Your button should say what happens next
“Get Started” gets clicks, then breaks trust. Say exactly what happens after the click.
“Get Started.” “Learn More.” “Submit.” These are the beige paint of button labels. They tell people to click, but not what they’ll get when they do.
Nielsen Norman Group asked 8 users to find out what a meal-delivery service offered. Six clicked the big Get Started button, expecting answers. Instead they hit a series of modals and a sign-up, with no information about the service, and got frustrated. NN/g saw the same thing on other sites, where Get Started dropped people into quizzes and sales funnels. Their advice: skip the generic call to action and state precisely what users should expect, like “Take Our Style Quiz.”
Rewrite your main button as a verb plus an outcome: what happens next and what it costs in time or money. If the click starts a sign-up, say so. Surprises are great in gifts and terrible in funnels.
The example
- Instead of
- “Get Started”
- Try
- “Create your first invoice (free, takes 2 minutes)”
Before you flush
Rewrite your main button so a stranger could predict exactly what the next screen shows, then click it and check that it does.