What is call to action?
A call to action is usually a button or link with a command or action phrase like “Sign Up” or “Buy Now” on it.
In digital marketing, this can appear as text on a button (a CTA button) or a website link. CTAs are frequently linked in email campaigns that direct users to a page where they can take additional action.
What makes a call to action crucial?
The call to action is a crucial component of a webpage because it serves as a guidepost for the user, telling them what to do next.
Users may need to be aware of the following steps to make a purchase or sign up for a newsletter with a clear CTA, and they may leave the website before completing their task.
A call to action helps reduce friction as a user moves down the sales funnel by clarifying to potential customers what action to take next.
If there are several desired actions for the user to complete, there may be more than one call to action on a page.
A reader is likely to leave the website without completing any other tasks if, for instance, there is no clear call to action at the end of a blog post when they first arrive.
But if a call to action (CTA) at the bottom of the post encourages them to read more articles or sign up for an email newsletter, that may motivate them to stay on the site and interact.
Calls to action examples
A call to action (CTA) can refer to any request or ask you make of a user on your website, depending on the situation.
An email subject line, a website’s CTA button, or a blog post’s closing sentence can all serve as calls to action.
Here are some examples of calls to action you might commonly see on a blog:
- More articles to read
- Subscribe to our newsletter
- Encourage our sponsor.
- Sharing to social media
For a B2B company, CTAs might read as:
- Start now
- Join now
- Get a free trial
- Talk to our sales team
A solid call to action makes it clear to the user what to expect when they click a button or proceed to the next step, which can increase click-through rates.
In contrast, the CTAs on an e-commerce site might be more business-oriented:
- Add to cart
- Proceed to checkout
- Buy now
- Add item to wishlist
The CTAs on the page instructs the user what action to take in each scenario to continue interacting with the website and progress down the conversion funnel.
How to create compelling calls to action?
Marketers use a variety of techniques to develop powerful CTAs.
Here is a list of a few typical ones:
- Sound Design: The best calls to action need to stand out and get people’s attention. One way to do this is to use a bright button colour that helps to stands out from the rest of the page or email.
- High Visibility: The call to action should be the most noticeable thing on the page, so the font size should be big enough to get people’s attention.
- Value proposition: A clear benefit the user will receive from completing the transaction should be stated. Having a value proposition will encourage them to click.
- Actionable Text: As the name suggests, a call to action (CTA) is intended to compel the user to take some action. Therefore, a compelling CTA should use action words like “discover,” “learn more,” and “buy now.”
- Short in Length: A solid call to action should be a single, brief-phrase rather than a complete sentence. Most are between five and seven words in length.
- Creating urgency: Users are easily distracted online, so a strong sense of urgency, such as a limited-time offer, can help persuade users to act right away rather than delaying action.
How to test CTAs using A/B testing
Different calls to action elicit different responses from different audiences. One call to action may sometimes perform better than another.
A conversion rate formula can be used to figure out the overall success of a call to action by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions the CTA was seen.
Utilize an A/B testing platform like Google Optimize, VWO, and Optimizely to evaluate the performance of various calls to action on your landing page or website.
Doing this allows you to optimize for CTAs with the highest conversion rates, with no room for guesswork, and with data-backed information.
