It is a pretty standard understanding that when you’re placing a ‘buy’ button or other call to action, the ideal location is ‘above the fold’ of the page. This means that your CTA will load up on the page so that it is viewable to visitors without having to scroll down. While there is little doubt that these buttons will be seen the most, there is some question as to whether or not this positioning is always the best.
I recently read a post by Shanelle Mullin from ConversionXL that took an in depth look at all the information available about ad placement and call to action positioning and gave some very insightful comments that I found very useful.
One of the most interesting parts of the post was when talking about trying to convert visitors who were on the page but did not know whether or not they were going to want to buy anything AND the product or service you are promoting is complicated. In these cases, the post argues that it is often best to have your calls to action below the fold after the visitors have had a chance to learn what they need to know to make a decision.
Whether this is another page worth of content or just a few more lines, the most important thing seems to be making sure visitors are going to be ready to click the call to action when they see it. This makes since. After all, if someone does not think they are ready to buy, the CTA is really just taking up space and getting in the way. Some visitors may even see the call to action as a ‘sales stunt’ and be turned off by the site.
Of course, what qualifies as above the fold will vary from device to device, and you need to keep that in mind as well. A desktop with a larger monitor can have a lot of content displayed above the fold, so it is often good to load up the call to action there. On a smartphone, however, it can be more difficult. Adjusting your site to the device type accessing it is crucial to successfully improving your conversion rates.
The bottom line for marketers is that while it may be a good ‘rule of thumb’ to have your CTAs above the fold, a lot more thought should be put into it. Really take the time to test and figure out how you can get the best conversion rates possible.
If you’d like to see the full article, it can be found HERE.
