“Click here.” “Buy now.” “Learn more.” All of these phrases are calls to action (CTAs) — but are they the best they can be?
You’re not sending out marketing missives for no reason. Each blog post, ad, email or social media post has a purpose. You want your customers to perform a specific function, whether that’s visiting a landing page, making a purchase, signing up for a trial or demo, downloading a gated resource or moving to the next step of the sales funnel.
Your call to action needs to tell your customers what you want them to do next — and give them a reason to do it.
These five tips will help you create a CTA that converts!
5 Tips to Boost Your CTA Game
Use Engaging Language
If you want your audience to be excited about your products and/or services, you need to use exciting language. Note the differences between these phrases:
- “Open a savings account” vs. “Start saving for your dreams!”
- “View available rooms” vs. “Choose your home base for adventure!”
- “Book a demo” vs. “See us in action!”
By engaging your audience rather than dictating to them, you’re appealing to their emotions. And since 95% of purchase decisions are emotionally driven, that’s a good tactic to take!
Don’t Get Too Wordy
It can be difficult to be compelling and concise at the same time, but that’s exactly what a good call to action needs to be successful. In fact, conventional wisdom holds that it should be no more than five to seven words in length.
That’s beacuse the more information your CTA provides, the more decisions your audience must make. And most humans are really, really averse to making decisions. So, the easier you make it for them, the more conversions you’ll get.
Make It Visible
This should go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: Your CTA needs to be visible. If it’s tiny and tucked away in the sidebar, buried at the bottom of a wall of text or looks too similar to the rest of your copy, people will miss it.
Be sure your CTA stands out. Whenever possible, use contrasting colors, maximize the white space around it, and use buttons rather than hyperlinks. And while it’s not advisable to spam your CTA all over the page, there’s nothing wrong with including it above and below the fold to increase its chances of being seen.
Create a Sense of Urgency
FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real thing, and you can use it to your advantage by including a sense of urgency in your call-to-action. Don’t just tell your audience to click — tell them why they need to click right now.
Phrases like “limited time offer,” “today only,” “time is running out” or “deal ends at 11:59 p.m.” all inspire people to act immediately rather than mull it over. Some brands even use visuals like countdown timers or low-inventory alerts to further fan the flames.
Put It to the (A/B) Test
Have you created a CTA that resonates with your audience? Fantastic! But your job isn’t done yet. What’s good can always get better — and that’s where A/B testing comes in.
A/B testing (sometimes called split testing) involves showing one segment of your audience one CTA and another segment a slightly different version, then seeing which one performs best. You can use it to tweak things like wording, colors, fonts, or even where the CTA appears on the webpage. The more you test, the better it gets!
Are Your Customers Heeding Your Call?
Your call-to-action tells your audience what you want them to do next, but whether they heed that call or not depends on how well you’ve crafted it. It’s time to rise above the simple “sign up” or “contact us” buttons and take things to the next level!
Are you and your customers speaking a different language? Let Mischa Communications help translate. Let’s make marketing magic together!