Creating the Perfect Call to Action

Email me with your top three takeaways from this article, and I’ll gift you with a year of my services for free!

Wouldn’t that be lovely?

Well, maybe for you, but we’d go broke.

But you see how motivated you became? You’re obviously here to gain some marketing insight, so the use of our services would be hugely beneficial to you.

Now that your brain is in the right place (thinking about how to really motivate someone), let’s talk through some tips on how to create a very clear, engaging, and irresistable call-to-action (CTA) for your campaigns.

Understanding a Call to Action

When people wind up on your website or landing page, you need them to do something. Not just anything, but something that progresses your goals. That means you want them to do something like join your mailing list or purchase a product or service.

Trying to convince people to do what we want them to can be one of the most difficult tasks of marketing. Anyone can come up with a funny commercial, catchy jingle, or adorable picture of a baby alongside your product. Encouraging someone to take a specified, desired action is a whole different story.

Your CTA is the part of your advertisement that tells your audience what they should be doing, especially once they’ve landed on your page. In order for it to be effective, it needs to be compelling.

“Stop on by and check out our inventory” creates a sense of ‘it doesn’t matter’ or ‘come over if the mood strikes you one day.’

Hurry! Before these special edition items are GONE!,” on the other hand, creates a steep sense of urgency to get one before everyone else has one and you’re left out in the cold.

It also needs to be clear, so that there is no room for misinterpretation. The more information you can provide with your CTA, the better. That way, your audience knows exactly what to expect and it can dissuade the wrong users from clicking.

Where It Gets Tricky

Your audience is more knowledgeable than ever before, and they’re not lured in by the humdrum. The common simple “sign up,” “buy now,” or “learn more” just don’t cut it anymore. That means that you need to become a superstar at writing a perfect CTA that will captivate your target audience and educate them, therefore increasing your conversions.

The above simple samples are weak. They don’t provide a sense of urgency. But there’s a fine line between establishing a sense of urgency and just plain being pushy.

Here’s How to Do It!

1. Optimize Your Website

First things first. You want your potential customers to want to follow through with your CTA. In order to do that, their visit to your website needs to be at least what they’re expecting, and preferably even more enjoyable.

Spend a little time and investment in making sure that your pages load quickly, regardless of whether they’re on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device.

2. Use a Strong Command Verb to Kick it Off

Since you don’t really have a ton of space in your ad to get your point across, you need to be very clear and concise. Get straight to the point and let your audience know exactly what you want them to do with strong action words or phrases like:

• Buy
• Shop
• Order
• Download
• Subscribe
• Fill out this form
• Find out how. . .
• Get started
• Sign up
• Submit
  

Make sure there is no room to play guessing games so your visitors aren’t clueless about what to do next. Some words are stronger than others.

“Give us a call for a free demo” is not nearly as actionable as “Call us today for a free sample.”

3. Be Unique

You already understand that you need to differentiate yourself from your competition. Make sure that your CTA stands out, too!

4. Use Words that Provoke Emotion or Enthusiasm

Since you need a strong response, you need enthusiasm! If your CTA is emotional, your audience will be, too!

“Plan your dream vacation today!” That’s exciting! It creates a feeling of well-being and expectation about the family trip, making them eager to click on the ad!

Exclamation marks can really drive that home, creating an uplifting ending for your CTA! But watch that you don’t overdo it.

5. Create a Sense of Urgency

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a very real thing. Use that to your advantage when creating a CTA. You want them to feel like they’ll be missing a great opportunity if they choose to not obey the CTA. You want them to feel like the clock is ticking and dilly-dallying will make them miss out.

Words like “now” and “immediately” can be really effective. Show an “introductory price” and then clearly mention that the offer is only available for a brief period of time, before the price is likely to go up.

6. Make it Easy

There’s no question here. You have to make things easy. The transition from CTA to the actual task must be completely seamless. If the CTA is too complicated, it’s bound to fail, as people will become frustrated and jump ship.

The process of signing up for a newsletter should be a lengthy process. Make sure people know that, too. “Sign up in less than 60 seconds.” If you want them to call you, provide your phone number. If you’re creating content for mobile, let them click right on the ad to dial from their phone.

Creating a good call to action takes just a little bit of forward planning. Keep things simple and make sure that your message is compelling and emotional. And have a little fun with it!