New Facebook buttons let you make reservations, use external apps, shop now

Facebook has rolled out call to action buttons which enable users to book reservations, use an app, go to a non-Facebook website, sign up for a subscription service, watch videos, and play games all from a Facebook page.

The buttons have no complications, Facebook says, and will appear to the left of the Like button on a page. On its blog, the company wrote:

“Pages are an important destination for people on Facebook, and we’re building new ways for people to interact with businesses through them. Today, we’re announcing a new call-to-action feature that will help Pages drive business objectives”.

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Of course, it is no secret that Facebook might collect data on which pages a user clicks and which external links they follow and what they buy. Possibly in the future it will use this data to suggest similar pages to users. Facebook has not said anything of the kind but it is a plausible next step.

These new call-to-action buttons are rolling out onto pages in the US over the next few weeks and worldwide next year. This move is also about Facebook consolidating its plans to charge pages for timeline ads, justifying it even, by helping pages have a wider reach.

Dollar Shave Club, one of the earliest adopters of the new buttons feature, has reported increase in its traffic. Writing on the Facebook blog, Brian Kim, Director of Acquisition, Dollar Shave Club says:

“Over the course of a three-week test, the Sign Up call-to-action button delivered a 2.5x higher conversion rate versus other comparable social placements aimed to drive new user acquisition.”