We’ve talked about writing strategic, SEO-optimized marketing copy — now what? Before you draw an audience to your business website or entice them to open your marketing email, consider what you would like them to do next.
Whether you want readers to make a purchase, support a cause, or come to an event, you must make taking that next step simple and attractive. Mastering how to write CTAs that accomplish these goals starts here.
A CTA, or call to action, is the part of your marketing copy that invites your audience to deepen their relationship with your brand in some way.
Think of your target consumer’s decision-making process like a road map with several stops along the way. While their exact route will vary depending on your business model and their individual behavior, it’s generally a journey in four parts:
Your CTA is the mechanism that moves consumers from one step in the process to the next, but not all CTAs are equally effective. If you want your audience to like and subscribe, fill out a contact form, or click add to cart, strategy matters. A great CTA makes it easier to take the desired action than to scroll away.
Determining your brand voice ahead of time can also help to inform the tone or keywords of your calls to action, as well. This is something you can write into your brand guide so consistency with your teams, in-house or outsourced. Learn how to write CTAs that really work.
Active voice is the way to go for most marketing, but this is especially true for calls to action.
CTAs usually occupy only a small amount of real estate on a web page relative to the rest of your copy (like the words on a clickable button or a line of anchor text) so it’s important to make every word count. Snappy, commanding sentences address your audience directly and leave no room for confusion about what they’re being asked to do next.
Verbs are the most important part of your CTA, so keep them strong and unambiguous. Think:
Remember the buyer’s journey: You can’t expect your audience to arrive at their final destination without making some stops along the way.
Plan your marketing content so that the first CTA your readers encounter isn’t asking too much of them.
Particularly when it comes to big-ticket or big-commitment goods and services, CTAs should invite potential customers to build a trusting relationship with your business. Offering resources, testimonials, and consultations before you try to spur consumers toward the point of purchase can greatly increase the likelihood that they’ll convert.
It’s just human nature — we can’t help but respond to the fear of missing out.
If you have successfully used your preceding marketing copy to convince your audience that your brand will add value to their lives, turn up the heat in your CTA. The simple allure of an urgent need or a limited deal has been shown to boost sales by up to 40%.
Especially in saturated categories, it’s shockingly easy for consumers to move on to a competitor if they encounter any difficulties interacting with your marketing content. Ensure that your CTAs are highly visible, your ask is clear, your tech is in good working order, and that overall, your user experience is sharp, sharp, sharp.
Broken links, badly placed (or shaped re: the bouba-kiki effect) buttons, and slow-loading pages will lead to frustration. They can even harm your audience’s confidence in your brand. Keep user experience top of mind when planning your CTAs.
Depending on your brand category, there is a good chance that a lot (if not most) of your web traffic is coming from mobile devices.
To craft the most effective CTAs, you need to understand how your audience is accessing your content and ensure that your website’s navigation is optimized for mobile users. If they can’t easily browse products and check out, there is a tremendous risk that users won’t put in the effort to resume shopping once they are reunited with their laptops.
Understanding user behavior can also allow you to tailor CTAs to different device types. For example, mobile users may be more likely to “call now” because their phone is already in their hands.
Your CTA is not the time to mince words. Choose strong statements that intrigue your audience and promise a worthwhile payoff.
CTAs also are a great opportunity to learn more about what motivates consumers in your category and collect valuable data. A/B testing your calls to action can provide insights for future messaging.
Sending half of your mailing list a marketing email with a traditional CTA, like Learn More, and the other half the same email with an experimental CTA, like Stop Wasting Your Money, allows you to compare your audience’s response to both versions. You may find that letting your brand’s personality come through in your CTAs drives engagement.
Users move through the buyer’s journey at their own pace, and a user’s position in the marketing funnel will determine what they will find persuasive. Leads and brand relationships develop over time, so sending the same marketing email to your entire contact list can come across as tone-deaf.
Successful content marketing considers each segment of your audience, from the recently aware to the loyalist being targeted for repeat business, and offers those individuals relevant calls to action. Professional email marketers can take an in-depth look at the shopping behaviors of different audience segments and make data-informed choices on how to craft highly motivating CTAs for each one.
Customize your CTA to your audience’s needs and make it easy to follow through, and they’ll be on their way to brand loyalty.
Learning to how to write CTAs that are effective is beneficial to any business or organization.
Awareness: Potential customers/supporters know that you exist.
3. Add Urgency