Your Website Buttons Are Boring. Let's Fix That.
Default button text is costing you clicks. Here are the before-and-after swaps that actually make people tap.
Let's talk about the most overlooked thing on your website.
It’s not your logo. Not your colour palette. Not even that original photo you keep meaning to update.
It’s your buttons.
Those little rectangles that are supposed to make people do something - book a call, download a guide, buy the thing, get in touch. They're doing a job. Or at least, they should be.
But if yours say "Submit," "Click Here," or the ever-popular "Learn More," they're not doing much of anything. They're just... sitting there. Like a shop assistant who’s eyes stay firmly on their scroll.
Here's the thing: your button text is like a teeny, tiny salesperson. It's the last thing someone reads before they decide to act or scroll past. And most default button labels are so generic, so beige, so utterly forgettable that they might as well say "button."
The good news? This is one of the eeeeasiest fixes on your entire website - it’s literally just adding better words.
Here are the swaps.
The "I have no idea what this does" buttons
These are the ones that came with your website template and never got changed. They're doing nothing for you.
"Submit" → "Send My Message"
"Submit" sounds like a tax return. It sounds like you're handing something over to an authority figure and hoping for the best. Nobody feels good about submitting. "Send my message" tells them exactly what happens when they press it - their message goes to a real person. That's it. That's the fix.
"Click Here" → "Show Me How It Works"
Nobody needs to be told to click. They know how buttons work. What they need is a reason. "Show me how it works" gives them that reason - it promises something useful on the other side. The button stops being an instruction and starts being an invitation.
"Learn More" → "See What's Included"
"Learn more" is the vanilla ice cream of button text. It's fine. It's not offensive. But it's not exciting anyone. "See what's included" is specific. It tells someone there's something tangible waiting for them - a list, a breakdown, a package. Specificity wins every time.
The freebie buttons
You've made something useful like a checklist, a guide, a template. Now you need people to actually download it. The button is the last hurdle.
"Download" → "Grab the Checklist"
"Download" is what you do with software updates and PDF manuals. It's functional but completely joyless. "Grab the checklist" has energy. It's active, it names the thing, and it sounds like something you'd actually want to do.
"Sign Up" → "Send It My Way"
"Sign up" sounds like paperwork. It sounds like commitment and terms and conditions and another password to forget. "Send it my way" flips the dynamic - now it feels like a gift arriving rather than a form being filled in.
"Get Access" → "Yes, I Want This"
"Get access" sounds like you're requesting clearance to enter a building. "Yes, I want this" is enthusiastic, human, and surprisingly effective because it mirrors the thought the person is already having in their head. You're just giving them the words.
The booking and services buttons
These are the money buttons. Someone's considering working with you and this button is the bridge between "maybe" and "let's go."
"Contact Us" → "Let's Chat"
"Contact us" has the warmth of a customer service holding queue. It's corporate, it's distant, and it puts a wall between you and the person. "Let's chat" is friendly, low-pressure, and immediately tells them this won't be a formal ordeal. If you're a small business owner (not a corporation), this should sound like you.
"Book Now" → "Save My Spot"
"Book now" creates pressure without purpose. "Save my spot" does something cleverer as it implies scarcity (there are limited spots) and ownership (it's my spot now). Same action, completely different feeling.
"Get Started" → "Start My Project"
"Get started" is vague. Started with what? "Start my project" makes it personal. It's their project now. They can already picture it happening. That shift from generic to personal is small on the page but significant in someone's head.
The newsletter and email buttons
The hardest sell on any website. You're asking someone to hand over their email address and trust you not to spam them into oblivion.
"Subscribe" → "Keep Me in the Loop"
"Subscribe" sounds like a commitment. It sounds like magazine subscriptions and direct debits and things that are hard to cancel. "Keep me in the loop" sounds like a choice - they're opting in to something casual and useful, not signing a contract.
"Join" → "Count Me In"
"Join" is functional. "Count me in" has personality. It sounds like someone raising their hand at a party rather than filling in a membership form. It's the difference between obligation and enthusiasm.
"Sign Up for Our Newsletter" → "Get Weekly Tips"
This one's about being specific. Nobody wakes up wanting a "newsletter." But people do want tips, stories, ideas, and things they can use. Tell them what they're actually getting and the button stops being a request and starts being an offer.
The "read more" buttons
These show up on blogs, portfolios, case studies - basically anywhere you've got a teaser that leads to more content.
"Read More" → "Read the Full Story"
"Read more" sounds like homework. "Read the full story" sounds like a page-turner. It implies there's something worth discovering, a narrative they'll want to follow. One extra word, completely different energy.
"View" → "Take a Peek"
"View" is clinical. It's what you do with spreadsheets. "Take a peek" is playful and curiosity-driven - it suggests something a bit exclusive, like looking behind a curtain. Works brilliantly for portfolios and case studies.
"Details" → "See How We Did It"
"Details" is what you'd click on an invoice. "See how we did it" turns your case study into a story and positions you as someone who's done it before and is happy to show their working.
The rule behind all of this
Every button on your website should finish this sentence:
"I want to..."
If your visitor can naturally say "I want to grab the checklist" - you've nailed it.
If they'd have to say "I want to submit" - something's off.
That's the test. Run every button on your site through it. The ones that sound clunky? Those are the ones to swap.
One more thing (especially if you're on Squarespace)
In your Site Styles settings, you've got Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary button styles. What most people don't realise is that your Primary button style is the one used in your website header — so if you're customising that, you're changing your header button too.
The fix: use your Secondary button style for your most important calls to action (the "book a call" and "grab the guide" buttons) and customise that one separately. You can change the design inside Site Styles and the colour inside individual colour themes. It keeps your header tidy and your CTAs punchy without them fighting each other.
Need a hand?
Want to go further than the buttons? If your whole website could do with the same treatment - copy that sounds like you, pages that actually convert, and someone to stop you second-guessing every word — that's what I do.