Every now and then marketers have to come up with CTAs that supposed to increase their campaigns’ effectiveness. It will differ depending on the purpose, but the goal of using CTAs is always the same: to trigger the customer’s action. How to write effective CTAs and make the most of your marketing strategy? Read on to find out!
What is a CTA?
CTA stands for a call to action, and it is a part of a marketing message. CTA can be used in an e-mail campaign, social media post, pop-up, website or every other place online (and offline, because – why not?). Its goal is to inform what a customer is expected to do. CTAs often are presented as clickable buttons, but they can also be used as a part of an article or in a video.
If you are also curious how to write a successful copy, check out our article!
Tips for crafting effective CTA
Below you can find a few tips that may help you improve your CTAs!
Use up to 5 words
CTAs should be clear and short, between two and five words. An action-orientated button text can be more powerful if it is not too long. Make sure to include a value proposition in your CTA to expose the benefits of clicking.
On the other hand, sometimes it can be necessary to give your audience more information. Bonus button text come to save the day! You can add extra text below the actual CTA to specify an offer or give more details. For example:
Free 14-day trial!
(then only $10/month/user)
Create a sense of urgency
There is nothing that triggers impulses more than the urgency. Customers can postpone a decision of signing up to your platform or buying your products, even though they are quite convinced. That is why you should create a sense of urgency. You can offer a discount during a particular period of time or simply use the word “now” to drive actions.
Take advantage of action verbs
Words like: shop, join, buy, get, try, contact, learn, as well as using first or second person speech can increase the effectiveness of your CTA. That is because you communicate in a direct way to your target group, so the message is more personal.
Highlight low risk
It is worth to inform your audience that the risk of the desired action is low. For example, to a free trial CTA, you can add information that credit card is not required for signing up.
Shape and color matter
It may seem that the appearance of a CTA button does not have such an influence. But it does. Green and orange colors have been proved to be the most effective. Nevertheless, this aspect should strongly depend on your web design. Contrast colors will make your CTA buttons more visible and appealing. When it comes to shape, it is hard to establish which type of buttons works best. You will have to test both rounded and square edge buttons and find out which performs better.
Put a button in the right place
First of all, your CTA button on the website should always be above the fold. That way, without scrolling your page, customers will be able to act as you wish. It is worth to check on a heatmap of your website if CTAs attract visitors attention. Moreover, leave a white space around CTA buttons to make them more visible and clear.
How many CTAs to use in one place?
Even though CTAs are essential for an effective marketing message, you have to remember not to overuse them. Probably you have visited at least a few websites filled with CTAs encouraging to sign-up for a newsletter, buy a product, create an account and more. For CTA to work, you need to clearly specify your most important goal and use only one main call to action.
If your business or website specifics demand using more CTAs, you can prioritize them, for example, by placing them in the right order.
Make the most of CTAs
One of the amazing tricks that RocketLink enables is to add CTAs to links you share. While shortening a link you can not only customize it or add widgets such as video or chatbox, but you can also add a CTA. That way, you can share a link to a valuable article on your or even a third-party blog and add a pop-up with a CTA button. It can relate to the content, invite to signing up for a newsletter, or any other action you want a customer to take. The great thing is to personalize buttons depending strictly on the content. That way, it can be even more efficient.
Conclusion
Every time you will face the challenge of coming up with a CTA for a new campaign, think about an action that you want a customer to take. How do you want to inspire that action? Write down a bunch of ideas (even have a brainstorm with your coworkers) and then select a few best options. Run A/B tests to find out which CTA works best for your target group in given circumstances. The more you test and optimize, the more you get to know your audience and its preferences. Even a change of one word can be a game-changer in campaign performance. You need that knowledge to drive desired actions. Good luck!
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