In the second part of our CTA How-To, we’re going to walk you through writing an effective CTA. If you’ve forgotten what a CTA is, check out our first blog on the subject and qualify for a chance to win $1,000 here. Once you’re done catching up, come back to learn how to lower your bounce rate, increase your conversions, and deliver higher quality clients to your conversion pages, all by using better Calls to Action.

Five Simple Steps to More Conversions

I’m keeping this one basic, but if you’d like more advanced tips on creating your CTA’s (device specific, capitalization tricks, and hacks for targeting on PPC advertisements) you can reach out and schedule a consultation. Just book an appointment for a one-on-one here.

Keep it Simple

Call to actions should be short, to the point, and easy to understand. Begin by asking yourself what you actually want the user to do, then tell them to do it in as few words as possible. While there is room for creativity in CTAs, the best results often come from direct commands that tell the reader exactly what they are walking into. Subscribe, Join Our Newsletter, Add to Cart, Become a Ninja Turtle, these are all great examples of clear concise language that work.

Keeping it simple means keeping it visually simple as well. Make sure your CTA is easy to see, not lost in a cluttered image or camouflaged amid superfluous copy. Whether it is a button, a link, or a banner, make sure it is easy to find. Customers can’t click what they can’t see. Except maybe Daredevil.  

Go Dark Side, Use Powerful Emotions

Your Call to Action is not the time to use Zen-like, meditative language. Your CTA is a chance to capitalize on emotions, and you should make the most of the opportunity. Create a sense of urgency or scarcity, making readers afraid they will miss out on something valuable if they don’t click that button RIGHT NOW. Get Your Free Sample While They Last, Claim Your FREE Upgrade in the Next Five MINUTES, Only 25 Left, Get Yours Now! Each of these plays on the Fear of Missing Out, or FOMO, and makes a strong emotional appeal to take action right away.

Your emotional appeal should mirror your Brand and your goals, so don’t feel as though fear is the only tool in your belt. Other commonly used emotions are Humor, Romantic Appeal, Social Appeal, Charitable Appeal, and Sexual Appeal. Use your imagination to find ways to appeal to anger, sadness, guilt, longing, whatever suits your conversion goal, and when you’re ready to step up your game start experimenting with multiple emotional appeals in the same CTA. Disney is the master of the double emotional appeal, telling parents they can give their kids a magical experience with a special package available for a limited time only. Pulling on the heartstrings while laying down the FOMO? It might sound like a dirty move, but the results are magic.

Make it Safe

If you want people to click your CTA, it needs to be Risk-Free, Cost-Free, and Obligation-Free. These three “safety blankets” are crucial if you want to create effective CTAs, and are often overlooked by business owners trying to run their own websites, advertisements and sales campaigns.

What does that look like? It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish, but common examples include “Click Here for Your Free Download,” or “Cancel Anytime, Start Your Free Trial.” The key element is to play to the consumer’s confidence, letting them know you aren’t tricking them into a commitment.

Show Them the Value

The best CTAs make their value obvious. If we put a button right here that said, “Click for a $1,000 Amazon.com gift certificate,” we’d get a LOT of clicks, more than if it said, “Click if you like Amazon.com.” The goal is to make the value of the click obvious, not to make them guess.

Digital Marketing provides a special opportunity that other forms of marketing do not, the chance to deliver immediate value and instant gratification. Through websites, advertisements, and email campaigns, you can add real value immediately by attaching downloadable content, free videos, and valuable online resources for your customers. Using these opportunities to demonstrate obvious value is a sure way to enhance your CTAs (or utilize secondary Calls to Action, ask us about more tips on those beauties!). If you’re having a hard time showing value, look into free downloadable assets that supplement your primary conversion goals.

Pro-Tip: Have a Little Fun

There are a number of ways to step up your CTA and demonstrate personality. While you still have to maintain a clear, safe, valuable Call to Action, it doesn’t always have to be as boring as “Submit, Subscribe, Order Now” or “Learn More.” Doing something as simple as writing in First Person gives your CTAs personality without sacrificing effectiveness.

“Schedule My Appointment,” “Evaluate My Website,” and “Sign Me Up” have more character than “Schedule an Appointment,” “Register for an Evaluation,” or “Sign Up.” It is a subtle change, one barely noticeable at a glance, but one that changes your reader’s relationship with the CTA, making it personal, engaging, and safe without sacrificing any effective elements.

Want to know learn more?  

If you’re in the Cookeville or Upper Cumberland area, reach out to AE Digital Marketing. We’re the local Marketing Agency with a National Network of Marketing Professionals, and we want to help your business grow.

Are you reading this from somewhere else in Tennessee? Another state altogether? That’s okay, we don’t have to sit in the same room to deliver value to your business. Check out our new Level-Up Webinar Series here, and get free tips and tutorials to help take your marketing to the next level. No commitment, nothing to buy, just better marketing resources and results for your company.