What Is The Best CTA (Call-To-Action)?
Explicit means obvious, the advertiser (YOU) tell the visitor exactly what you want him or her to do.
Let's begin with the most basic question:
What's a CTA?
Call-To-Action a message within an ad…
…a message that–if well crafted–will persuade the visitor TAKE a desired action.
“a piece of content intended to induce a viewer, reader, or listener to perform a specific act”
What action? (you might ask)
Well, it depends on your goal.
If you go watch a late night infomercial the CTA is all over the place: “Call Now” “Buy Now”
If you read an email from Quora, their implicit CTA is: “Click the link to read more on our website”.
Two types of CTAs: Explicit or Implicit
Explicit means obvious, the advertiser (YOU) tell the visitor exactly what you want him or her to do.
This approach is what you would normally find when you open a website and get a pop-up opt-in form:
This is Wordpress for instance:
An Implicit call-to-action appears more on educational type materials.
We you are not trying to close the deal right away, so you give the visitor a taste so he wants to learn more.
Here is an example:
(Side note: I don't even like their software, I tried it because it was some Trello integration and stopped using it)
How to create a compelling CTA?
This is not Click-Bait BS that you see on the news sites about some celebrity drama, a new–fake–discovery, or the latest political outreach.
We are going to go the “ethical” way, and actually provide some value to people.
However, even if you have something of value to offer, the way you present it might make it or break it.
There are TWO things you should be aware of and try to include in your CTA:
1) What is you visitor’s motivation to take the action that you want?
==> What fear/problem are they trying to avoid?
==> What benefit/desire are they trying to get?
2) What is ge going to get if he or she take the desired action?
(and how is they related to solving their problem or desires?)
Example:
- You want them to subscribe to your email list (ACTION)
- You have a blog about weight & nutrition.
- Fear = Not finding a life partner / not being loved / being rejected by society, etc.
- Benefit = Being desired, social approval, self-esteem, etc.
So you might use an opt-in form with the following description:
“Write your email address and get my latest PDF guide for FREE on How to lose weight quickly.
Look sexy again and attract the woman or men that you want. ==> Click Here For Instant Download!”
As you might have noticed already, your CTA is very dependant on your
Target Audience.
B2B for marketing services? Your might offer a free download a PDF about marketing.
B2C for single moms? You might be better off offering a discount.
The point of a call-to-action is to offer the person something tangible that will benefit them.
6 CTA Tactics to increase Action.
Tactic #1 => Imply exclusivity
People want to have something others might not be able to have. That's human nature, the more scarce something is the more value we attach to it.
A few phrases that can help to emphasize the exclusivity of your goods or services:
- Limited edition
- Pre-order
- Members only
- Premium access
- Request invite
Tactic #2 => Imply urgency
Promoting urgency within your CTA encourages users to take action immediately.
Almost 99% of window shoppers agree that time-bounded offers have a great impact on them when making a decision to purchase a good or service.
Words or phrases that could be used when creating CTA that encourages immediate action:
- Today
- Offer ends in…
- Now only…
- Last chance
- Closing soon
Tactic #3 => A/B Test every CTA
Use the same words with different images. Different words with the same images, and so on.
Example: The most popular words used in CTAs are:
- Try
- Get
- Join
- Download
- Access
Two Real life A/B tests cases on CTA buttons:
From “Order information” to “Get information” (+38.26% conversions)
From “Get instant access” to “Read full essay now” (+39.09% conversions)
Tactic #4 => Use supportive Images
Bonus: Make the image related to the product or service (Facebook Ads is great to A/B test images)
Tactic #5 => Focus on the Problem more than on the Benefit
(obviously much more that on the Features)
Tactic #6 => Make it Unique
Example: Make it rhyme
Example: Use humor
Post Summary:
- Call to Actions is the second most important thing inside an email after the subject line.
- A CTA should persuade the visitor to TAKE a desired action. Which in email marketing is to click a link.
- A compelling CTA could be explicit (telling a visitor what to do) or implicit (suggesting them what to do).
- There are statistics that support some facts about good CTAs: (1) They imply exclusivity, (2) They imply urgency, (3) They use certain words, (4) They clearly focus on a problem/need rather than a benefit/desire/feature, and (5) There is a uniqueness compared to other offers.
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