More Calls to Action = Lower Conversion
Some years back, I tried out a new “sticky” CTA bar with a client. On scroll, there was a sticky bar with menu and CTA buttons. So far, so good. But the client wanted several buttons here, and also a phone number. I knew that would reduce conversion, but I could not talk them out of it:
Sticky bar, as launched. I failed to stop them from using three buttons.
A year later, a new digital marketing manager tried replacing the three buttons with a single button:
Sticky bar, modified by new client leader a year later
Conversions for that one button were higher than the previous three combined.
Let me say that again. One works better than all three together.
Really?
Because I'm that guy, I’'ll point out there are two confounding factors that could affect that data:
They changed the color to bright red
They added the button to the non-scrolled page header as well (pic below)
Still, I would not expect either of those changes to triple conversion, alone or together. I believe my client's data.
Moral of the story: Keep your calls to action simple and focused.