A call-to-action (CTA) is a website button or link that urges the visitor to take action. A powerful call to action can be the difference between success and failure. It’s the thing that makes people want to buy your product and sign up for your newsletter, even if they have no idea what the product is. Without that one piece of text, you’re dead in the water with your marketing plan. Here are ten best practices for creating a call to action (CTA) that will get more email subscribers for you.
Be Compelling
Good marketing fights for your reader’s attention. It grabs their interest and gets them to do what you want them to do. How compelling is your call to action? Is it worth reading? Will it engage the reader enough that they’ll want to take action on it?
Your calls to action should engage readers with a compelling, attractive message. You don’t have to go into detail here if you’re using a popup that is little more than a square of text. You only need to include the most important bits of information to get your emails opened and read, whether in the form of a popup or just plain text.
Keep It Brief
Long-winded CTA buttons are ineffective because they lead to a negative outcome in reader response. They bore readers and encouraged them to look elsewhere (or not at all). If you’re selling a product, offer free shipping or a gift with purchase if the readers sign up for our newsletter, for example.
The text on your CTA can be short, but it should be full of impact. Your call to action only needs to include the most important parts of the offer.
Use Action-Oriented Words
Phrase your call to action in terms of action. Don’t use passive words like “learn” or “find out”–those don’t inspire readers to take immediate action. For example, if you’re offering a free ebook, call it something like, “Your Free Copy of ’50 Ways to Make Money with Your Writing.'”
A call to action should take the form of a command. Direct words pull readers into the desired behavior and encourage them to act immediately. Let them know what they gain by opting in or taking other specific actions. Empower the reader!
Make It Pop Up
Popup CTA buttons are a great way to entice and compel readers to act. They’re small, pop up in a new window, so they don’t take up precious space on the page, and they’re unforgettable.
Popup buttons look good, and the use of a call to action is a great reason for people to click on them. After all, why leave the page if you can get free stuff?
Popup CTA buttons are great for getting readers to take action. They’re easy to find and immediately grab your audience’s attention. For example, if you’re offering a free ebook download, it’s easy to make a popup CTA when someone clicks on your “Free Upgrade” link.
Make It Easy To Read
Make your call to action easy to read. Studies show that people read more when the text is large and bold and the font is readable. Make your CTA text big, bold, and easy to read.
Consider using a call-to-action button that pops up as a magnified image if you want to help people understand exactly what your product or service is about from a visual standpoint. The photo shows you exactly what your offer will offer, so it’s an excellent choice for those who are visually impaired or for users of mobile devices with small screens.
Create A Sense Of Urgency
This is about urgency. It is important because it’s what compels people to act immediately. You don’t have time to read long blocks of text here; they’ll skip over the CTA if you leave blank spaces between the call-to-action words and the offer’s title.
Sell Your Freebie
You can make a great offer by including the call to action in the form of a gift with a purchase or something bundled with the purchase of another product. It’s one way to get people to sign up for your newsletter and pay attention to your website. If you’re offering a free ebook download, you can also include a call-to-action button that pops up when someone clicks “Free Upgrade” to incentivize them to take action on it.
Evoke Emotion
Your CTA should make readers feel something. If you’re offering an ebook download, make it interesting enough that readers will want to click on it and read more about your offer. It’s also pragmatic: If your offer is something that will persuade people to buy, then you have to play on the emotion of fear or desire.
Try First-Person Vs. Second-Person
Should your call-to-action text use first-person or second-person language? It’s the eternal question. Most people prefer calls to action that include “you” because it makes them feel like they are being addressed directly, but the second person works well, too.
Test, Test, And Test Some More
What are you testing? Your CTA button should be an experiment because it is a part of your marketing strategy. You can test different forms of text and images to see what works best for your audience and with your sales copy.
The Bottom Line
Your CTA text should entice your readers to act on the offer. If you don’t have an offer, make it about the benefit of taking that action. The text should be engaging and compel the reader to take action immediately.
Whether it’s a popup CTA button or a direct call-to-action button that pops up, you can use them to drive people to take action on your offer. Remember that popups are annoying to some people, but they’re not all bad. If you have an important product or service that people need and want badly enough, use popup CTA buttons and other calls-to-action forms in your marketing strategy by breaking up those long sales pages into sections.
