A call to action is the lifeblood of your online shop

A call to action is the way forward if you want to sell in your online shop. Customers should be able to see what you want them to do. Don’t be afraid to say it directly: Click here to buy, or click here to get my newsletter.

The video is from April 2009. I talk about my approach to direct sales messages and my experiences with e-pusher at the time.

Call to action: Ask the customer to act

People don’t come into your shop to socialise with you or have a chat. They hope you can solve a problem for them, and they know it costs money.

So why be afraid to ask for their business? Make it clear how they can buy and what the next step is.

I think calls to action are overlooked in Danish shops. In the video, I say that in my view many shops could achieve double-digit percentage increases if they did more with them. That’s my assessment at the time, rather than a promise of a particular result for every shop.

An offer should give people a reason to respond

Think about a newsletter you receive yourself. It might say that you can buy a product, followed by a little ‘click here’. But the message can also be much more direct.

I use an example of a special offer: Order before 10 pm on a particular day, and you get a 20 percent discount and an extra set of knives.

The point is to give the customer both a clear invitation and a specific reason to respond before the deadline. Don’t hide the message away and leave customers guessing why they should act now.

Yes, it sounds like TV shopping

You may be thinking that it’s TV shopping. That it’s ridiculous or over the top.

Yes, exactly. But why do you think TV shopping sells that way? Do you think they’re idiots?

They haven’t used that kind of selling for years without finding out what works. I think we in Denmark are far too quick to reject a method because we don’t like the way it comes across.

I use very direct emails and sales messages on E-pusher. My experience at the time is that I’ve increased revenue by 50 percent since becoming more direct.

Danes aren’t above sales messages

Some people will probably say I’ve become completely American. Yes, Americans are bloody good at selling, and I think we can learn something from them.

In Denmark, we often go around believing Danish customers see through that sort of thing while Americans don’t. I don’t buy that.

Ordinary people here aren’t automatically smarter than ordinary people in the USA. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s a poor excuse for holding back on a clear invitation to buy.

If you insist on being so understated that customers never realise what you want to sell, I put it bluntly in the video: Shut the bloody thing down and get a job.

You have a shop to sell things. Ask the customer to act, and make it easy to understand how. A call to action is the way forward.