Creating captivating calls to action

Calls to action (CTAs) take up a tiny amount of time, money and space, yet punch well above their weight – improving conversion rates by up to 30%.

A great CTA gets readers clicking and will seriously increase your overall conversion rate.

It’s a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to convince your audience to do something: whether that be clicking a link or downloading a file. By writing great CTAs, you can re-generate older content in minutes and make sure your new stuff is irresistible to readers.

Here’s how to write a great call to action:

Make it actionable and personable

Imperatives and the second-person are your friend. Get customers’ attention by using ‘you’. And make it clear what they should do with imperative verbs (the bossy ones) — think ‘download this’, ‘click that’, ‘get it?’.

Motivate them to act

Give your reader a reason to act. They’re asking ‘what’s in it for me?’, so it’s important you tell them clearly. ‘Download something’ would be a less motivating CTA than, for example, ‘Downloading this will make your job easier’.

Keep it consistent

Whatever your CTA refers to, give the offer/proposition a name and stick to it. If you call it a download on your landing page, call it a download in your blog, and in all CTAs. Otherwise people either get confused or don’t trust you. Either way, they’re not clicking on your link.

Make it urgent, now

We’re all busy, so you need to make the most of people’s desire to get things done quickly. The internet, after all, is hardly a place for thoughtful contemplation. The word ‘now’ is your friend.

Stand out

Websites that are consistent and well designed, encourage trust. But it’s important that CTA buttons also stand out. So make it pop (and look clickable). Buttons are stereotypically red for a reason.

Test them out

Not sure if your CTA has what it takes? Ask your audience. A/B test multiple CTAs to find the one with the best engagement.

As you can see, these steps are pretty simple. They’re also inexpensive and can be done straight away. So don’t be deceived by their size, CTAs are powerful little things.

Click now for even more conversion tips – (see what we did there!?).