or to put it more plainly: better calls to action result in more inquiries. And more inquiries will get you more conversions.
So, let’s go over some best practices for creating the kinds of CTAs that create interest, build stronger customer relationships and lead to more sales.
Why “Contact Us” Isn’t Enough
The two calls to action you will see most often in building materials are “Contact Us” and “Get a Sample.”
”Get a Sample” works well for some products, but it doesn’t apply to the majority of building materials. So, let’s focus on “Contact Us” instead.
It’s simple and straightforward, which is great. It’s also exactly what you want the customer to do – contact you so you can get the ball rolling and move them further down the sales funnel.
The problem is that it doesn’t offer enough value to the customer. Why should the customer contact you? What will they gain from reaching out? How do they know it won’t be a waste of time?
It’s not clear. So, most customers don’t respond to the “Contact Us” call to action – unless they were already going to contact you anyway.
Instead, you should have a CTA that offers something valuable to the customer – at little to no cost to you.
Typically, this is going to be something you can put in a PDF file. It could be a free guide to selecting roofing products, an infographic on current construction trends, or a list of common installation mistakes to avoid.
“Get your free Guide to Selecting the Right Roofing Products” is a call to action that has clear value to the customer, grabs their interest and lets them know exactly why they should follow through. It’s far more compelling than “Contact Us” and does a better job of capturing the same information from the customer’s side.
Getting More Inquiries at Each Stage of the Funnel
To make your calls to action more effective, you need to tailor them to the different stages of your sales funnel. Some CTAs will be very effective with customers who are seriously considering putting in an order for your products but won’t resonate with prospects who have just visited your site for the first time.
To maximize your chances of turning website visitors into customers, this is how you should approach your CTAs at three critical stages.
Starting Stage CTAs for Curious Customers
“Free Guide to Selecting [Your Product Category]” should be your staple CTA for prospects at the top of your funnel.
Most of these customers are not ready to buy. They’re still gathering information and trying to figure out what they need. A guide that lays it all out for them is going to save them some work and point them in the right direction.
And be sure to actually offer them a guide, not a catalog disguised as a guide. It shouldn’t just be a showcase of your products, but a document that helps them make the right choice for their project – even if that choice happens to be offered by your competition.
That’s because the goal isn’t to give the customer a sales pitch. It’s to build trust. An informative guide establishes you as a knowledgeable expert that the customer can depend on.
To really be effective, the guide must be informative but also clear and simple to use. Bombarding the customer with too many technical details and blocks of text is going to make it feel like a homework assignment. Instead, break things down for them. List the pros and cons for each product, show which type of product is best for specific projects, or list the most important considerations when selecting a product.
The easier you make it for the customer, the more likely they are to return to you when they have another problem to solve.
Middle Stage CTAs for Comparison Shoppers
When your prospects have a good idea of what type of product they will need for their project, it’s time to get more specific. They will be comparing brands and building materials, so you should offer them guides that will help them narrow down their options.
Offering a “Free [Product] Comparison” is a compelling CTA at this point. Your customers will have specific questions, and laying out all the information in a table or a graphic will help them find the answers they need.
They might need a product of a certain size, one that has good water resistance, or something lightweight. Your guide should collect all those details and more, and make them easy to reference and compare.
Another great CTA for customers in the middle of the sales funnel is a “Top 5 [Product or Project] Mistakes” document. Customers tend to be a bit nervous at this stage. This is where things can go wrong and small mistakes can result in costly problems or lengthy delays. A list of common issues the customer should avoid can save them trouble down the line, avoid expensive errors, or just put their minds at ease.I
In either case, you’re giving them a CTA that provides them with valuable information, gives them relevant advice and shows them you care about their success..
Final Stage CTAs for Prospects Who Are Ready to Become Customers
Prospects at the bottom of the sales funnel are ready to buy. They already know which product they need. Now they just need to know how to get it.
At this point, your CTA should provide them with an effortless buying experience. It’s all about making that final step as smooth as possible.
This is the “Where to Buy” CTA that will point your customer to the best dealer or contractor that carries your product.
You could create a Dealer Locator page on your site, but this is difficult to get right. Many companies will have a page of links to dealers that carry their product by distance from the prospect. It’s better than nothing, but it’s still too bumpy. If your customer clicks on three links only to find out your product is out of stock with each dealer, your page won’t feel all that helpful.
A better approach is to use a “Where to Buy” app like Bullseye. It gives your customers a user-friendly, intuitive interface that you don’t have to build yourself. Instead of making them click through a few different links, it presents them with the most convenient options.
Be careful, however. Most “Where to Buy” locators will send prospects to the nearest dealer. That dealer might then try to switch your prospect to your competitor. Better locators will nudge your prospects toward your most loyal dealers based on their capabilities and experience.
This CTA is where some companies fumble the ball. They treat the customer who is ready to buy as a done deal. They’re done selling to them, so they’re done helping them too.
But remember that you don’t want a new customer – you want a repeat customer. And if you eliminate all the frustration involved with putting in an order, you increase your chances of getting one.
Conclusion
Building materials may be essential, but they don’t sell themselves. If you want to continue growing and become more successful, you have to become better at creating ongoing relationships with your customers.
Without a powerful call to action, however, most of your customer interactions will be one-and-done. A prospective customer clicks on your site, reads one of your blog posts, looks at a product page and then moves on.
If you simply tell the customer to “Contact Us,” their visit to your page is more likely to be the last step they take with you. But with a more compelling CTA, it’s only going to be the first one.
If you want to improve your CTAs and increase inquiries, schedule a free consultation with Whizard Strategy today. We will work with you to create a customized sales and marketing plan that meets your unique needs and drives growth. Schedule a free consultation today.
