Website Notification Banner Best Practices (With Examples)

We’ve all been to a website that felt like a punch in the face—way too much content all at once. As marketing experts, we understand that struggle. Some brands have a lot to say, and it can be hard to decide if A is more important than B. 

Sometimes, though, it couldn’t be clearer what needs to stand out. In those instances, a call-to-action banner (i.e., website notification banner) is your best bet to capture attention and drive action.

What is a website notification banner

A website notification bar is an unsung marketing hero that captures attention and drives action instantly. It’s a very short strip of content that appears at the top of your website, even above the main navigation bar. It may be small, but it’s mighty. Despite that, it’s commonly forgotten and misused.

Unless you partner with us as your marketing agency, there’s not much we can do to keep you from forgetting about this powerful little messaging strategy. However, we can clear up some of the confusion to ensure you never misuse your web notification bar. Always consider these best practices when creating a CTA banner:

• Make it bold. It may be at the top of the page, but people will still miss it unless you use a contrasting color, large letters, eye-catching images, motion graphics, etc.
• Make it short. It needs to use as few words as possible—preferably fewer than seven. You can always link to a landing page with more info if needed.
• Make it trackable. It should be connected to a tracker of some sort, like a UTM, so that you know how people interact with the banner.
• Make it temporary. It’s not really a “notification” if it’s evergreen. Use the banner to share time-sensitive things like limited offers, office closures, events, etc.
• Make it valuable. It’s all about the user. Make it instantly clear what the value is to the visitor and what they need to do next.

What’s a good website banner look like

Whether you have an eCommerce store or a B2B splash page, your website notification banner needs to capture attention and drive clear action in a visitor’s first two seconds on the site. If you’re not sure how to do that, then don’t fret; our graphic designers have created several mockups to give you inspiration.

Once you’ve landed on a marketing goal and chosen an irresistible offer and CTA, use one of these sales or leads mockups to drive conversions on your site.

Sales

Provide a seasonal discount

Surprise customers with a BOGO sale

Tell visitors about new arrivals

Count down to a limited edition product

Offer free shipping or same-day delivery

Leads

Incentivize newsletter subscriptions

Empower people with information

Show off with a product or service demo

Who to call for a good call to action

Not every entrepreneur is a do-it-yourself type of person. What those leaders need is extra hands to execute on their marketing goals. Is that you?

Rather than set up your website CTA banner on your own, notify our web design and development team, and we’ll manage your website so you can focus on what matters most: running the business.