Calls to action in your Livestream

Get your viewers to take action
Home » Learn Livestreaming with John Lacey » Calls to action in your Livestream

The call of the wild

I saw a LinkedIn Live recently where somebody put a link to a book on Amazon on the screen. It was three lines long. 😬

Nobody is going to be retyping that URL.

We need to be a little more thoughtful in how we present our calls to action.

If you want someone to do something for you, you need to make it simple, you need to reduce that friction.

Short links and memorable URLs

If you want someone to go to a website you need to make it easy on them. Links should be short and links should be memorable.

Avoid exotic spellings —or call attention to them if you really must use them (“that’s storyy with two Ys”).

If the budget extends that far, consider buying a new domain to send people to for your most important offers and lead magnets.

I am personally a big fan of the Redirection plugin for WordPress. Though there are plenty of services out there, see what makes sense for your situation.

QR Codes

Another option is to incorporate QR Codes into your livestream and other digital assets.

If a viewer is watching your stream on their computer or television, they likely still have their phone free to photograph that QR code.

QR Codes and Live Sales features in Restream Studio

Restream Studio has some new features if you head over to the QR Codes tab.

You can:

  • Add a QR Code to the top left hand corner of your stream
  • Add a QR Code and image (also called a ‘promotion’) to the bottom or side of your stream (by switching between the Compact and Classic options in Live sales options)
  • Connect to your Amazon, Shopify or other stores, and incorporate Affiliate links

QR codes in OBS Studio

This great recommendation comes via Deskrig’s Garren Parkins.

If you want to include QR Codes within OBS Studio, you can download the OBS Lua QR code Source script.

To install the script:

  1. Download the script from the website.
  2. Go to the Tools menu and select Scripts
  3. Hit the plus (+) button and locate the downloaded file (StreamQR.lua)
  4. Click Close

To add a QR code to your scene in OBS Studio:

  1. Click the plus (+) button in your sources panel
  2. Select QR Code
  3. Give the source a name, and click Ok
  4. Change the content to encode field to your call to action (most likely a website URL). You can optionally adjust the foreground and background colours but make sure there’s plenty of contrast.
  5. Click OK

Bonus tip: In OBS Studio 29 you can click on a source, right-click and go to Screenshot (Source) and capture the QR code (or any other source) as its own image.

QR Codes in images

If your streaming setup doesn’t permit either of the above, you can just create an image that includes the information about your call to action and that includes things like:

  • What’s in it for your audience
  • The URL
  • A QR Code

There are plenty of services out there that will generate a QR code for you. Just make sure that the code is high quality (vector is preferable to raster).