A call to action (CTA) is a succinct prompt added to your content to tell your audience to take a specific action. It is usually written as an action phrase such as register now or order now; it must be compelling and indicate the outcome of the action.
In digital marketing, CTAs are used to convert visitors to customers. They can be clickable text, images, buttons, or weblinks that guide viewers toward the next step. In email campaigns, a CTA can lead to a website where users will be persuaded to take further action.
Depending on your content, a CTA is designed to compel, entice, or motivate your audience to act. Some very good examples of CTAs include:
- Sign up.
- Read more articles.
- Sign up for our newsletter.
- Contact Sales.
- Share on social media.
- Checkout.
- Order now.
- Free Trial.
- Contact support.
- Get started.
- Add to cart.
- Add to wishlist.
- Buy now.
Why are CTAs Important
A call to action acts as a signpost telling users what to do next; whether you use it in an email campaign, landing page, social media posts, website, or blog post, it will guide your audience along the buyer’s journey and increase friction to move prospects down the sales funnel. It creates an easy user experience and can help you build authority and trust in your brand.
Without a CTA, your prospects may be confused about what to do to continue interacting with your brand, so even if they liked your content, they may likely abandon your page due to lack of direction. So, CTAs are very important to guide your prospects through your sales funnel.
How to Create a Compelling CTA
Some strategies that make a good call to action include:
- Clear Benefit: Stating the precise benefits your prospect will get if they use your CTA can effectively persuade them to take the action.
- High Visibility: The call to action should be very prominent and in a large font size to command attention.
- Good Design: A good CTA should have bright button colours to grab the reader’s attention, or better still, a colour that contrasts with the colours on the page.
- Actionable Text: A call to action should be an action phrase such as buy now, get started now, or learn more; it shows there is an action to take.
- Sense of Urgency: People are easily distracted on the internet, so if they leave your page, they might forget what they planned on doing there. Hence, you need to create a sense of urgency with your call to action so they will be encouraged to take action immediately rather than postpone it for later.
- Short in Length: A good call to action must be short and straight to the point, not longer than 5 to 7 words.