All your efforts to generate new business are wasted, if the prospect doesn’t act.

There are a thousand things that can go wrong. It is the easiest thing, to do nothing. Many sales are lost because the prospect decides to “think about it.” That is usually the death of an online sale, where it occurs out of your sight. They are a little nervous about going ahead with the purchase or contact. Just, like that, they’re gone.

There are a thousand things that can go wrong, but they all fall into a limited number of categories.

The first and biggest mistak is failing to ask the site visitor to DO SOMETHING.

I know, you’re probably thinking, who would make that mistake? Well, survey a bunch of websites and you’ll be surprised.

What if you do call for action, but you still aren’t getting enough leads or sales. You have lots of visitors to your website. They don’t bounce, and they spend time on the site. You’ll probably find one of these is the culprit:

1. Your call to action is poorly placed, so no one sees it at the crucial moment.  Actually, you should have several calls to action on your site. Give people multiple opportunities to act (and in different ways such as phone, email, text, chat).
2. Poor wording in your calls to action can waste the opportunity. There is a lot to this point. One trick is “assume the close” – use language that assumes the person is going to buy, or fill out the form, such as “When your order arrives it will include a free gift from us,”  Another is to offer a choice between different purchase plans.
3. The site just doesn’t work! If you don’t test your contact forms or checkout process from time to time, you might be in for a shock.
4. The site isn’t strong enough to seal the deal. It can get people to click around the site but when it  comes to doing something, it breaks down. You haven’t built enough desire or trust to carry the site visitor to actually clicking the button.
5. Asking the site visitor to do too much. A contact form with lots of questions they must answer, or an introductory offer that is too expensive are common examples.

Spend time on this step. This is often the fastest easiest way to increase your leads or sales. An amazing percentage of visitors abandon a site with items left in a shopping cart. That’s why many store sites have things like “before you go” “buy today and take 10% off” pop-ups, or followup emails.

Probably the most famous example in the history of online stores, goes back to Amazon’s early days. They changed the checkout process so it was clear you could check out as a guest – without creating an account. That one little change reportedly made Amazon an extra $250 million in sales the next year.

Take a look at your calls to action and how well your website is sealing the deal.

You could be leaving a lot of money on the  table.