The call to action has a fundamental mission within your inbound marketing strategy: to convert anonymous users into leads, contacts, or even customers. Therefore, you must understand what it is and how you can use it to generate more sales for your business.

What are CTAs, and why should you use them?

A call to action is a phrase, word, or interface element (usually a button) that invites users to take a specific action such as buying, registering or requesting more information.

You can use them on your website, on Facebook, Instagram or any other social network, in your articles and posts, in videos, landing pages, sales letters, contests or promotions, emails, newsletters and anything that has your target audience as the final recipient.

Call to action is an essential element for making users connect with us and take a specific action.

Think about it:

How will you get your audience to take the action you want if you don’t tell them directly?

In something as obvious as this lies the key, and this is precisely the function of calls to action: to friendly tell your audience what they have to do in such a compelling way that they want to run and do it.

So whether you are familiar with CTAs or not, make them your best friend because they have a lot to offer you if you learn how to use them well. 

The objectives of Call to Action

Calls to action are used to achieve various objectives, such as:

• Increase conversions in e-commerce or online shop.
• Convert visitors into leads.
• Generate visits.
• Announce an offer.
• Encourage the download of digital content.
• Nurture leads.
• Promote an event, special offer, or a course.

Why is the Call to Action important in inbound marketing?

Because it is a valuable resource created to capture and accompany the potential customer during their buying cycle, leading them to the goal of converting them into a final customer.

6 tips for a compelling CTA

For a call to action to be effective, it must fulfill a series of characteristics. It must be:

• Attractive. 

The use of language that is appealing is an absolutely essential key. The tone used must be perfectly adapted to the target audience, and at the same time, it must depart from conventional words. For example, instead of using the typical “Subscribe to our newsletter,” you can say, “Join the 50,000 subscribers who already enjoy our content”. In addition, the proposal that is launched to the user must be interesting and offer something of value. Incentives and corporate swag are always very welcome.

• Short and clear. 

Clarity and brevity are essential elements so that the user does not hesitate to click. You should not make CTA texts longer than 140 characters.

• Easy-to-understand.

Everything should be easy for the potential customer. An engagement process that is cumbersome or complicated for the user will never have good results. You must ensure agility. It is advisable to pay special attention to the loading time of landing pages.

• Carefully designed. 

Details are essential and can make a massive difference in the results. Colors convey different meanings and sensations and therefore have very different effects. Choosing the best location for the button is also crucial. It should be eye-catching without being obtrusive. If needed, you can always use arrows or any other markers to guide your users’ attention.

• Adapted to the target audience. 

Segmenting and knowing the target audience well is a fundamental key for the call to action to generate the desired effects. Inadequate targeting of a specific type of audience can lead to a large number of conversions being lost, so better let the professional research helpers define it for you if you have doubts. Besides, it is crucial to ensure that the language of the site the user lands on does not clash with the original site from which they are accessing it. Maintaining coherence is vital, and yet this is not always the case.

• Conveying a need for speed or urgency of action. 

Using expressions such as “enroll now,” “book for free,” or “contact us now” invites you to make a decision at that precise moment. This concept is known as FOMO (“Fear of Missing Out”). If the user has the feeling that, at any moment, they will be able to do it, then they will let it go, and, very likely, they will not come back. On the other hand, if they have the feeling that there is a shortage of something, they will hurry so as not to miss out on that one chance to have it. Therefore, we recommend using resources such as “more than 3,000 subscribers are already learning with us”, “only for 24 hours”, “only this week,” or “for the first 100 customers”.

Call to action examples

These are some phrases you can use in your calls to action, but remember always to adapt them to your brand and its voice:

• To ask for more information. I want to know more, I want to talk to an expert, I want a free consultation, I’m interested, find out more, we’ll call you, etc.
• To access a product or a download. I want it, I want to buy it now, book now, download the e-book for free, learn (how to manage your social networks for only 5€, WordPress with 20% discount – only 2 days left), etc.
• For a course or an event. Sign up now for only 99€, join now, reserve your seat, I want access to the course, I’m coming, etc.
• For an offer. Try it free for 30 days, get 40% off now, save £20 on your purchase, I want a free trial…

Where to use calls to action

• On the web: either in the header, in the body, or a sidebar.
• On landing pages
• On Instagram, Facebook and other social networks
• In email marketing

Analyze performance to ensure success

The Call To Action is also a valuable tool, as it allows you to track user behavior. Knowing what the potential customer does and wants is what determines the final success of the campaign.

For this reason, it is essential always to carry out a thorough measurement of the effects and results of CTAs: testing the data and drawing conclusions are actions that allow you to optimize calls to action and satisfactorily achieve your objectives.

It is necessary to remember that testing must be constant, as what works today may have changed tomorrow, so it is inherent to the online world to be constantly updated!

If you want to optimize your CTA, you can try some of these ideas:

• Change the color of the CTA.
• Change the text.
• Change the location of the call to action.
• Change the size of the button.
• Add or remove an icon, for example, an arrow.
• Change the animation of the button. If it was static, try giving it a hover effect.

But remember: you do not just make a change but also analyze the results. If you change several things, you won’t know which one worked, so try to limit the number of changes for your convenience.

Now you know how to make your call to action attractive to your users. Follow the tips we have given you, and you will increase your click-through rate.