How and Why to Add a Click to Text Button to Your Website

For years, Click-to-Call buttons were all the rage. And for good reason, too! They’re extremely convenient. As long as they’re browsing from their phone, all a website visitor has to do is click a link or button on your website, and their call will be placed immediately. 

No having to memorize or copy and paste numbers. But here’s the thing, fewer and fewer people are making phone calls. 

Millennials, in particular, are notorious for avoiding phone calls. A Pew study found that 63% use text messages every day, whereas only 39% were reported to place phone calls daily. This disparity is expected to continue to grow. 

That’s why it’s more important than ever to implement a new technology on your website: Click-to-Text.

What Is Click-to-Text?

Click-to-Text is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a button or link on your website that will automatically populate a text message when clicked. Click-to-Text works best on mobile.

By giving your website visitors an easy way to start a conversation with you, you’re setting up your business to increase conversion rates, cut down on response time, and create a smooth customer experience.

Here’s an example of what Click-to-Text looks like on a website:

How to Add Click-to-Text to Your Website In 5 Steps

It only takes a few minutes to add Click-to-Text to your website with our click-to-text-button generator. Here are the three steps you need to take.

1. Get a Text-Enabled Number

Even if you’re a small business owner, it isn’t sustainable to use your personal phone for customer service. Especially not when there are easy and affordable alternatives. 

With SimpleTexting, you can send and receive SMS text messages from a registered 10-digit local or toll-free number (just don’t forget to have your toll-free number verified to avoid traffic disruptions from carriers). And if you already have a phone number for your business, we can text-enable it. Calls will still go to your phone, and texts will be routed right to our platform which you can access from any web browser or from our mobile app for two-way messaging.

2. Use Our Free Click-to-Text-Button Generator

Once you have a text-enabled number, navigate to our free Click-to-Text button generator. As you can see from the examples below, this free tool allows you to create a customized Click-to-Text button. In this article, we’ll cover the basics steps of how to create one. For more detail, head to our help center. 

3. Write Your Default Message and Input Your Number

When a website visitor taps on the Click-to-Text button, the SMS app on their cellphone will launch with a pre-written message as well as a pre-filled phone number.

This message should be tailored specifically to your business or organization. For example, if you’re a nonprofit you may want your default message to say, “Hi there, I’m interested in getting involved. What open volunteer positions do you have?” 

A hotel might want to use the default message, “I’d like to make a reservation for X guests between the dates of DD/MM and DD/MM.” Think about what your website visitors are most likely to text you about, then write your message accordingly. 

4. Customize Your Click-to-Text Button

You can ensure that your button fits in with the overall look and feel of your website. Add an icon, adjust the margins, and play with the fonts until your Click-to-Text button is pixel perfect. 

5. Copy and Paste The Piece of Code

Now that you have your default message written and your design customized, it’s time to add the Click-to-Text button to your website. In the right-hand corner of the tool, click “Embed” and copy the code.

Paste this code in the footer of the pages where you want your button to appear. If you’re not sure how to do this, here are some useful resources:

• WordPress: How to add header and footer code in WordPress (the easy way)
• Shopify: How to add footer code in Shopify
• Squarespace: Using Code Injection

Businesses that Use Our Click-to-Text Button Generator

Here are several SimpleTexting customers that have added our Click-to-Text button to their websites.

• https://sedonameditationcenter.org/
• https://www.theatermonster.com/
• https://halcyonmedspa.com/contact-us/

Why Use Click-to-Text?

As you can see, it’s fairly straightforward to add Click-to-Text to your website. If you’re still not convinced, take a look at these benefits of adding a text-enabled number to your mobile site.

1. Consumers Prefer Text Messaging

Millennials are an important demographic that spends a lot of money, absolutely. But they’re not the only ones who want to text businesses instead of emailing or calling. A survey of over 6,000 consumers found that 66% prefer to reach brands by messaging them. Texting is convenient for your business and preferred by your customers for two-way messaging.

2. Google Favors Websites with Click-to-Text

Google’s algorithm is famously secretive, but recent changes suggest they favor textable brands. Google rolled out a new extension that allows you to place your text-enabled number in your PPC ads with a Click-to-Text button. 

As Google puts it, Click-to-Text gives users “an easy way to text you to start a conversation and continue it whenever is most convenient for them.”

3. Most Web Traffic Is Mobile

In 2017, 50.3% of all website traffic came from mobile phones. In 2018, the number increased to 52.2%. This is worldwide website traffic, so an increase of 1.9% is something to take seriously. 

As mobile traffic continues to grow, consumers are going to choose brands that provide an online experience that’s optimized for their cell phones.

4. Keep a Record of All Customer Requests

Don’t get us wrong, phone calls aren’t all bad. We recommend having a click to call and a Click-to-Text button on your website. After all, it’s what we do on our own site. Take a look:

However, there are clear benefits to texting vs calling. 

One of which is that with texts you have an easy-to-reference log of all your customer support requests. Our business texting platform lets you prioritize conversations, make notes and set up templates so that you never have to rewrite the same message twice. In this two-minute video, we cover the basics of how it works:

Try Click-to-Text For Free

The first thing you’ll need to add SMS functionality to your website is a number capable of sending and receiving text messages. To start your texting journey, why not sign up for a free trial today? If you need any help getting started, just click here to text us.