If you’re a digital marketer, chances are you’ve almost certainly heard of a call to action (CTA). A CTA is like a digital handshake that guides your website visitors towards taking a specific action, whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or downloading a resource.
In this blog, we’ll delve deeper into what CTAs are, why they’re essential for driving user engagement and conversions, and how you can create compelling CTAs that resonate with your audience and turn a dead-end webpage into a sale, a booking, or an all important phone call.
What is a call to action?
A call to action is a prompt on a website that encourages a user to take a specific action. Usually in the form of a hyperlink or a dynamic button, they often use phrases such as ‘Find Out More’, ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Buy Now’ for example. They aim to instil immediacy and action in a user after they have consumed your content, helping you to drive conversions and achieve your marketing goals.
This simple, yet effective feature is at the very bottom of the conversion funnel. By the point your audience reaches your CTA, you should have already supplied the user with all the information they need to make a decision. As such you’ll usually find CTAs at the end of a blog or next to a product listing, however it’s becoming increasingly common and beneficial to include CTAs throughout the whole of a webpage.
What are some call to action examples?
In their most basic form, CTAs are used as a lead generation device for sales. However, depending on your marketing goals, they can be used for a huge variety of other purposes. Here are six of the most common call to action examples you’ll find.
Newsletter Sign Ups
Newsletter sign ups are one of the most common call to action examples you’ll see on almost every website. It’s a CTA that can be included almost anywhere on your website, from your homepage, to your contact page, to your checkout process. A simple yet compelling way to encourage sign ups is to offer an incentive, such as a discount, as a reward for signing up.
Another common approach is to create a sense of urgency by using phrases like “Join now for exclusive updates” or “Subscribe today and never miss out.” It’s also a good opportunity to emphasise the benefits of signing up to your newsletter, such as receiving exclusive content or being the first to know about sales, offers, and promotions.
Form Submissions
Forms submissions are a great way to engage with your users and gather valuable information about your audience. Encouraging visitors to fill out a form on your website can help you capture leads, gather feedback, or allow users to sign up for newsletters and promotions.
If you want someone to fill out a form with their details, it’s important to ensure your forms are user-friendly, have clear instructions, and visible buttons. You should also include positive phrases like “Get started today” or “Get your free quote today” to further entice them to complete your form. Keeping the number of form fields to a minimum is a great way to reduce friction and increase your online form conversion rate.
Read More
Space is often at a premium on a website so opting for truncated text on a webpage is a great way to increase your word count without taking up vital real estate on your site. You can add a “Read more” link or accordion button to allow your users to follow on and continue engaging with your content.
A read more CTA is also a good way to invite your website visitors to delve deeper into the topic at hand and learn more information on a particular subject. Whether you direct your audience to related blogs or articles, your products, or more resources, a read more CTA entices the user to continue their journey on your website. This ultimately helps increase user engagement and time spent on your site.
Social Sharing
This is a CTA that is often underestimated but it’s a great way to increase visibility of your brand on social media. Social sharing CTAs often come in the form of an icon and have become a standard tactic for both users and business alike on particular channels.
An effective call to action example for social sharing is to encourage users to share your message and tag their friends to increase exposure of your brand. This CTA works particularly well if you’re running a competition or promotion for example. You should use your social sharing CTAs as a friendly prompt to share your content as far and wide as possible to not only increase your visibility, but to also increase engagement.
Free Trials
Free trials can open the door to sales and are a fantastic way to entice potential customers to try out your product or service without any financial commitment. They also provide you with a pool of motivated users ready to take on your product or service – whether that’s for a subscription service or a software trial for example.
By providing a taste of what you have to offer, you give customers the opportunity to experience the value of your offering firsthand. This can help build trust and credibility with your audience, increasing the likelihood of them converting into paying customers in the future. Free trials also allow customers to see how your product or service can benefit them, making it easier for them to make a purchasing decision.
Event Registration
Marketing an event online can be difficult without a means to figure out how many people are attending or interested. Tickets are certainly one way of figuring this out, however what if you want to host a free event like a webinar? This is where event registration CTAs shine. Usually displayed as a dynamic button or a form, these kinds of CTAs help convert interested parties to participate in your event, or at least gather data so you can follow up closer to the time of your event.
Using enticing wording with your CTA such as “Don’t miss out – reserve your spot today!” conveys exclusivity and a sense of urgency to act quickly before spots fill up. If you’re hosting a ticketed event, you could include wording such as “Register now for early bird pricing”, which acts as an incentive for potential attendees to secure their spot at a discounted rate.
Tips for creating a compelling CTA
Here are some tips for creating a compelling CTA that are sure to grab the attention of your audience and drive them to carry out your desired action of your marketing campaign:
- Be clear and direct – you should clearly state what you want your audience to do, whether it’s to buy your product, sign up to your newsletter, or find out more information.
- Use action-oriented language – encourage immediate action with strong wording like “Shop Now”, “Subscribe Today”, or “Learn More.”
- Create a sense of urgency – consider adding time-sensitive wording to your CTA such as “Limited Time Offer” or “Act Now.”
- Make it visually appealing – the key to a truly powerful CTA is to make it visually standout and easy to spot with the use of contrasting colours, bold fonts, and dynamic buttons.
- Offer value – ensure your CTA offers some sort of value or benefit to clicking to further entice your users.
- Test and optimise – it’s vital to A/B test different CTAs to see what resonates best with your audience and continuously optimise based on the data.
Get in touch for more expert advice
As you can see, CTAs are the foundation of generating leads, encouraging engagement, and boosting conversions for any business. They can be used in a huge variety of different campaigns and by using the right wording and styling, you can create a captivating CTA that is guaranteed to get your audience clicking.
If you’d like more expert advice on how we can optimise your digital marketing campaigns, or you’re looking for a web design refresh, get in touch with us today. We can create stunning websites and captivating campaigns that are as good as they convert. Speak to our experts today to see how we can help take your brand to new heights.