Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand are facing a probe by the Advertising Standards Authority for their part in a wicked spoof by Snickers that quickly went viral across the ‘net. The celebrities posted a series of out-of-character tweets: Katie, whose breasts are bigger than her head and, almost certainly, than her brain – posted about quantitative easing, liquidity in the bond market, and the political economy, while footballer Rio Ferdinand posted about the joys of knitting.

Several tweets later, it was revealed to be a marketing ploy by Snickers: the celebrities tweeted ‘you’re not yourself when you’re hungry’.

The campaign was brilliant. The fact is few people really use social media well. Campaigns are needlessly complicated and convoluted, almost inevitably reflecting the number of people involved in writing them. Social media campaigns work best when they are kept simple.

I wrote some time ago about an offer at Pizza Express that required you to download and install a Facebook app and reserve your table through the app in order to qualify for a discount pizza. A mail-out flyer or coupon would have garnered more business. In the end I ate in a Prezzo which had a ‘buy one get one free’ offer displayed on a board outside.

Yes, yes, yes. Getting you to install an app is a great way to mine personal data, for now. It’s only a matter of time, once things like seeing increased prices once you’ve ‘liked’ something online, before the backlash starts — and people refuse to engage at all. But advertising has never been about complexity – nor has it been about treating the customer like an idiot. In the famous words of David Ogilvy, “The customer is not a moron, she is your wife.” Good campaigns are simple, direct, and most importantly of all — they speak at the same level as their audience.

Snickers’ social media campaign fulfilled all three criteria for a good campaign, social media or otherwise. Ultimately the best campaigns get people talking, and that’s exactly what Snickers managed to do.

So why are they being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority? Of course, it could be a little bit of cheeky on-the-side marketing (getting reported to the ASA is a great way of getting even more press for your campaign), but you have to wonder where-next-for-social-media (and celebrity) if a simple bait-and-switch campaign is declared illegal.

Send a few fake tongue-in-cheek tweets. Then tell everyone it was a joke, associate the joke with the brand.

A formula so simple a child could have created it. Yet they didn’t. It was the work of a fiendishly clever advertising brain. It takes a true genius to create a campaign so simple.

At no point did the campaign talk down to its audience. Any ‘deception’ was light hearted and extremely unlikely to cause offence.

Best of all, it wasn’t a transparent attempt at data mining, demanding ‘engagement’ with an app or a page without giving a great deal in return. It was simply good old fashioned word of mouth.

Here’s hoping to see many more campaigns like it in the future.

@pod2g has created a terrific gift for iOS fans — an untethered 5.0.1 jailbreak for non-A5 devices! 

Many of you have already been following @pod2g’s blog where he’s been keeping everyone up to date on his progress.  And so you know that he recently decided to push the button on a release for all devices except the new iPhone4S and iPad2.  @pod2g’s untether involves two separate exploits and a few other “tricks” — and since he’s taken the @comex approach of doing nearly everything himself, you know his plate has been full these past few months!

A few days ago, @pod2g gave the untether to both the iPhone devteam and the chronic devteam.  We’ve put it into redsn0w 0.9.10 and PwnageTool, and the chronic devteam put it into a Cydia package (the same set of exploits is in all three).

Here are the basic steps for how to get it:

• The untether is for iOS 5.0.1 on iPhone3GS, iPhone4, iPhone4-CDMA, iPad1, iPod touch 3G, iPod touch 4G
• If you have one of those devices and are not on 5.0.1 yet, update now!  The SHSH window is still open for 5.0.1  If you unlock via ultrasn0w or gevey, make sure you only get to 5.0.1 via a custom IPSW!  See the guides at places like iClarified.com if you don’t know how.  Once you’re at 5.0.1, use the latest redsn0w 0.9.10 to both jailbreak and untether.
• If you’re already at 5.0.1 with a tethered jailbreak, you have two choices: either run redsn0w 0.9.10 over your current jailbreak (deselect “Install Cydia” if you do that), or install the Cydia package prepared by the chronic devteam.  The patches are the same regardless of which you choose.
• Some of you are using a hybrid 5.0/5.0.1 configuration.  If so, do not attempt to install this untether over that setup!  You will most likely get into a reboot cycle.  Do a sync and fresh restore to 5.0.1 then install the jailbreak + untether.

As mentioned earlier, @pod2g has spent months working on all the exploits and tricks in this untether, and many of you may be wondering how you can send donations.  Although the iPhone devteam itself doesn’t take donations, we thought it was appropriate to provide a link at the end of the redsn0w run for you to more easily donate directly to @pod2g if you wish (alternatively, you can go right here).  There’s a link in the Cydia package for donating to the chronic devteam for the Cydia version of @pod2g’s untether.

Borrelli goes on to say, in part:

Gold in a Major Bull Market

Gold is beginning the twelfth year of major bull market; perhaps the most unprecedented bull market in our lifetime. [Below is] a quick snapshot of what that bull market has looked like since the 1999 bottom and the 2001 retest of that bottom. From the point of view, as an investor, this is about as beautiful as it gets.

Gold has posted gains in each and every year [of its bull market run]. Below I have listed gold’s closing price on the last day of each year:

2000 — $273.60
2001 — $279.00
2002 — $348.20
2003 — $416.10
2004 — $438.40
2005 — $518.90
2006 — $638.00
2007 — $838.00
2008 — $889.00
2009 — $1096.50
2010 — $1421.40
2011 — $1566.80

Gold Price Corrections

Now I want to look at the same time period but from a different perspective, this time in terms of corrections, because every primary bull market of any duration experiences secondary corrections. Every significant move in price has reactions and there is no way around it; you just have to be smart enough to recognize it for what it is, a reaction, and sit tight. So here it is:

Gold Has Bottomed In Price

If you include the current reaction, the eleven year old bull market is now in its seventh correction and the previous six have run anywhere from 12.1% on the low side to 28.9% on the high side. The current reaction that has led to all the negative rhetoric is stuck right in the middle at 17.2% and yet the media trips over itself to call a top, just like they did the other six times. I would like to point out that they were wrong then and they are even more wrong now, if that’s possible, and here is why.

Who in the world is currently reading this article along with you? Click here

[Below] I have drawn a very simple nine-month daily chart of gold and I’ve put in the only two lines that matter. The top line is downward sloping and represents resistance while the bottom line is also downward sloping and represents support…:

One of the reasons I believe we’ve seen the bottom has to do with the 90-day cycle, one of the most dominant cycle’s in the markets over the last decade. Gold topped with an all-time closing high of 1,900.60 on August 22nd and then declined to a closing low of 1,548.70 exactly ninety days later. That in my opinion is not a coincidence. Since then gold has rallied to [in excess of $1,700/ozt.].

COMEX Days Are Numbered

Perhaps the most important development in the world of gold has to do with the fact that China, one of the world’s largest importers of gold, is no longer content to buy their precious metal [on] the floor of the COMEX or London metals exchange. Why? There are two principal reasons:

1. The COMEX has more than US $86 billion in contracts (obligations) floating around at any one time. Yet in storage they have slightly less than US $3 billion. So the COMEX is not only woefully short of supply should there be a run, they are allowing large traders to flood the market with paper gold in an effort to suppress the price. If you’re China and you’re building your inventory, that’s not in your best interest.
2. There are questions regarding the purity of the metal sold by the COMEX and London metals exchanges.

I should mention that a number of larger players, like Sprott and Kyle Bass, are following in China’s footsteps and are now going straight to all the large mining companies and are inking deals to buy all their production right from the source! That means that the flow of physical into the COMEX will slow to a trickle and eventually dry up altogether and the end result will be a default by the COMEX and a collapse of the paper system.

Price of Gold Has Not Topped

Finally, all of those calling for an end to the gold bull market seem to forget one important thing. All major bull markets end with a spike up based on greed and euphoria and not a top molded out of fear and despair, as would be the case today…

Gold has not topped…and if I am right that the bottom is in then we are about to embark on the third and final phase of our bull market, and that’s the phase where the general public finally piles into the gold market. It is almost always the most lucrative phase and it is the phase that always caps a major bull market.

Conclusion

The third phase will take gold up and through US $4,000 with fewer interruptions than most could imagine. My advice is to buy gold (silver) here and hide it some place until all the smoke clears.

*http://www.top40goldstocks.com/article-Gold-Bottom-Targets-Trend-To-4,000.html

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1. Alf Field: Correction in Gold is OVER and on Way to $4,500+!

There is a strong probability that the correction in the price of gold [down to $1,523] has been completed. The up move just starting should be…the longest and strongest portion of the bull market…at least a 200% gain… [to] a price over $4,500. The largest corrections on the way to this target, of which there should be two, should be in the 12% to 14% range. [Let me explain how I came to the above conclusions.] Words: 760

2. Rebound Ratio Suggests New High for Gold By Mid-year

[While] some investors are frustrated„ and a few are worried that gold seems stuck in a rut [such a] stall in price has happened before…[but has] always eventually powered to a new high…[Let’s] examine the size and length of past corrections and how long it took gold to reach new highs afterward. Words: 740

3. Buy Gold NOW Ahead of Further QE – Here’s Why

Due to high unemployment and a weak recovery world central bankers are focused on weakening their currencies to boost exports. [As such,] I think [even more] quantitative easing and other currency intervention is in our future…[and this will further increase]…both inflation and the price of gold. Let me explain with a few charts.] Words: 350

4. Goldrunner Called $1,920 Gold High Exactly; Now Expects $3,000 – $3,500 by Mid-Year

Short-term volatile moves in Gold, as we have seen over the past few months, do not affect our projections for the future price of Gold based on our fractal (pattern) “model” off the late 70′s Gold Bull. Just as we correctly projected the $1,920 high in our April article entitled Goldrunner: Gold on track to Reach $1860 to $,920 by Mid-year (gold reached $1,917.20 in late August and $1,923.70 in early September, 2011), our current analysis indicates that Gold will enter a range between $3,000 and $3,500 by mid-year 2012. Words: 975

5. Contracting Fibonacci Spiral Puts Gold Near $4,000 by 2013 and $7-10,000 by 2020

Gold is operating on a smaller Contracting Fibonacci Spiral Cycle that is in synch with the larger Contracting Fibonacci Spiral the markets are in. Adding together the sum of parts… the price of gold will move up in price in 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020, with each subsequent leg moving less in percentage terms than the prior move. Gold advanced 4 foldish from 1999 until 2008 ($252/ounce to $1046/ounce) suggesting that gold should top out below $4000/troy ounce by the end of January, 2013…[on its way] to $7,000 and $10,000 per troy ounce by 2020. [Let me explain.] Words: 834

6. These 8 Analysts See Gold Going to $3,000 – $10,000 in 2012! Here’s Why

Back in 2009 I began keeping track of those financial analysts, economists, academics and commentators who were of the opinion that it was just a matter of time before gold reached a parabolic peak price well in excess of the prevailing price. As time passed the list grew dramatically and at last count numbered 140 such individuals who have gone on record as saying that gold will go to at least $3,000 – and as high as $20,000 – before the gold bubble finally pops. Of more immediate interest, however, is that 8 of those individuals believe gold will reach its parabolic peak price in the next 12 months – even as early as February, 2012. This article identifies those 8 and outlines their rationale for reaching their individual price expectations. Words: 1450

7. Gold Will Reach $3,000/$4,000/$5,000 Before This Bull Market Is Over! Here are 12 Factors Why

I believe that the price of gold will… reach… $3,000, $4,000, and even $5,000 [per troy] ounce…during the course of this long-lasting bull market, a bull market that still has years of life left to it…[although] prices will remain extremely volatile – with big swings both up and down along a rising trend…The future price of gold is a function of past and prospective world economic, demographic, and political developments [and in this article] I review some of these developments and trends – so that you can come to your own “golden” conclusions. Words: 3800

8. New Analysis Suggests a Parabolic Rise in Price of Gold to $4,380/ozt.

According to my 2000 calculations, if interest rates and inflation stay constant over the next 2 years, we could expect to see (with 95.2% certainty) a parabolic peak price for gold of $4,380 per troy ounce by then! Let me explain what assumptions I made and the methods I undertook to arrive at that number and you can decide just how realistic it is. Words: 740

9. When This Pullback in Gold is Put into Perspective It’s No Big Deal – Here’s Proof

Daily and monthly gyrations in the price of gold are nothing to fret over…The price will recover and, in time, fetch new highs…Here’s proof. Words: 264

After listening to President Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU), I am once again reminded of how powerful delivery skills can be. We can debate whether style trumps substance or vice versa all we want. The truth is that leaders—political and business—who are able to connect emotionally with their stakeholders will win hearts and minds and those who don’t, won’t.  

Candidates who come across forcefully, who look and sound like they believe what they’re saying, who display passion, will get our attention and, ultimately, our votes.

It means that Obama has a huge advantage going into this year’s election, as he did in 2008. It means that Newt Gingrich will continue to appeal to primary voters. And it means that Mitt Romney has a lot of work to do. 

But it isn’t only presentation skills that make for good speech. Rhetorical devices and flourishes also have a big role in fostering connection, increasing impact, and helping us remember what has been said. In fact, if you examine my previous paragraph, you’ll note my use of a rhetorical device known as known as anaphora, the repetition of an opening word or phrase in successive sentences. The effect is mesmerizing, even hypnotic. Obama used anaphora repeatedly in the SOTU:

1. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. 
2. We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. (See parallelism below.)
3. To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn. (See parallelism below.)
4. It was wrong. It was irresponsible.  (See parallelism below.)
5. I will not back down from protecting our kids from mercury poisoning, or making sure that our food is safe and our water is clean. I will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny your coverage, or charge women differently than men. And I will not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules. 
6. We will stand against violence and intimidation. We will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings. We will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets, because tyranny is no match for liberty. And we will safeguard America’s own security against those who threaten our citizens, our friends, and our interests.  

(Note: Anaphora works best in series of three, and for some reason, many of Obama’s uses occurred in twos, leaving us hanging, waiting for that third one.)

Here are some of the other rhetorical “rules” the President followed:

1. Anapest is a form of metrical foot, a pattern of word and syllable stress that creates a rhythm of two unstressed words or syllables followed by one stressed word or syllable (da da DA): “The opPOnents of ACtion are OUT of exCUses.” 
2. Tricolon is a series of three parallel words or clauses: “No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts.” This phrase also incorporates anaphora and a bit of anapest and alliteration.
3. Chiasmus is a verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed. “Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed.” (This is a clear rip-off of JFK’s famous “Ask not…” line, but not nearly as clever or effective.)
4. Antithesis establishes a contrasting relationship between two ideas: “It is time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system…” and “It’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America.”
5. Metaphor uses a familiar or tangible image to represent something else: “…none of this can happen unless we also lower the temperature in this town.”
6. Parallelism is a recurring syntax that equalizes the importance of each phrase: “We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity.” And, “It was wrong. It was irresponsible.”

These are only a few of the many rhetorical devices that can make a speech much more effective and persuasive. We may like to think of ourselves as purely rational, only influenced by policy prescriptions or metrics, but that thinking is precisely what trips us up when it comes time to vote. To make the right decision, to select the best candidate for this incredibly important job, we must have the best information. Sharpening our understanding of how they say what they say will only add to our ability to decide.

Obama has great writers.

A bulk of the small businesses we spoke with said they feel Google+ is an important social platform because it was developed by Google, one of the Internet’s favorite brands and one of the most influential websites when it comes to site referrals. But small business owners gave a plethora of reasons for being early adopters of the platform. Here are some of the top reasons we heard for using Google+.

1. Get an SEO Boost: Bob Shirilla, director of marketing at Simply Bags, says that his business joined Google+ because he relies on Google search referrals for sales conversions. “Google+ influences search for all the people who have included my business in their circle,” he says. “We have also put a +1 button on each product page. This is a great way to get free promotion from people who like the product to people with similar interests.”

2. Host a Hangout: “Hangouts offer an amazing opportunity for businesses to engage in a highly personal way with clients, customers and industry thought leaders,” says Roger Friedensen, president and CEO of Forge Communications. “Plus, employees in remote locations can hold team meetings to brainstorm with one another from an interface that affords them immediate and easy access to share and collaborate on most of the information materials they might need, such as documents and spreadsheets.”

3. Expand Content Distribution: Phyllis Khare, the social media editorial director of iPhone Life magazine, says that Google+ is a great platform for expanding the publication’s content distribution. “It took us almost a year to get 1,000 Likes on our Facebook Page, and three days on G+ to get that number to Circle us,” she says. “We are gearing up for Hangouts with some of our writers in 2012 to answer iOS questions and a few other fun things with contests and giveaways.”

4. Connect with Early Adopters: If your business falls in the Internet or technology industries, Google+ could be a great place to connect a tech-savvy audience. “The people that are on Google+ already are most likely going to be early adopters of other technologies and marketing channels,” says Jason Pinto, CMO at interlinkONE. “When we look at what defines an ‘ideal customer’ for our products, that criteria is certainly high on our list.”

5. Segment Your Audience: “The obvious benefit of Google+ is that it allows us to share select content with specific audiences,” says Chad Udell, managing director of Float Mobile Learning. Google+ makes it easy for businesses to segment their audiences and share content directly with those certain groups of followers.

6. Use Google+ to Network: David Greenberg, president of Parliament Tutors, says that his business does not have a Google+ page, but that he uses his personal Google+ page to network and gather contact data and research the “personal side” of relevant contacts, such as journalists and potential clients, so that he can better create a connection with them. He adds that the “About” section of a contact’s Google+ profile is usually a great start.

7. Just Explore: Netronic Managing Director Martin Karlowitsch says, “We currently use Google+ for exploratory purposes. It is still a niche platform, but quickly growing and with a platform giant behind it. Knowing the impact that Google has on the way people find relevant information on the web, Google+ soon can become significant by combining social and search. I want to start early using this platform to be prepared when this inflection point arises.”

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5 Downfalls of Using Google+

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While most of the small business owners we spoke with had a very positive outlook for Google+, we also spoke to a number of skeptics who identified numerous flaws in the social platform. Here are the top five reasons that small business owners gave for limiting their engagement on Google+.

1. Administration is Difficult: “The pages need to be created from an individual’s Google+ account, and you cannot add admins or any other users to manage the account,” says Jason Donaldson, an account executive at Formic Media. “Depending on the size of the business, this may not be an issue. For example, if you only have one or two employees, there probably isn’t an issue accessing the page from a personal Google account. The problem becomes more exaggerated with businesses that don’t have a dedicated social media manager (unlikely with small businesses), because of the need to give out personal account information for users to post on the business page.”

2. Facebook and Twitter Reign: Many of the small businesses we spoke with pointed out that they maintain engaged audiences on Twitter and Facebook, but most of their customers and clients don’t use Google+. So, the platform isn’t much of a priority for their business. In the words of TwiloPR President Chris Heuwetter, “The true value is in Facebook, where we see a nice return on our efforts. Google+ seems like a ghost town [for many small businesses].”

3. Social Dashboards Don’t Integrate Google+ Yet: While more progressive social media dashboards, like Hootsuite, have integrated Google+ into their products, many social dashboard services on the market do not enable users to post to Google+. For businesses that manage their social presences from one central location, the lack of Google+ integration is a huge barrier to Google+ usage.

4. Google Side Projects are Unreliable: James Beswick manages online marketing for a bar in San Antonio called Drink. He looked into creating a Google+ page for the bar, but decided against it, since he’s not certain that the social network will pan out. “Google keeps starting and shutting down products — Buzz, Wave and Hotpot, to name a few — and I’m not entirely convinced the same thing won’t happen with Plus,” he says. “Given the time and cost of engaging followers, I think the effort is better spent on Facebook.”

5. Growth Is Small: Tara Parks, senior marketing administrator at Convergence Networks says that she sees potential in Google+, but that growth has been small for her company. “The biggest drawback to Google+ so far is that it’s hard to grow a fan base, since businesses can only add other businesses to their Circles, and not individuals, the way you can on Twitter (until they add you, that is),” she says. “It will definitely be a lot more fun once more people start using Google+.”

6. Lack of Accountability and/or telling them how to do their Jobs. Although you can’t “jerk around” top talent, it’s a mistake to treat top talent leading a project as “untouchable.” We’re not saying that you need to get into anyone’s business or telling them what to do. However, top talent demands accountability from others and doesn’t mind being held accountable for their projects. Therefore, have regular touch points with your best people as they work through their projects. They’ll appreciate your insights/observations/suggestions — as long as they don’t spillover into preaching.

Move up Move down

How To Get The Best Severance Deal Deborah L. Jacobs Forbes Staff

6 Things Best-In-Class Companies Do To Grow Leaders Eric Jackson Contributor

Top Ten Reasons Why VC-Backed Companies Fail Eric Jackson Contributor

How To Leave An Unsatisfying Job And Pursue Your Dream Career Cathy Scott Contributor

7. Top Talent likes other Top Talent. What are the rest of the people around your top talent like? Many organizations keep some people on the payroll that rationally shouldn’t be there. You’ll get a litany of rationales explaining why when you ask. “It’s too hard to find a replacement for him/her….” “Now’s not the time….” However, doing exit interviews with the best people leaving big companies you often hear how they were turned off by some of their former “team mates.” If you want to keep your best people, make sure they’re surrounded by other great people.

8. The Missing Vision Thing. This might sound obvious, but is the future of your organization exciting? What strategy are you executing? What is the vision you want this talented person to fulfill? Did they have a say/input into this vision? If the answer is no, there’s work to do — and fast.

9. Lack of Open-Mindedness. The best people want to share their ideas and have them listened to. However, a lot of companies have a vision/strategy which they are trying to execute against — and, often find opposing voices to this strategy as an annoyance and a sign that someone’s not a “team player.” If all the best people are leaving and disagreeing with the strategy, you’re left with a bunch of “yes” people saying the same things to each other. You’ve got to be able to listen to others’ points of view — always incorporating the best parts of these new suggestions.

10. Who’s the Boss? If a few people have recently quit at your company who report to the same boss, it’s likely not a coincidence. We’ll often get asked to come in and “fix” someone who’s a great sales person, engineer, or is a founder, but who is driving everyone around them “nuts.” We can try, but unfortunately, executive coaching usually only works 33% of the time in these cases. You’re better off trying to find another spot for them in the organization — or, at the very least, not overseeing your high-potential talent that you want to keep.

It’s never a one-way street. Top talent has to assume some responsibility as much as the organization. However, with the scarcity of talent — which will only increase in the next 5 years — Smart Organizations are ones who get out in front of these ten things, rather than wait for their people to come to them, asking to implement this list.

See the first five at the source link above.

Having discussed the email hors d’oeuvre in my last post, I would like to propose another course from the „Increase your email’s impact!” menu today: the header.

How do you plan this section effectively? Where does it belong on your email layout map? What does „above-the-fold” mean? Can header design have an impact on click-thru rates and ROI?

The Challenge Ahead

Right, so you’ve planned out your preheader and made sure it contains a concise call-to-action and  link to open the message in a new browser window, as we discussed in the preheader post.

Now you’re facing the real challenge: how to design the „above-the-fold” in your sales message section in a way that will make subscribers click on the call-to-action and explore the whole message.

 

Email Headers 101

Let me start with a short definition before proceeding to the nitty-gritty of header design.

The aforementioned „above-the-fold” is simply the 400-450 pixel high space that subscribers see right after they open the message. It’s also the typical size of the „preview panes” in most popular email clients. Certainly, the size can vary depending on your subscribers’ screen resolution.

Studies show that 1024×768 is still the most popular resolution these days, so fitting the header into the first 400-450 pixels is the best path to follow. You can also perform your own study and scrutinize which screen resolution is the most common among the subscribers on your list. This can be achieved by means of a survey or any web tracking system.

The key point here is to design it in a way that will engage the recipients quickly and make them interact with rest of the special offer content. Otherwise they might  abandon the message, or worse, mark it as spam.

Unfortunately, the industry stats also show us that not every subscriber will scroll down your email. In fact, 51% of them will delete the message within two seconds of opening it.

Therefore, email marketers should always begin their email template design from the top and work through to the bottom (not the other way around).

 

How to Create an Effective Email Header

Successful email creative, just like first pages of a book, should start off with a smart title, eye-catching cover and the name of the author, or party communicating with the recipient.

Due to the limited size of most preview panes, the sender needs to pack all 3 elements into the „above-the-fold” section to entice the recipient to engage further. With this in mind, here’s what you should typically include in the template header:

• The name of the company, brand or person responsible for sending the offer. It is highly advisable to include the logo in this section to increase trust and the probability of being recognized by subscribers. Trust is the key to successful email communication!

• The purpose of the message: Provide explicit information in the header as to the intent of the email (whether it’s transactional, event-related, a product campaign or a newsletter). It’s helpful at this stage to re-evaluate the relevance of your email to make sure it’s what your subscribers expect.

• A large, clear and enticing call-to-action: The CTA in the „above-the-fold” area is your big chance to create subscriber interest, encourage them to read the whole message and, eventually, convert them into paying customers.

The point here is to avoid vagueness and obscure slogans like „Great Sale”, „New Products!”, etc. Instead, pin down the exact benefits a recipient could gain upon further reading of the email: „15% OFF on all electronic devices!”, „Buy one book, get the second one free!”.

Keep in mind that most people these days are flooded with offers every day via email, snail mail, robo calls, social media, etc. Using an incentive (like a discount, bonus or gift) makes your email marketing campaigns more likely to stand out among all the noise and inbox clutter.

Here’s how some experienced marketers handle this:

None of these headers causes doubt or confusion as to why it’s worthwhile to click on the call-to-action: „25% OFF on Car Speakers and Subs”, „Accessories Sale, Ends Tuesday!”, „New Arrivals Make Great Presents for Father’s Day”, etc.

The strongest selling point of your offer needs to be prominently displayed if you want to make a big impact on click-through and conversion rates.

 

The Elements of an Effective Header

Now let’s break the header into a few components, and consider how to make them as effective as possible:

• Easily recognizable logo of your brand, website, product or company. Do not forget to use alt-attribute to give subscribers a hint as to the image content, even if it’s blocked by their email client;

• Crystal clear and concise call-to-action which will communicate from the very start: „Here’s the exact benefit you’ll obtain once you scroll down / click on the CTA.”

• A  navigation bar that lists the products offered on your website by category. You can easily hyperlink each category to facilitate the subscriber browsing experience and take them directly to the page they’re interested in.

In practice, make sure that if you are selling ebooks and recipients click on the „Getting-things-done” category within the email, they are taken straight to those offers.

Some marketers make the mistake of hyperlinking all of the segments to one landing page, which is usually the home page, making recipients browse further and often losing sales opportunities.

• A „Share This” option with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. integrations. With so many social media users out there, you can’t afford to lose an opportunity to push your latest offer or newsletter out of the inbox and across the Internet to gain more exposure.

 

Wrapping it up

A well-designed header should be about clarity, transparency and order. Marketers ought to keep this in the back of their heads when trying to design headers with all the elements I’m suggesting.

Although the format should be orderly, the goal is a reasonable balance of text and images and overall proportion, so the content is both accessible and attention grabbing.

Remember, the content located below the top 420 pixels will not be visible to any subscribers unless they scroll down the email.

This is the default size of most email client preview panes (at 1024×768 resolution). To make sure recipients see exactly what you want them to see above-the-fold, I strongly recommend testing the HTML templates before the actual newsletter is sent. You can do this by sending an email to your Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail and AOL accounts, and analyzing how it looks. Then simply adjust to deliver the best header deisgn to all subscriber inboxes.

Last but not least, if you are sending monthly newsletters that do not contain any sales pitches or promo offers and coupons, it’s a good idea to include the summary of the message content in the header. It will give your subscribers a hint as to what’s included in this “issue” so they can decide whether they’re interested to scroll further or not.

 

Does Your Header Grab Attention?

An effective header should be like a movie trailer.

It’s an excerpt from the offer and sums up the most desirable, interesting and enticing passages of the message.

Make your subscribers want to read more and you’ll increase your email marketing campaign ROI. Instead of highlighting 4 random products in the header, pack it with the hottest, most exclusive (or cheapest) offers. Once subscribers scroll down to check out the rest of the offer, you’ll know the header’s done its job!

Designing for the ‘fold’ has long been a priority for many Web Designers, but with so many devices capable of displaying your website, how on earth do you know where it is? Should we be worried? This article asks how important the ‘fold’ actually is, the variables at play, changing browsing habits and what you can do about it. The Death of the Fold is upon us, at last!

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The Death of the Fold

Browsing the World Wide Web is no longer a task confined to desktop computers. Mobile browsing seems to be increasing day by day and many more devices such as Internet-ready televisions are becoming readily available. Brandon first mentioned it in his big yearly webtrends post, The State of Web Design Trends: 2011 Annual Edition … “The Death of the Fold” as he called it, is at last upon us.

But what does that really mean?

Because the traditional “screen” that people view the web through has undergone an explosion of variety… we can no longer expect web-surfers to be on something close to a 19″ monitor with a resolution somewhere between 1024×768 and 1280×700. Screens nowadays come in all shapes and sizes, from iPhones (and smaller phones) to 60″ HDTVs. It’s not just resolution that can vary wildly though; the very aspect ratio of a screen (even on the same device like the iPhone) can change with the flick of the wrist. Sure, web designers will always be advised to keep the most important messages of a site near the top, but with so many new ways for web-surfers to view the web, there’s no longer a defined height for where content must be above.

Before we get ahead of ourselves though, let’s kick off this article with a trip back to the old school though…

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Introduction: The Old Fold

“The ideal area to place bold introductions, essential information, enticing imagery and call to action elements is above the fold…”

If you have had any graphic design education, you will likely be familiar with the term ‘above the fold’. If not, let us take a brief moment to explain.

The term was first used in reference to traditional media, newspapers to be precise. The thinking is that newspapers are often delivered or displayed folded up and the area ‘above the fold’ will be the first that the reader sees and it is therefore a prominent and important location. Eye-catching headlines and striking imagery are often displayed to attract the reader’s attention.

The phrase was naturally transferred to the field of Web Design when it became popular in the last 90′s. It is more or less the same concept, except the area above the fold is instead the area that the user can immediately see without scrolling (not as catchy, right?). This area is the ideal area to place bold introductions, essential information, enticing imagery and call to action elements. It is also the preferred space for any advertisements.

The area above the fold is the top section of a web design that the user can immediately see without scrolling.

The importance of the area above the fold seems to be supported by the ‘five second rule’ that is commonly quoted within Web Design; which states users pass judgment on a site within the first five seconds of visiting. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen has also suggested that users spend up to 80% of their time viewing information above the fold.

The three traditional fold-lines at 570, 590 and 600 pixels, shown overlaid on the Webdesigntuts+ website (scaled down to fit the post).

The importance of the “fold” over the past decade can not be overly emphasized in it’s historical context… Hotly contested debates were held in many design-studios and marketing agencies about where, precisely, the fold was. Large amounts of money were spent on market data to predict the optimal placement of ads, and entire designs were thrown out the window because they didn’t maximize the use of the “above the fold” space. The almighty fold, at the height of its importance, was defined as one of three horizontal lines at 570, 590 and 600 pixels.

Everything below 600 pixels was irrelevant, second-tier content… not worth the effort for a dignified web designer to concern themselves with.

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Phooey.

Now, at this point some of you may be thinking, or even shouting (given the amount of debate this subject seems to cause) that the ‘fold’ is irrelevant and any discussion of it should be confined to the history books. The notion that a web designer is restrained to a small portion at the top-part of the screen is absurd. We would like to believe that all web users scroll and that we have the freedom to express ourselves and create a design in as much space as it takes. Some have even got pretty creative in demonstrating that people are willing to scroll.

Undoubtedly there has been many an argument between a web designer and their client as to the importance of the ‘fold’ and this may have contributed to the somewhat bad reputation it has. A client, overestimating the importance of the fold, may request everything and the kitchen sink to be squeezed and crammed into that relatively small space and the web designer will be left frustrated that they cannot demonstrate their skill for position, alignment and subtle use of white space.

The key to this issue, as with many other design aspects, is achieving a balance. Obviously, confining yourself to a small part of the screen would limit your creativity and design options. On the other hand, to disregard the idea of the ‘fold’ entirely would be a mistake, and you would miss out on a potentially powerful design technique as we will see below.

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The Fold in Action

The beautifully crafted website for the Kaleidoscope app is an excellent example of designing with ‘the fold’ in mind. The large title, an introductory paragraph, an eye-catching image and call to action elements are all instantly visible and available to the user. Notice how supplementary information under the heading ‘Learn more’ falls beneath the cut-off point. The ‘fold’ has clearly been considered in the design of this website, yet scrolling down will reveal a vast amount of information and many more detailed design elements. It is apparent that the designers of the website still expect users to scroll.

You will find similar design patterns implemented across many large web sites. The importance of that first impression is recognised, yet a much larger area is fully utilized to tell a story and communicate the information they need to. The area ‘above the fold’ is often used to lead and guide to the user further down the page and to the areas the designer wants the user to see. It is indeed an important skill to have, to be able to grab a user’s attention, yet keep them intrigued enough to remain on the site and actually seek out new information and content.

It will always be second nature to include the key messages and call-to-action material near the top of a site design… but dogmatically trying to squeeze content above the fold is no longer a strategy that should chain down your designs.

If you visit the Kaleidoscope website for yourself however, you will more than likely be presented will a somewhat different view. You may be able to see more or less of the website – and here is the problem that faces every web designer. How can you design for the fold if you don’t know where it is for any particular visitor? There are many different factors that combine to determine the physical size of the area ‘above the fold’.

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The Problem of the ‘New’ Fold

Web Designers are well used to designing with browsers in constant consideration. The many quirks and inconsistencies have frustrated us for years and they also play a role in this conundrum. Each individual browser will take up a different proportion of the screen depending on the size of the browser U.I and any additional toolbars. The trend with modern browsers does seem to be positive however as they appear to be occupying less space than previously. The developers of Google’s Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer 9 have realised that there is a better browsing experience when there is little to distract users from the website itself.

Today, there is also such a multitude of monitor size and screen resolution combinations that it proves almost impossible for a ‘one-size fits all’ web design. Many years ago, it was established that 1024×768 was the most common screen resolution and this appears to be what most designers still design for. The resolution statistics from WebDesigntuts alone demonstrate the scale of the problem for designers.

Let’s take a quick peek at the browser resolution statistics for the Webdesigntuts+ site for a quick case study:

The resolution stats for Webdesigntuts+ reveals a much wider spectrum of resolutions than any single fold-line could ever account for.

“You can’t guarantee that they are using a traditional monitor screen at all.”

The graphic shows that there is a wide variety of resolutions currently being used with a majority of usage spread across six different sizes. As you can see the 1024×768 screen resolution now only counts for a small percentage, although this may have increased recently due to the IPad deciding to use this resolution.

If it wasn’t enough that you don’t really have an idea of what size monitor a web user had, now you can’t guarantee that they are using a traditional monitor screen at all. The age of mobile browsing is well and truly upon us and there are many different devices currently being used. Let’s revisit the analytic statistics for Webdesigntuts:

As you can see there are many different operating systems being used, and platforms such as Android can be incorporated into various devices. Tablet based browsing, which exploded with the release of the IPad, will only become more popular with the release of many different sized tablet-computers. Mobile devices of all kinds also pose a unique challenge for web designers in that they can be used in either landscape or portrait mode – a decision that would vastly change the position of the ‘fold’ line. Many websites are now making the effort to be ‘optimized’ for devices such as the Ipad.

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Strategies for Designing for the New Fold

So with all of these variables, how on earth is it possible to know where the ‘fold’ is?

The truth is you can’t. With so many variables in play it is almost impossible to know exactly where the fold line will be. Fast-forward just one or two years and we’re likely to see even more changes to the screen environment. This all just means that the previous advice to design within the first 600px cannot be safely relied upon anymore. It would appear that striving for pixel perfection will only leave you frustrated.

The mobile devices breakdown for readers on Webdesigntuts.

A more sensible approach would be to design for general, ratio based folds that would take both landscape and portrait orientated browsing into consideration…

This would entail designing not only for the traditional fold, but also a second fold further down the page. Such a fold would take nothing away from a conventional design but would have an added bonus for those using mobile devices and tablet computers. By using an approximate ratio rather than relying than fixed pixel measurements, while it will be certainly less accurate, you should still be relatively safe.

We believe the key here is not to focus too much on the ‘fold’ itself, but rather attempt to keep your core message within a ‘safe zone’ while maintaining a quality design overall. Ideally you should test designs on mobile devices, but there are many simulators available if that is not always possible.

The best possible design strategies that adapt to a wide range of monitors will be those that have an established sense of hierarchy across the entire design. This means that the core message of a site should be apparent from just about any “scaling” of that site – and more detailed information and content should be readable in order of it’s importance on the page.

Other design principles like Typography, Color Theory, Layout, and Gestalt all play a huge role in this as well, so web designers would do well for themselves to polish up on these established practices. Indeed, perhaps one of the great new opportunities that the “death of the traditional fold” offers designers is a return to core design principles… leaving behind rigid, dogmatic, and nonsensical notions of layout in favor of age-old design theories.

• Read more about Understanding Visual Hierarchy in Web Design here.
• View our entire Design Theory Library here.

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The Bigger Picture

Data from the W3 Schools website.

“…In the study, they found that 76% of users scrolled and that a good portion of them scrolled all the way to the bottom, despite the height of the screen.”

The statistics for Webdesigntuts site alone is helpful to look at (mainly because we have such detailed data on it), but it certainly doesn’t represent the entire internet, right? Even when we look at the official browser display statistics from the W3 Schools official site, a similar trend begins to emerge.

Certainly, the data from just these two sites doesn’t represent the entirety of the internet browsing audience… but by looking at the writing on the wall, it’s easy to determine that this is not just a fringe occurrence, it’s a new pattern that’s emerging. Combine this with sales of new devices and the growth of the monitor industry, and it’s rock solid ammunition for the anyone looking to dispel the myth of the traditional fold.

Furthermore, many research studies have been conducted that debunk the importance of the fold, even back when it did exist. The conclusions: even when you do use a fixed monitor size (ie: 1024 x 768), people surfing the web not only glance below the fold… they often spend most of their time there!

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Conclusion

We have discussed a lot in this article so let us round up some key points.

The traditional concept of designing for the ‘fold’ appears to be somewhat outdated when it comes to modern web design. We have seen that a combination of variables and a change in the browsing methods of many people means that a fixed position of the ‘fold’ line cannot safely be established. Web users are also very much prepared to scroll; especially with multi-touch devices such as the IPad that make the task very intuitive.

However it does not mean that the ‘fold’ should be disregarded completely. The ‘fold’ can still be an effective element in any design. There can be no doubt that first impressions do indeed count in web design and this space can be used to not only capture your audience but also lure them further down the page. Reserve this area for your most essential information while reassuring your clients that visitors will still see that paragraph on their history further down the page.

With no signs that mobile browsing is slowing, an argument can also be made for designing for a second ‘fold’ line for those browsing using a portrait-oriented device. It should not be detrimental to your design in any way and will only give those using such devices an added bonus.

Over the last 10+ years of email marketing , there were several rules you could always count on:

-   Subject lines are the key

-   Make sure you blend text and images

-   Keep your key content above the fold

That last one might need a bit of revising though.  Readers no longer have a 17 inch monitor staring back at them.  They could have an iPhone, an iPad, a Tablet, a Nook Color, a Kindle, a netbook, two monitors, a 23-inch HD monitor, their 55-inch TV, etc.  Each one of those screens will have a completely different viewing experience for a person reading an email.

This fact forces long-time e-marketers, who have clung to their creative filter of “Is the key benefit and the call-to-action above the fold?”, to re-evaluate exactly where the fold is.

This doesn’t have to be the end though for good email practice and the fold.  Just because “the fold” is now an antiquated term, the logic is still sound.

Your emails do need to keep the key benefit up near the top of an email, along with the call-to-action.  In fact, the preheader text needs to have those two items every time.  And, everyone “sees” the preheader text, no matter the screen size, the device, or the platform.

Maybe the next generation of “above the fold” should be “check your PHT”.  Or, maybe some creative copywriter can coin a better phrase for that.

What do you think?  What are the new rules that need to replace the old ones in today’s email world?  Or, do you have a replacement for “above the fold” that can help emphasize the important of the preheader text?

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Call to action in web design — and in user experience (UX) in particular — is a term used for elements in a web page that solicit an action from the user. The most popular manifestation of call to action in web interfaces comes in the form of clickable buttons that when clicked, perform an action (e.g. “Buy this now!”) or lead to a web page with additional information (e.g. “Learn more…”) that asks the user to take action.

How can we create effective call to action buttons that grab the user’s attention and entice them to click? We’ll try to answer this question in this post by sharing some effective design techniques and exploring some examples.

Best Practices for Effective Call to Action Buttons

Designing call to action buttons into web interfaces requires some forethought and planning; it has to be part of your prototyping and information architecture processes in order for them to work well. In this section, we’ll discuss some design techniques for call to action buttons.

Draw user attention with size

In web pages, the size of an element relative to its surrounding elements indicates its importance: the larger the element is, the more important it is. Decide how vital certain site actions are, and size your call to action buttons accordingly.

Size of call to action button versus surrounding elements

Lifetree Creative ⁵ exhibits this idea of size to indicate importance with their call to action button. Compare the size of their button with the company logo. To grab the user’s attention, the call to action button is roughly 20% larger (in width) than the logo. Even though the logo is placed higher on the web page, your eyes are drawn to the call to action button because of its larger size in relation to surrounding elements.

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Size of call to action button versus less important call to actions

A web page may have multiple calls for action. To indicate the relative importance of a call to action with respect to other actions, you can vary their sizes. Here is an example of this concept on the paramore|redd ⁷ website where the call to action button that asks the user to sign up for their newsletter is significantly larger than the continue reading call to action, indicating that on this web page, they would rather you take the action of subscribing versus reading the blog posts.

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Draw user attention with prominent positioning

The placement of call to action buttons on a web page is critical to drawing the eyes of visitors. Placement in prominent locations such as the top section of a web page can lead to higher landing page conversions because users will likely notice the call to action button and take action.

Placement in a distinguished area

Putting a call to action button on a distinguished area is one way of making it stand out in a web layout. You can see this idea in action on the dailymile ⁹ website where the call to action button looks to be on a higher plane (on top of) other site elements such as the bar graph graphic.

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Placement at the top of the web page

To illustrate this concept, take a look at the “Post a Job!” call to action button located at the very top right corner of the Your Web Job ¹¹ website. By putting the call to action in a very prominent area, it is more likely that the user will notice it or remember it later, after they have looked at the site’s content. For example, if a job poster wanted to explore the site before taking the action of posting a job, the “Post a Job!” call to action will be ready for them regardless of which page leads them to a conversion, and they’ll be more likely to remember where they can easily take this action because of its prominent placement.

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Placement at the center of a layout

Locating a call to action button in the middle of a web layout with no (or significantly smaller and deemphasized) flanking elements can be an effective way of drawing attention and enticing an action. In the case of PicsEngine ¹³, even though the call to action button doesn’t have a high color contrast with its background and surrounding page elements, it still manages to draw attention simply by its centered placement.

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Use whitespace to detach call to actions from other elements

The use of whitespace (or dead space) around a call to action button is an effective way of making it stand out in areas where there are many elements.

Whitespace used to distinguish a call to action button

IconDock ¹⁵ shows just how effective sufficient whitespace is. Even with a small and plainly-designed call to action button, it still stands out because of the space in between its adjacent elements.

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Vary the amount of whitespace to indicate a logical connection

The more whitespace there is in between a call to action button versus a surrounding element, the less connected they are. Therefore, if you have other elements that can help convince users to take action, reduce the whitespace in between those elements and the CTA.

For example, Donor Tools ¹⁷ has text above their “Sign Up” call to action that tells the user the benefits of signing up. On its right is a browser screenshot that is there for aesthetics and not necessarily for prompting the user to click on the “Sign Up” call to action button. By reducing the whitespace in between the text and call to action button, you group these two elements visually. The whitespace in between the browser screenshot and an image ensures that the eyes are not distracted from the call for action.

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Use highly contrasting colors

Deciding what colors to use for call to action buttons is very important. Use colors in your call to action buttons that have a high contrast relative to surrounding elements and the background because it is critical to ensure that the user notices your call to action.

Color contrast versus surrounding elements

Notepod ¹⁹ exemplifies how color contrast between a call to action and its surrounding elements can be effective in drawing user attention directly to it. The surrounding elements are all black, while the call to action button is a bright blue color.

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Background/foreground color contrast

Valley Creek Church ²¹ sets its bright yellow “Learn More” call to action button above a grayscale image. Even with a simple call to action button design on top of a complex element (a photo in this case), it still stands out because of the color choice.

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Offer secondary alternative actions

A web page can have multiple calls for actions. Sometimes it’s necessary to offer a secondary action in order to convince the user to later take your desired primary call for action. For example, before the user signs up for a web service, some users may need further information to be prompted to take the action of signing up; secondary actions may be calling them to take a product tour or to visit a web page with more information about the product.

Displaying secondary actions beside the primary action

OfficeVP ²³ displays two call to action buttons beside each other — centered and located at the top of the web layout. By differentiating the color, users can see that they have two distinct routes: they can either sign up directly (primary action), or if they wish to learn more before committing, they can take the secondary action of taking a tour first.

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Transmissions ²⁵ also shows this notion of having a secondary action next to the desired primary action. In this case, the primary action is for the user to purchase the application. If they want to try it before purchasing, then the secondary desired action is to download the application first. Notice that the primary action is indicated by making it more prominent than the secondary action, having a higher color contrast to its background than the secondary call to action button. Thus, you effectively draw the eyes from left to right.

Also, note the use of reduced whitespace between the two call to action buttons relative to other elements in the area, effectively grouping the buttons together.

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Displaying secondary actions below the primary action

Alternatively, you may wish to display the secondary action below the primary action. This may be necessary if you need to have greater visual separation of your calls for action. Virb ²⁷ shows this situation where the “Join Now” call to action is placed above the secondary action of taking the product tour. Notice that the secondary action is further separated from the primary action by using a more muted color for its default state.

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Convey a sense of urgency

Phrasing of the action by using bold, confident, and commanding words can alter the user’s perception in such a way as to convince them that they shouldn’t wait any longer to take action and that waiting to take action would result in a penalty or a missed opportunity.

tap tap tap ²⁹ demonstrates this idea of adding urgency to a call for action. The “Buy Now” call to action button has the text “Intro price”, subtly suggesting that the longer the user waits to take action, the higher is the risk of having to pay more later on when the introductory price will have passed.

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Oftentimes, suggestions to perform an action can be effective in creating a sense of urgency. Using words such as “now”, “immediately” and “right now” can convey such urgency. Take the Organizing for America ³¹ (BarackObama.com) example of appealing to website visitors to “DONATE NOW”. If instead it simply said “Donate”, the sense of urgency would disappear and users may be less likely to take action.

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Tell users that taking action is easy

Often, a user’s hesitation to take action stems from thinking that an action will be difficult, costly, or time consuming. By taking care of these concerns, your call to action buttons can lead to more conversions.

For example, on Basecamp ³³, the call to action button explicitly defines the time it would take the user to sign up and tells users that signing up is costless (free). This approach weakens two primary users’ concerns when it comes to taking action online: paying (which also requires them to take additional actions such as getting their credit card) and time constraints.

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In the example of Tea Round App ³⁵, they tell that user that they won’t be getting spam emails by taking the action of signing up for their email service, which is a cause for concern whenever giving your email to a third-party service.

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Tell users what to expect

Most web users are hesitant to take things they’re presented on the web at face value. By experience, their trust has been burnt before by links that promise free service only to find out that they’d have to put in their credit card numbers to get what they want. To increase click conversion and to build trust, anticipate users’ scepticism and tell them what they will gain by taking the action you’ve presented to them. When designing a call to action button, think of all the potential questions users will have, and make sure that you answer them in time.

Mozilla Firefox ³⁷ tells users what exactly to expect by clicking on their call to action button. The call to action button tells you that you’ll be getting Firefox 3.5, that it’s free, and (for those needing greater specificity) that the exact version is 3.5.3 for the Windows operating system, that the language is English, and that you should expect a 7.7MB download.

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Onehub ³⁹ anticipates the question of whether the user (upon taking action) needs to pay up front or whether they can take the product for a test drive by telling the user that if they take the action of signing up, they’ll have a 30-day trial free of charge.

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Design Showcase of Call to Action Buttons

Now that we’ve covered some best practices for designing call to action buttons, let’s look at some exemplary implementations of call to action buttons on websites. We’ll tie in these designs with the techniques and best practices from above and explore how they aid in accomplishing good design practice.

Campaign Monitor ⁴¹
This set of call to action buttons presents two potential user actions: “Try it for free” and “View features”. For users who know about Campaign Monitor already and want to try it now, they can take the primary desired action, while others who’d like to explore before making the time commitment can take the secondary action of viewing the features of the web application.

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Fileshare HQ ⁴³
This call to action button tells users what to expect (“start sharing files in minutes”).

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Livestream.com ⁴⁵
This set of call to action buttons uses vertically-arranged grouping to indicate the desired order of importance of the actions being presented to the user. The desired primary action is to get an estimate, followed by getting details about the service, and lastly, to compare and contrast between different plans.

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Traffik CMS ⁴⁷
This call to action button is placed in a prominent location at the very top of the web page and is highlighted relatively to the surrounding elements by size and color use.

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Hambo Design ⁴⁹
This call to action button tells the user what to expect: by getting a quote, there are no strings attached. It anticipates the question of “how much will a quote cost me if I were to invest my time in going through this process?”

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The Resumator ⁵¹
You can see many best practices in action on this call to action button implementation. First, it uses whitespace, size, and color to clearly separate it from other page elements. Then, to create a logical grouping with elements that can help convince the user to take action, it has less whitespace with the feature text above it, and the secondary action of “Take a tour first” below it.

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Wufoo ⁵³
Wufoo offers two actions that the user can take in a horizontally arranged fashion with the primary desired action on the left. The buttons are large and very hard to miss, yet they are not obtrusive when looking at the overall design.

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Mobile Web Design ⁵⁵
This call to action button is placed in a prominent location; it has large size and a distinctive color with respect to surrounding elements. To provide additional context on what it means to “Purchase the book”, the call to action button is followed by text explaining cost and available format (traditional book or PDF).

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NCover ⁵⁷
These call to action buttons are stacked. The primary desired action is on top of the blue secondary desired action. The user is drawn to the button because of the size, and using a blue hue for the secondary desired action mutes it relative to the primary desired action. Notice the use of whitespace to create a logical grouping of the three related elements that can help make the sale: the text that tells users what NCover does, the sign up call to action, and the tour call to action. In contrast, notice the increased margin between this group and the element on the right.

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Xero ⁵⁹
This set of call to actions exhibits the use of providing users a secondary action. On the right of the primary desired action, there is a text link that calls for the user to “find out more”. For users not willing to sign up right away, the design may have increased the likelihood that the user will “find out more” before signing up.

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Tao Effect – Espionage ⁶¹
Here is a set of call to action buttons that provides users with three options: Download, Buy Now, or Upgrade. In this case, the primary desired action is to download the application, followed by the two equally-prioritized actions of Buy Now, or Upgrade. This distinction is made by varying the colors of the call to action buttons, with the primary action more prominent than the two secondary actions.

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The Invoice Machine ⁶³
Here you can see two call to action buttons that are highlighted with a blue border. Because they’re both styled the same way, we can assume they have equal importance. Perhaps the company determined that it is unlikely that the user will take the action of signing up before seeing what they have to offer, or perhaps they’ve determined that the product tour will help them convert viewers to members more effectively.

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Ekklesia 360 ⁶⁵
This set of call to action buttons showcases the use of icons to denote a sense of moving forward (indicated by the arrows pointing to the right). They use a high-contrast color against the dark blue background to make the call to actions prominent in the page design.

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Checkout ⁶⁷
By using a very prominent color for their call to action button relative to the overall design, even though the image above it is significantly larger than the button size, it still manages to attract the user’s attention.

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spinen ⁶⁹
Using direct and clear language tells users what to expect when they take action: in this case, clicking on the call to action button will let them find out more about the product.

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Codebase ⁷¹
This call to action button tells users what they can get by taking action: a free 15-day trial. It manages to draw the user’s attention by using a high-contrast color, an icon on the left, and plenty of whitespace.

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GoodBarry ⁷³
In this call to action, you can see how whitespace, size, and smart color decisions are effective in making a call to action very noticeable. Emphasizing that the action will be “FREE” conveys to users what to expect.

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Wake Interactive ⁷⁵
Here, the color of the call to action button relative to its surrounding elements makes it pop out even with the small amount of whitespace surrounding it.

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OH! Media ⁷⁷
This call to action button really stands out of the page because of its position, the whitespace surrounding it, and – most importantly – the color choice. Looking at the page, the eyes are drawn directly to the call to action.

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Pixelcrayons ⁷⁹
Check out how whitespace can greatly improve the amount of attention that this call to action button draws.

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Ballpark ⁸¹
The size of this call to action button is effectively attracting the user’s attention. Its clear and direct language tells the user exactly what to expect when taking the action.

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One Theme Per Month ⁸³
This call to action group puts the primary desired action in the middle of alternative actions. By choosing a very prominent color for the primary desired action, along with a larger area, it manages to put it above in order of importance compared to the secondary actions.

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Scrapblog ⁸⁵
You can see the effects of using a prominent color, sufficient whitespace, and size relative to surrounding elements to attract users’ attention. Straightforward language conveys a sense of easiness, claiming that you can “start” right away by taking action.

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13 Creative ⁸⁷
This call to action button shows how by using an unconventional design, you can still draw attention even if surrounding elements are proportionally larger.

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Kalculator ⁸⁹
This call to action tells users exactly what to expect: by clicking on this call to action, they should anticipate shelling out $3.99. Using the word “only” hints that this is quite a good deal, which can help make the sale.

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Web Design Beach ⁹¹
Below is a set of call to action buttons with two distinct colors. The more prominent one, “get a quote” suggests that it is the desired primary action.

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The Highland Fling ⁹³
This call to action button manages to call attention to itself by plenty of whitespace, prominent positioning, and the use of an icon to distinguish itself. By using the word “now”, it conveys a sense of urgency and a need to act immediately.

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Commercial IQ
⁹⁵The size and prominent positioning of this call to action button draws users’ attention. A magnifying glass icon adds context to the purpose of the action. Adding the text “Free to search” anticipates the question the user may have about the cost of the action.

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dashboard ⁹⁷
Here, you can see the use of a high contrasting color to make the call to action stand out, even among significantly larger page elements.

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