Your "Add to Cart" button is the tail of your headline.
After taking a huge amount of trouble to optimize a sales page on our sites, all too often we finish the page with a button that says something like this: Add to Cart, Add to Basket or Add to Shopping Cart.
Is that really the best we can do?
Think for a moment of those direct mail pieces you receive from time to time.
Does the prepaid response card simply say, "Add to Cart" or "Charge my Credit Card Now"?
Never.
If, for instance, you are being sold a magazine subscription, it might say something like, "Yes, please start my 30-day free trial of Online Copywriting Today."
Your page has to keep selling, from beginning to end.
Let's assume that you have started your sales page with a strong headline. You have a compelling value proposition and have left your readers with the belief that you can give them something they want.
You then write some great body copy that builds on the promise in your headline, builds confidence, and dissolves any hesitation readers might feel.
By the time they get to that "buy now" button, they are almost ready to commit to the purchase.
But, as we all know—to our cost—there is a big difference between being almost ready, and being ready. Use that "buy now" text to tip them over.
When you lead someone by the hand all the way down the page, you deliver them face to face with a barrier. And that barrier is the final call to action... the link or button that will take them to your shopping cart.
