CTA the Deal: Tips to Create the Best Calls to Action
28 Sep, 2021 | By Shivani PillaiGet this: A study by HubSpot found that well-thought-out and personalized best calls to action outperformed basic CTAs by 202%. Further, the research found that the average click-through rate for CTAs was pegged at 4.23%, higher than the CTR for Google Ads.
Irrespective of whether it’s a blog post, website, or social media page, your message will fall flat without an intriguing CTA to accompany it. By placing an effective CTA on your website’s landing page alone, you can boost your conversion rates by 80%.
To put it simply, a CTA or Call to Action is your prompt to the reader, telling them what to do next.
From asking your customers to check out your new product to luring them into subscribing to your newsletter, you can tailor your CTA to achieve virtually anything.
When done right, CTAs bring many benefits to the table—increased CTRs, growth in sales, improved customer relationship, and more. This is why it is so important to nail your CTAs to perfection.
Take a look at these two personalized CTAs on EPIC’s landing page, and you’ll immediately understand what we’re trying to say.
Read this blog to discover the secrets to create the perfect CTA, the different types of CTAs, what they mean, and five cracking examples of CTA mastery that you should be aiming for!
How can you create the most irresistible CTA?
In this section, we have rounded up the best tips and tricks that you can use to craft a perfect and actionable CTA. This collection of tips is a result of scrawling through the vast recesses of the internet and throwing in our own experience.
So, get ready to churn out some flawless CTAs!
1. Command verbs are your holy grail
When you want your readers to take an action, there’s nothing quite like action verbs to get the job done. By using solid command verbs, you will be able to enhance the clarity and precision of your CTA.
You can also have some fun by throwing a couple of other words in the mix. Here are some examples: ‘Check this out’, ‘Call today’, ‘Book now’ and ‘Click here’.
Use command verbs to make your CTA short, crisp and direct, leaving no room for doubt in your customers’ minds.
Here’s Netflix’s simple yet clever CTA for some inspiration.
2. Bring those emotions to the table
A Harvard professor, Gerald Zaltman, believes that 95% of buying decisions are made by the customers’ subconscious mind.
That’s why your CTA should tap into their emotions effectively. Here’s the thing: It’s easier to get your customers to do what you want, once you’ve got them hooked. And, your CTA should be the bait.
There are so many emotions and reactions that your CTA can evoke – curiosity, delight, empathy, surprise, pride – the list is endless.
Don’t we all love promises? You can also use your CTA to make a promise.
For instance, if you’re offering your customers a bug repellent that can kill all the bugs and termites in two weeks, use that in your CTA. You can come up with something like “Send all the pests packing in just 2 Weeks!”
Identify the emotion you want to evoke, pick the words accordingly, and you’ll be good to go!
QuickSprout’s landing page is a treasure trove of actionable CTAs that you simply cannot miss.
3. Tap into the everlasting FOMO
Don’t stop at evoking your customers’ emotions. Go one step further, and use your CTA to create a sense of urgency. After all, the fear of missing out, or FOMO, is a real thing.
And this is a great way of appealing to the emotional-cum-rational decision-making side of your customers. This works especially well if there’s a product or service that you want them to buy.
So, how can you create a sense of urgency? You can start by using phrases like ‘Hurry Now!’, ‘Limited Period Offer’, ‘Grab the Deal Now’, etc.
You can also use your CTA to inform your readers that there are not many items left in stock, to prompt them into buying the product/service.
For instance, Amazon’s ‘Deal of the Day’ achieves just that.
4. Keep it crisp, concise, creative
On top of keeping the CTA crisp, clear, and creative, ensure that the text and other content on your landing page isn’t too cluttered or heavy, such that it takes your customers’ focus away from the CTA.
Remember to only include content that is truly helpful and meaningful to your customers. This is your way of saying—“we value your time, and we value you”.
People love clicking buttons, and all that you need to do is make it worthwhile for them.
Pro-tip: If you’re planning on using a button-type CTA for your landing page, make sure to pick a color that complements your webpage color and design. Trust us, this trick always pays off.
The landing page of Leadpages is what your CTA will look like if you follow this tip.
5. Lure them in with value
Everybody has problems that they want solutions to. While creating your CTA, make sure to capitalize on that. Identify the pain points of your customers, and leverage them.
Weave them into your CTA. Let’s suppose that your business provides painting services to individual residences. You have learnt that most of your customers share a common concern – the time it will take to paint the house.
You can use this knowledge to come up with a CTA along the lines of “We can paint your house in 4 days. Contact us to know more”.
The formula is really simple – identify the pain point, use that to ask a question, and use your CTA to give the answer. If you can provide this value to your customers, the CTR of your CTA is bound to go shooting through the roof.
We love what the meditation app Headspace did with their landing page CTA. See for yourself!
6. Blend curiosity and anticipation
When it comes to creating a CTA, three key elements play a major role: curiosity, anticipation, and association.
A cracking CTA will first get the customers intrigued, and will keep them engaged with the promise of a reward.
This creates a state of fervent anticipation in the customers’ minds. In the long run, your customers will come to associate your CTA with rewards and all the good stuff. And, they’ll get clicking without any hesitation.
Here’s an example for you. Club Mahindra capitalizes on people’s desire for a memorable vacation and gets them intrigued with a slideshow of stunning vacation pictures.
Eventually, the customers feel the need to reward themselves with an amazing vacation. And they end up responding to the CTA.
This is what blending curiosity and anticipation looks like when nailed:
Key Takeaways
- Make ample use of command verbs
- Make sure that your CTA appeals to human emotions
- Go all out and create a sense of urgency
- Follow the three C’s – keep it crisp, concise, and creative
- Provide irresistible value with your CTA
- Curiosity + Anticipation + Association = Winning CTA formula
Different kinds of CTAs
Now that you know the secrets to create an actionable CTA, it’s time for you to find out about the different kinds of CTAs, and how you can use them to your advantage.
1. Web page buttons
A web page button CTA is a call-to-action button that you can place on your website’s landing page. You can think of it as a compass you can use to direct your customers to a really exciting blog post, or a new product/service.
Web page buttons are very handy for lead generation, lead nurturing, and goal conversions.
You can also have buttons with links to social media platforms. Subsequently, you will be encouraging your customers to spread the word by sharing your content online.
Spotify’s ‘Get Spotify Free’ web page button directs users to a page where they can sign up and become a user, by luring them with two promises:
2. Opt-in campaign buttons
Opt-in campaign buttons are the ones you can use if your main goal is to get your customers to subscribe to your newsletters and promotional emails advertising new products or services.
Generally, these buttons ask for the customers’ consent. There are many types of opt-in campaign buttons you can experiment with – exit-intent, lightbox, embedded, bar, shake the box, and so on.
This opt-in campaign button on Heidi Fiedler’s website is a good example:
3. Anchor texts in blog posts
Anchor texts are the mainstay features of a blog post. This is because anchor texts are a great way of making your content appear more friendly and helpful to the readers.
An anchor text typically contains a hyperlink that directs readers to another resource that they might be interested in, or find relevant. What’s more, positioning your CTA as an anchor text in blog posts can also boost your Google search engine rank.
You can use descriptive words to get creative with anchor texts, but keep it concise and crisp. Further, you can think out-of-the-box and make your anchor text CTA stand out.
Here’s how HubSpot used an anchor text CTA to draw attention to their content marketing course:
4. Buttons or text in emails
Email CTAs are super important, so much so that nearly 56% of all promotional and advertising emails carry at least one solid CTA.
So, why should you miss out? Email buttons are very similar to web page buttons, and they perform the same function. While designing email buttons, you need to pay attention to aspects like the button size, shape, space and style.
Alternatively, you can incorporate anchor text CTA in your emails. You can use the CTA to ask your customers to download a free resource or a discount coupon, for instance.
This time around, take a feather from the cap of the WHUSTLE, by WrittenlyHub. Pay attention to how the newsletter makes effective use of both, email buttons and text:
5. Text in social media posts
Text in social media posts generally contains hyperlinks to other resources or websites.
Given the number of people on social media, placing top-notch CTAs in your social media posts can be a powerful move. Especially so when you’re using platforms like Twitter that feature text more than images.
Nike’s Twitter handle is a goldmine replete with powerful CTA texts, like in this tweet, where they educate everyone about the role, they can play in combating climate change:
You can use the text to give a link back to your website, to get customers to enter a contest, to subscribe for a service- anything.
Breaking down 5 awesome CTAs: Why they work
We know that you’re all pumped up and set to come up with some kickass CTAs. But, before you go, take a look at some winning CTAs, and what makes them so amazing.
1. QuickSprout
The folks at QuickSprout leave no stone unturned when it comes to hogging the limelight with perfect CTAs.
Their CTA, ‘Are you doing your SEO wrong? Enter your URL to find out’, is simply outstanding.
Why this works: To begin with, the slide-in CTA button is hard to miss. The question is compelling, and it can get readers intrigued in no time. Notice how the question also addresses the pain point, by making an alluring promise.
To top it off, the language is simple, and the CTA is clear. The positioning is also ideal, and the green and yellow colors complement each other perfectly.
2. Grey Goose
Do you remember us talking about personalized CTAs being better than the rest? If you were looking for an example, you needn’t look beyond Grey Goose’s CTA, ‘Discover a cocktail tailored to your taste’.
Why this works: The personalization makes the CTA standout. Further, the video button leaves customers with the anticipation of more to come. The landing page background is adorably pleasant, while heroing the CTA adequately.
3. Ahrefs
Ahrefs’ CTA reads like this: ‘Start a 7-day trial for $7’. That’s simplicity and clarity working together.
Why this works: This web page button CTA is the epitome of crisp, concise and clear. The CTA not only gives customers a clear instruction, it also lets them know what they can expect next. This directness is quite praiseworthy.
What’s more, the orange button stands-out effortlessly against the purple background. There’s no chance anyone is going to miss the CTA.
And, aren’t the starfish and mountains simply adorable?
4. Webflow
This is Webflow’s CTA: ‘Get started, it’s free’. Now you’re thinking: What’s so great about this?
Why this works: Webflow’s main goal is to sell its website building and design service. And when people are looking to buy a service, pricing and costs are always on their mind.
By adding ‘it’s free’, their CTA answers questions even before they get asked. And, that’s why it works wonders on customers, especially the SaaS ones.
5. Crossrope
Crossrope’s CTA is as fun as it can get: ‘Show Me the Ropes’.
Why this works: Crossrope is a company that sells jump rope programs. Not only is the CTA direct and clear, it’s also a clever play on words. Now, who doesn’t like wordplay? The minimalist design of the landing page also enhances the CTA.
The command verb ‘show’ creates a sense of urgency, and provides ample value to the customers. And, it sure as hell arouses the curiosity of the customers. Basically, it’s the button version of ‘Okay, now you have my attention’.
It’s a wrap!
This post was all about CTA. We started off by providing you a detailed insight into the importance of CTAs, and what they are. We also gave you a gist of what you could expect from the post.
Further, we gave you the secrets to creating the perfect CTA, complete with examples to spur you into action. Additionally, we walked you through the different types of CTAs and their uses.
To conclude this post, we rounded up five CTA examples that are amazing, thoughtful, and genius, all rolled into one.
We hope that this post has been helpful!
Do you want your CTAs to be written by professionals for the best results? Contact our experts!
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