What is a call to action?
A call to action (CTA) is a prompt on a website that tells the user to take some specified action. A call to action is typically written as a command or action phrase, such as ‘Sign Up’ or ‘Buy Now’ and generally takes the form of a button or hyperlink. In digital marketing this can take the form of the text on a button (a CTA button) or a web link and in email campaigns CTAs are often links to a webpage where the user can take further action.
Why is a call to action important?
The call to action is a key element on a webpage, acting as a signpost that lets theuserknow what to do next. Without a clear CTA, theusermay not know the next steps to take to purchase a product or sign up for a newsletter and is likely to leave the site without accomplishing their task.
A call to action makes it clear to potential customers which action to take next and helps remove friction in moving theuserdown thesales funnel. There can also be multiple calls to action on a page if there are multiple desired actions for theuserto take.
For example, if a reader lands on a blog article and there is no clear call to action at the bottom of the post, it is likely that the reader will leave the site without completing any other tasks. However, if there is a CTA at the bottom of the post asking them to read more articles or to sign-up for anemailnewsletter, that can encourage them to continue interacting with the site.
Examples of calls to action
A call to action can refer to any ask or request that you make of auseron the site, so a CTA can take many forms depending on the context. A call to action can be a closing statement in a blog post, a line in an email, or a CTA button on a website.
Here are some call to action examples you might typically see on a blog:
Read more articles
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Share on social media
For a B2B company, call to action buttons could feature text such as:
Get started
Sign up
Free Trial
Contact Sales
An effective call to action clearly communicates what theusercan expect when they click on a button or take the next action, which can improve click-through rate.
Whereas on anecommercesite, the CTAs may be more commercially focused:
Add to cart
Checkout
Buy now
Add towishlist
In each case, the CTAs on the page tell theuserwhat action to take next to continue interacting with the site and movingfurtherdown the conversion funnel.
How to create compelling calls to action
Marketers employ a number of strategies for creating effective CTAs. Below is a list of some common ones:
Good Design: The best calls to action need to grab the user's attention, so a bright button color that contrasts with the color of the page or an email is an effective strategy.
High Visibility: Because the call to action should be the most noticeable thing on the page, the font size should be large enough to command attention.
Clear Benefit: Stating a clear benefit that theuserwill get from completing the transaction is an effective way to get them to click.
Actionable Text: A call to action, asitsname implies, is designed to compel theuserto take action, so an effective CTA should use action words such as "discover","learn more",and "buy now".
Short in Length: A good call to action should be a short phrase, not a sentence. Most are no longer than five to seven words.
Sense of Urgency:Usersare easily distracted on the internet, so a strong sense of urgency such as a limited time offer can help compelusersto take action immediately instead of putting off taking action.
How to use A/B testing to test CTAs
Every audience responds differently to various calls to action. There is no guarantee that one call to action will outperform another.
The overall success of a call to action can be measured via aconversion rateformula that calculates the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions, or times the CTA was seen.
To test the effectiveness of various calls to action on your website or landing page, you can use anA/B testing platformlikeOptimizely. This will eliminate any guesswork and give you data-backed information that helps you optimize forCTA's with the highest conversion.
