Use Button Psychology to Increase Form Completion

For the vast majority of task oriented online marketing it all comes down to the button. During the customer journey we may have started with our prospects clicking a link in Google’s search results, that took them to a landing page where we expressed the value proposition of our product to the user, that may have lead to a showcase page for more information on our product and glossy content and then we ask them to click a button: an add to cart button, a download button, a register button. Please dear customer, just click this button. In my years of digital marketing and testing two things have become apparent.

1. When dealing with forms, especially one-page forms, buttons that indicate that the process will be over with that button click are almost always most effective at converting the customer. The marketing psychology of this is pretty obvious. Most buttons say, “submit.” It’s vague. It communicates sending digital information through the ether, but then what?Now consider the dreaded “continue” button. That communicates that there’s more form to come, that punching in your personal information—a process most people hate—is an ongoing process, you could be doing this until dinner time!Now consider the words “finish” and “complete.” They communicate that you’re done. This is the end, don’t abandon this form now, you just have a few more boxes to tick and then you get the satisfaction of having completed the task. It’s my experience that “finish” and “complete” can lead to considerable increases in form completion.
2. When dealing with e-commerce sites yellows, oranges and reds are the button shades that convert the most. Walmart.com’s add to cart buttons are orange, Amazon’s is a dark yellow and Target’s is of course red, but that’s also in inline with their branding. This is no accident. I am sure they are testing this all the time. Orange is empowering, stimulating and reinforces what I like to call the “warm glow of consumerism;” that feeling of excitement you get when you pull the trigger on buying some cherished item.

Of course, you should always be testing buttons, but if you’re looking for quick wins in conversion of form completions or purchases, the two suggestions above are likely winners.