Every good writer knows that there are few lines more important to the inbound content creation process than the call-to-action, or CTA.
A CTA motivates a visitor to take immediate action by saying things like “Click here to learn more,” “subscribe to our email list for daily updates,” or even, “buy the product you’re reading about here.”
Essentially, a CTA tells the audience what it should be doing next, which serves the incredibly important marketing purpose of increasing conversion rates and boosting sale numbers.
For the content marketer or copywriter there are few skills quite so important as learning to craft a strong, compelling CTA.
Today, we’re here to help you learn how to write a CTA that will boost the ROI of your online content, beyond a doubt.
Ready?
Why You Need to Worry about How to Write a CTA
I don’t need a call-to-action if my content is really good, right?
This is a fallible fallacy that I believed once. Would you believe it?
Yes, I debated marketers and said once that good content can stand by itself. Then, after a great conversation with Guillaume from Scoop.it, I created some CTAs and I saw more readers click, follow through and visit my services page.You do need to nudge your visitors to action! Unfortunately, that will remain the truth.
Do not, do not make the same mistakes I did.
To prove why CTAs are so efficient, check this out:
Over 90% of visitors who read your headline will actually read your CTA, as well. (Unbounce)
Emails with an non-convoluted single call-to-action received an increase of 371% in clicks, and in sales, a whopping 1617%. (WordStream)
Adding a CTA to your Facebook business or public figure page can increase your CTR rate by 285%. (AdRoll)
Marketer Kimberly Snyder increased conversions by 144% by making her visitors watch an informational video on her services before giving them a CTA. (QuickSprout)
Finally, ready for this one? From Grow & Convert:
There you go. Without a doubt–CTAs are crucial to the growth, ROI, and value of your online content. Now, let’s talk about how to create them!
Defining What Makes Up a CTA
Think about the time you spend cruising the web every day. Maybe you read a few blogs, subscribe to an online journal or two or do a bit of shopping.
Now, think about how often you see a pop-up window of some type that implores you to please “buy now!” “subscribe!” “sign up!” or “click here.”
These are CTAs.
A CTA serves the purpose of directing a business’s customers to their next step and helping the business enjoy increased conversion rates and more sales. CTAs are an important marketing tool and can be found in everything from website landing pages to television commercials.
But what makes a CTA actually work? Inspire people to take that action of clicking through? The answer may surprise you: there’s a real psychology behind it all.
The Inner Psychology Behind Why a CTA Works
In addition to serving a marketing purpose, a good CTA serves the distinct psychological purpose of drawing upon people’s desire to act immediately. Because of the sense of urgency in a CTA, people are much more likely to take a specific action than they would have been had there been no CTA to give them a specific and definable nudge in the right direction.
This nudge works, because humans aren’t often eager to take action if left to ourselves. This is not to say that we lack the ability to dress ourselves and decide what we want to eat for lunch but that, when it comes to larger decisions, we often need help to determine which direction we will take.
This is called perceptual set theory in psychological speak.
Perceptual set theory: the theory that our human mind perceives the world around it in a three-fold process, that helps discern, develop expectation, create drive and motivation.
This is why we often consult our friends and loved ones for advice in the event of large decisions or purchases.
A CTA caters to this need for validation and direction in a somewhat subdued way.
Because people expect a nudge from the company or product with which they are flirting, the CTA is both expected and effective at encouraging a desired outcome.
7 Key Fundamentals You Need to Know to Write an Awesome CTA
1) Be Short, Sweet, Direct
A CTA is not a platform for the long-winded discussion of benefits or “here are the top 10 reasons you should click here” explanations. Tell your visitors what you want them to do and leave it at that.
Utilize strong command verbs like “download” “submit” or “subscribe” and avoid wishy-washy words that convey a sense of uncertainty, such as “try” or “see.” When it comes to marketing, people want direction and the entire purpose of a CTA is to tell them what to do next. Don’t be afraid to be direct.
2) Write In First-Person
This simple trick goes a long way. Michael Aagard of Content Verve saw a tremendous 90% increase in clicks by simply using first-person in their CTA content: “Start my free 30 day trial” vs. “Start your free 30 day trial.”
When your reader clicks the button, they’re claiming a benefit for them–and writing in first person solidifies that positive feeling.
3) Use CTAs Throughout Your Content, Not Just Once
HubSpot discovered that anchor text CTAs increased their conversion rates by 121%.
What’s more, between 47 – 93% of incoming leads from a post came onlyfrom anchor text CTAs: and 83% to 93% of all leads from a post came from anchor text AND internal link CTAs.
Don’t just stop with a CTA at the bottom of your content: incorporate a few well-worded call to actions throughout your content.
Example: if I was writing a tip about creating great meta content, I might link to a useful blog on our site about meta content for additional reading, or straight to our meta content writing services to catch service inquiries from interested leads.
4) Give Readers Something Valuable
In order for a CTA to be effective, it needs to convey a sense of value and VIP-like inclusion.
You don’t want to just demand a click. The visitor needs to believe that bypassing the CTA will result in a loss of information, deals or promotions.
This approach is used to no end in television infomercials during the infamous “But wait, there’s more! Call now…” spiel. By attaching a sense of value to the decision to opt-in to your CTA, you increase the chances that visitors will click, convert or purchase.
5) Inspire Enthusiasm
No visitor to your blog or web page is going to sign up for more ho-hum junk mail in their inbox, so you need to be certain that your CTA inspires a sense of excitement. This goes hand in hand with cultivating a sense of urgency, inclusion and value but also exists separately in that, to inspire enthusiasm, you need to know what your target audience cares about.
Do they visit your site for the content? For exclusive sales? Figure out what drives your target audience and use that to inspire excitement in your CTA. Unless you’re talking directly to your clients about their desires, there is a solid chance your CTA won’t be very effective.
6) Make Your Call-to-Action Obvious
Now that you have a CTA, you need to decide where you’re going to put it.
In addition to changing what you will write, the placement of the CTA will also alter how you present it. The importance of the CTA’s location is not to be underestimated and it goes without saying that the CTA be somewhere your viewers will see it without having to dig through various webpages. This could mean a bar at the top of your website or even a small pop-up window programmed to appear after a visitor has been engaged with your site for ten seconds. The CTA should be obvious, easy to click and visually appealing to your visitors.
7) Optimize for Devices
With an estimated 63% of all adult Americans using their cellphones as their primary Internet access point, it makes sense to think about the mobile platform when crafting your CTA. A CTA that doesn’t show up, or shows up poorly, on a mobile device is guaranteed to cost you business so it is well worth your time to do your homework before deciding on a CTA format for your site. Try on several different CTA options such as pop-ups, home page bars, embedded links and sidebars to determine which works best in both mobile and desktop view. The CTA should be obvious and easy to access for all of your users, not just those on PC’s.
How to Write a CTA that Wins: The Formula
Great CTA’s adhere to a very specific formula that allows them to be effective. In addition to meeting all of the above mentioned guidelines, a CTA needs to be constructed a specific way in order to pack the most punch when it comes to grabbing attention and demanding action.
The formula for a working CTA is as follows:
The problem + the solution + the action
Example:“Are you sick of boring content? ExpressWriters.com/write-blog is dedicated to rising above the mediocre on the web. Subscribe now for fresh, exclusive content delivered directly to your inbox!”
The above example fulfills the goals of being direct, exciting, valuable and inspiring enthusiasm in several ways.
By stating the problem, “are you sick of boring content?” the writer simultaneously customizes the CTA to the presumably content-hungry visitor and gains an immediate opening to propose a solution.
When that solution (“subscribe now”) is presented, it serves the purpose of tapping into the aforementioned workings of perceptual set theory, which states that people process new information in a three-fold pattern that helps them decide when and how to act. Finally, the assertion that subscribing will result in high-quality, exclusive content delivered directly to the subscriber’s inbox imbues the new subscription with a sense of value, which makes people more likely to opt-in.
Although there are literally millions of different ways to fill in these three blanks, it’s true that writing a great CTA in five minutes or less truly boils down to clearly stating the problem, the solution and the action.
In the world of inbound marketing, there is nothing quite as important as the well-crafted CTA. In addition to helping fulfill business goals like increased clicks, conversions or sales, a CTA helps direct new customers towards the actions you want them to take. When a CTA is well written, it can be a truly powerful marketing tool that has the power to transform a website landing page.
Write a Fantastic CTA and Earn More Clicks, ROI, and Revenue
Fortunately, great CTAs are easy to write when you take the above considerations and formula to heart. Although the information included in a CTA is relatively simple, it is important to remember that the CTA must be obvious, easy for new visitors to find and properly optimized for the mobile platform so as not to hamstring yourself on account of poor placement or difficult forms.
If you keep these things in mind, you’ll be writing effective, compelling and exciting CTAs in no time.
Although they may seem complicated, CTAs are simply a formulaic marketing tool that anyone can learn to craft. Get started on improving your content conversions now with what you’ve just learned about how to write a CTA, and start changing your business for the better.
Need great CTAs written? Hire our ad copywriters and have us write conversion-oriented call-to-actions for your content!
In the business and online marketing worlds, the goal is to motivate customers with potent calls to action. While a call to action may sound like a complex and hard-to-master thing, that’s more of a misconception than a reality.
If you strip away the fancy name, a call to action is just an “ask” of your readers. When you look at it that way, the only question left to answer is “how do you ask them correctly?”
While it takes some time, effort, and skill to master the call to action in copywriting, doing so can earn you more sales, more customers, and a bigger bottom line, so it’s well worth your while.
The Basics of a Great Call to Action in Copywriting: 7 Essential Techniques
Remember the magic word we learned early on in life? Please.
The epitome of politeness, please had the power to earn us things, to make people help us, and to strengthen bonds with our friends and family.
In the world of marketing, it’s no different.
Today, most marketing tactics involve asking readers for something, such as their email address or a share with their social following. That’s made difficult, however, by the fact that today’s customers are protective of their privacy, money, and personal information, and rightfully so!
While there’s no getting around the fact that most of modern marketing is one big “ask,” there is a right way and a wrong way to ask people to do something for you and your brand. Push too hard, and you risk scaring your readers off. Whisper too timidly, and you’ll come off as confusing and indecisive.
To be effective with your call to action in copywriting, it’s critical to master the following CTA techniques:
1. Provide Value
It doesn’t matter if something is free or costs thousands. If the customer finds it valuable, price is no object. Unfortunately, most of today’s copy fails to take this simple fact into account.
The most effective CTAs work because they offer a clear value proposition. They tell the reader exactly what’s in it for them and what they’ll get for sharing their personal information, clicking, or subscribing. This clarity is essential for great CTAs, and can go a long way to make yours more compelling.
2. Address Objections Head-On
Good businesses familiarize themselves with the objections their potential customers will have before they begin marketing. After all, the only way to generate sales is to address and overcome objections.
Fortunately, you can use your call to action in copywriting to nip customer objections and concerns in the bud. By addressing and solving customer objections before the customer has a chance to offer them, you can encourage trust in your brand and your company.
Simple things, like offering money-back guarantees, providing social proof (stating how many people have already taken advantage of a product, good, or service) or including reviews are ideal for anticipating and addressing customer concerns.
3. Pique Customer Curiosity
Curiosity is human nature and it leads us to try new things. Piquing curiosity is a great way to build the customer’s anticipation and encourage them to fulfill your “ask.” Including language like “VIP” or “top secret” can make your CTAs more enticing and exciting for your readers.
4. Tailor the CTA to Your Reader
You’ve heard it once; you’ve heard it a thousand times: know your audience. Creating a compelling call to action requires that you custom-design the CTA copy and content for a select portion of readers.
By setting up different CTAs and landing pages for different campaigns (rather than re-using the same ones) and ensuring you’re using personalized language, like “you” and “your” in your CTAs, you can offer your customers a truly customized experience.
5. Offer Social Proof
Power exists in numbers. This is especially true when it comes to a proper call to action. Your potential customer probably doesn’t want to be the only one trying a product or service. You can entice them into action by leveraging social proof. Check out how Tim Ferriss does this in a CTA on his website:
By stating that more than 100 million episodes have been downloaded, he inspires trust in his product and encourages a herd mentality, wherein people want to be involved because so many other people are already interacting with said content.
6. Make it Urgent
People are more likely to take action when they feel a sense of urgency. You can weave this sense into a call to action in copywriting by saying things like:
Limited time offer!
While supplies last!
Act now to receive…
Only X days left!
7. Offer An Incentive
You can make your CTA more compelling by offering your reader something exciting in advance. The way you sweeten the deal will depend on your business and industry, but can take the form of offering a free piece of content, a coupon, or even a voucher for services. In addition to showing readers you value them, offering an incentive makes your CTAs feel like gifts.
Using CTAs in Copywriting: Foundational Tips
Now that we’ve discussed the seven critical tactics of all good CTAs, let’s talk about how to use them in your copywriting:
Tailor Your CTA to the Type Of Content. The CTA you’ll use on a web page varies from the one you’ll use on a blog. By tailoring your CTAs to various pages and approaches on your website, you can make them more effective and compelling.
Keep Them Informative. Your CTAs should always be simple and informative. They should tell the reader exactly what they’ll get and why it matters. Information inspires trust, and trust is critical to high-performing CTAs.
Personalize, Personalize, Personalize. The goal of a CTA is to speak directly to the customer. By personalizing your CTAs with words like “you” and “yours” and ensuring that each CTA you publish lines up with a specific, targeted offer, can shorten the distance between you and your customers and make your “asks” more compelling.
Keep It About the Customer. One of the biggest copywriting mistakes a company can make is producing self-centered copy. A compelling call to action is focused fully on the customer and nothing else. The customer shouldn’t buy from you because you have 50 years of experience and 100 awards. That’s great, but irrelevant. Show the customer the value of your offer and motivate them to learn more instead of just talking yourself up. While the former approach will turn the customer off, the latter will inspire interest.
Be “All Ears.” The ability to listen is and will always be your most valuable asset. It can also be the one big thing that sets your CTAs apart from the competition. By listening to your competition, your partners, and your customers, you can adjust and enhance your CTA strategy accordingly. After all, the best way to learn exactly how to motivate your audience through compelling calls to action is to listen to what’s motivating them right now and to pay attention to what they’d like more of.
Cut Clutter. When you write copy for your CTA, don’t clutter it with worthless words. Be clear. Be concise. Be brief. Your potential customers are in a hurry. Don’t beat around the bush. Don’t bombard them with sales fluff. Give them the facts and insert a call to action that encourages them to make an informed decision. Not only does this demonstrate respect for your customers, it also saves you time and energy.
Make It Pop! We’ve all sat through enough boring lectures in life. Don’t subject your customers to another with your CTA. Instead, write with enthusiasm and make your CTA as snappy and exciting as possible. While being brief is important, you also want to weave your brand identity into the CTA and make the voice sound like your own. Limit the jargon and keep it natural for the biggest impact.
A Case For The Compelling Call To Action In Copywriting
Writing an engaging call to action in copywriting isn’t easy, but it’s necessary, and it can be done. To do it, though, you need to build some skills. When you understand what gets your audience hopping, what they find valuable, and what inspires them, you can craft highly targeted and compelling content that makes them excited to click, rather than making them feel turned-off or used.
At the end of the day, the call to action is one of the most essential tools in the entire copywriting universe, and knowing how, when, and where to use it in your online material is a critical way to improve your writing and strengthen your brand message. Plus, a great CTA can earn you more sales and boost your bottom line, so what’s not to love?
To learn more about how to use the CTA in copywriting, or to hire a team of writers who have it down pat, contact Express Writers today!
You’ve probably heard the term “call to action” a thousand times. Maybe you’ve even tried to write your own calls to action, but found them less than inspiring. If you’re like most marketers, you’ve often wondered if the call to action, or CTA, is just a fancy name for something that isn’t that important.
The truth is, though, that your call to action is critical.
By compelling your audiences to (you guessed it) take action, a great CTA can spell the difference between thousands of conversions and a few ho-hum reads.
Lights, Camera, Call To Action!
The reason your call to action is so important is that it performs a job that no other part of your website does. By inspiring your visitors to take a desired action, like clicking your content, filling out a form, or entering their email addresses, a great CTA helps make your content more compelling and interactive.
Still not convinced CTAs are all that critical? Let’s look at some statistics.
Unbounce reports that 90% of the visitors who read your headline will also read your CTA. As if that weren’t enough, WordStream reports that emails featuring just one call to action increased click-through-rate by 371% and sales by 1617%. HubSpot has also found that personalized CTAs convert a whopping 42% better than standard CTAs.
The good news is that there are many ways to create a successful call to action, but you’ve got to create a good foundation first. This involves having enough web content to input a CTA, developing a quality product, and having some level of social following. Once these things exist, you can get to work optimizing and improving your CTAs.
10 Essential Ingredients for an Irresistible Call to Action
Every call to action must contain certain elements. These elements make them more compelling, interesting, and exciting for readers. Here’s what each great CTA needs:
1. Images
One dilemma many business owners face is whether to use text or graphics in their call to action. While text is critical to a good call to action, many people assume visuals aren’t. Wrong!
Visuals are an essential part of the most effective CTAs.
The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than textual information, so including a great visual in your CTA can be exactly what it needs to tip readers over the edge.
For best results, look for an image that’s relevant to the CTA (a picture of the cover of the offered book or guide, for example, is a great option) and won’t be distracting to the reader. Remember: visuals should enhance rather than detract from your CTA.
2. A Powerful Color Scheme
To be as successful as possible, your CTA needs to fall in line with the rest of your brand’s color scheme. For an example of what this looks like, check out this HubSpot CTA:
HubSpot is known for its orange and white color scheme, and the CTA buttons throughout the site are generally blue. This CTA aligns with that color scheme and provides a sense of continuity and reliability for the reader.
If your brand doesn’t have an established color scheme yet, now is a good time to consider how colors are used in marketing, and to pick a few options that convey the messages you’re aiming for. Once you’ve got your color scheme hammered out, be sure to integrate it into your current and future CTAs. Here’s a color diagram from HelpScout to help you decide:
No matter what you choose, remember that color, like visuals, should accent rather than overwhelm your CTA. While you may love lime green and orange together, few people want to click on a CTA that looks like a mess of melted glow sticks.
3. The Right Words
The wording of your call to action matters. The best way to do this is to use actionable language. Distinct and hard-hitting verbs like “find,” “download,” “discover,” and “get” will help improve your CTAs conversion rates and make it more exciting to readers. Don’t go overboard though: you want to use fewer than four words in your CTA to keep the reader’s interest.
4. The Right Placement
Where you place your call to action can make all the difference. What if your page is already full of important information that you want your visitor to see? The general rule of thumb is to place the call to action in a spot that’s easily accessible, uncluttered, and highly visible. This enhances the likelihood that your readers will see it and that they’ll act, as a result.
5. An Understanding of the Reader’s Questions
Regardless of what you’re selling, your visitors will be asking one thing as they make buying decisions involving your company: “What’s in it for me?” Your CTA should anticipate this and respond accordingly.
When developing your CTA copy, think about what you’ll need to give your reader to justify their action. For example, would they be willing to share your Facebook page with 10 of their friends for the chance to win a contest you are putting on? Is the promise of a complete guide enough to win their email address?
By tailoring your CTA offering to your CTA “ask,” you can make your material more compelling and exciting for your readers. What’s more, you brand your company as one that understands and cares about your customers, which makes you more appealing to work with.
6. A Consistent Tone
Today’s customers are smart, and they’ll get confused if the content of your CTA is drastically different than the content elsewhere on your page or social profiles. With this in mind, keep the voice of your CTA consistent with that of the rest of your content. In addition to strengthening your brand perception, this will also help your visitors make sense of your CTA and take the action it’s proposing.
7. Personalization
The more you can personalize your CTA, the better. When you think about it, CTAs are asking your reader to do something (click, download, etc.) and to give you something valuable (their personal information). If you don’t personalize these requests, they can seem like excessive asks. When you personalize your CTAs, you show your readers you care.
While you don’t need to go overboard with the personalization, it’s smart to use words like “you” and “your.” This makes the ask more personal and helps your reader feel like an integral piece of the puzzle, rather than a dispensable customer.
8. A Direct Approach
Adults don’t communicate effectively through hints, and your CTA needs to take this into account. Instead of whispering that you want your reader to do something, make your request (and its benefit) clear. The more direct, intentional, and obvious your CTAs are, the better they’ll be for your brand and your readers.
9. Emotional Appeal
While CTAs are foundational marketing tools, they’re also a study in psychology. HubSpot recently studied CTAs on more than 40,000 websites, and found that ones with bland language, like “click here” didn’t perform nearly as well as CTAs with stronger, more direct language.
With this in mind, make your CTA a study in emotional appeal. Tapping into emotions like fear (“Are you doing X wrong?”), inclusion (“Join X other people”), and freedom (“Risk-free trial”) can be incredibly effective for compelling on-the-fence readers to take the leap.
10. Simplicity
CTAs don’t have room for jargon. Keep your language, ask, and message simple for the best conversion rate and the clearest request. This will help your readers feel more interested in taking action and more trusting of your brand.
Your Brand Lives and Dies by its CTAs
Great CTAs can improve your bottom line, draw more attention to your company, and enhance your reputation on the web. Poor CTAs, on the other hand, just waste your marketing budget and produce disappointing results. By taking proactive steps to improve your CTAs and make them more compelling to your readers, it’s easy to enjoy more traffic and a more streamlined sales process while also improving your relationships with customers across the board.
Although many marketers overlook CTAs, the fact of the matter is that they’re essential parts of your sales and marketing funnel, and putting the time and effort into improving them is well worth your while!
To learn more about the value of great CTAs or to find the team who can help you create them, contact Express Writers, or visit our Content Shop today!
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