Call-to-actions (CTAs) often don’t get the attention they deserve, but they are arguably one of the most important aspects of your website or marketing campaign. If you are in the business of selling products or services, how effective you are at converting potential customers into paying customers is often the difference between a healthy business and a business that is struggling.
Before we go any further here are a few typical CTAs you’ve likely seen online: “Download”, “Schedule an appointment”, “Read more”, “Like”, “Sign up”, “Contact Us”, “Register” and so on. In essence, all these CTAs are trying to do the same thing – prompt immediate action.
With that in mind, here are 7 tips to make your CTAs more effective, and more importantly to help you convert more leads into customers.
CTA Tip #1: Location Is Crucial
Many businesses don’t follow this simple rule. For example, they don’t have their CTAs above the fold (the portion of the webpage that is visible without scrolling). If you have multiple CTAs on a single page, then you can spread them across the page, but if you only have 1 or 2, then they have to be above the fold. The same applies to email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, affiliate marketing, social media marketing and so on.
Also, your CTA has to stand out. For example, if your CTA is just text, then the font style and size has to be prominent. If it is a button, then use bold or contrasting colors to attract attention.
CTA Tip #2: Action Oriented
At the end of the day the primary objective of your CTA is to nudge the lead/visitor into immediate action, so use action-oriented CTAs like “Try It For Free”, “Get Started”, “Let’s Talk”, “Download Now”, and so on.
CTA Tip #3: Personalize
If you are using personalization tools, then tailor your CTAs to a specific persona or segment. The more personalized your CTA is, the higher your conversion rate will be.
CTA Tip #4: Use Possessive Determiners
Using possessive determiners like “My” and “Your” typically have a higher conversion rate; therefore, instead of using “Create an account” use “Create my account” or “Create your account”.
CTA Tip #5: Keep It Simple
Don’t try to be clever or funny with CTAs; this is not the right time to do so. You have the user’s attention, so don’t confuse them or make them think. Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, so your CTAs have to be short and clear.
Also, as a general rule, your CTA should contain less than 5 words. There may be instances where it’s appropriate to use more, but always keep that number in mind.
CTA Tip #6: Sense Of Urgency
This is especially true when you are promoting an offer because without a sense of urgency many buyers will procrastinate. With that in mind, use language such as “For a limited time”, “Offer of the week”, “This month only”, “Offer valid till”, and so on.
CTA Tip #7: Test And Optimize
Testing and optimizing CTAs is essential, because often what you think the customer will respond well to and what they respond to can be very different. This is why A/B testing and other types of multivariate testing is so necessary.
Also, experiment with different action verbs (e.g. download, request, sign up, receive, etc.). You will be surprised how much of an impact a small change like this can have.
Summary
As we mentioned previously, the effectiveness of your CTAs can be the difference between a healthy business and a business that struggles – cannot convert potential customers into paying customers. CTA’s sole objective is to convert a lead into a customer, so give CTAs the attention they deserve, because they have a direct impact on your bottom line.
