The Key to a Killer Call to Action

It’s no secret that the not-so humble CTA represents one of the most important elements in any marketing strategy. It’s also no secret that the effective and strategic use of CTAs can make the most incredible difference to conversion rates.
The question being – what’s the secret (or secrets) to the kinds of CTAs that deliver measurable and on-going
improvements?

First Person Voice

Well, first of all you might want to think about switching things over to a first-person voice. For example, rather than using a CTA such as “Claim Your Free XXX…” you could instead try “Claim My Free XXX…” Despite the fact that they’re technically the same, research has shown that a first-person voice can improve click-thru rates by as much as 90%.

Use Arrows

The whole idea of a CTA is of course that it grabs the attention of the visitor and stands out in its own right. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean it cannot be surprisingly effective to make additional efforts to point out the CTA itself. Believe it or not, research has shown that simply adding an arrow to the page which highlights the CTA can potentially improve conversion rates by as much as 25%. Call it pointing out the obvious all you like – it gets the job done!

Double CTA

In this instance, it’s basically just a case of doubling-up your efforts with two CTAs on the same page. But the important thing to remember is that just because you have two CTAs on one page, this doesn’t mean that they have to point to the same thing. Nor do they have to be positioned in close proximity to one another. You could have one CTA toward the top of the page inviting customers to “Learn More” along with a second somewhat further down inviting them to “Start My Free Trial” or anything else of relevance.

Use Action Words

In terms of what exactly it means to use action words, this basically means the kinds of words that encourage the visitor to take action to one extent or another. Obvious examples being ‘Learn’ more, ‘Get’ your free XXX, ‘Start’ your free trial and so on. Research having shown that action words have the potential to be uniquely effective when it comes to encouraging site users to take action respectively.

Be Specific

Last but not least, one of the most critically important things you absolutely must do when it comes to CTAs is be blindingly specific. The simple fact of the matter being that nobody is going to bother with your CTAs if they do not know exactly what it is they are going to get/do by clicking it. A prime example being that of switching the usual “download now” button for one that reads “Get My Free Copy of XXX Now” – the latter having far more impact and appeal.
Of course, what represents an effective CTA in terms of content and placement is something that will always vary from one website to the next. As such, and particularly given the fact that it is a relatively easy process to carry out, plenty of experimentation and analysis of performance comes highly recommended.