Understanding the Power of CTAs
I find calls to action rather curious. They’re a bit like flirting - either you’re bold and clear about what you want, or you’re lost in a sea of missed connections and wasted effort. Not everyone remembers CTAs are at the heart of every landing page, email campaign, or social post worth its salt. Strange thing is, some brands can be quite clear about what their CTA will do for their audience and yet not get the expected result.
A common reason appears to be a lack of clarity and purpose. If you think about it, it’s easy to stand on your soapbox and talk to people on the internet about what they should do, but can you promise them something in return. Your CTA can.
The power of a good call to action is fairly in its ability to be specific, communicate value instantly, and encourage users to act now - not later - now. If your CTA's really going to do all that much heavy lifting for your brand or business, it's got to be visible, direct, accessible, catchy and actionable. Anything less is nearly always just another phrase on your webpage that no one will look at twice.
At least not after they see it once. It might sound rather harsh but marketing’s always been a tough nut to crack. More or less. Think about all the times you’ve walked past a charming display board outside a cafe only to decide against it because their offerings weren’t immediately clear.
Or all the times you saw an ad while scrolling through Instagram and put off visiting their website for later. Same mechanism, different format.
Crafting Compelling CTA Copy
We see all these big brands and think, oh they must have some hypnotic tactics to get people to buy more. The secret is a lot less sinister, I promise. In fact, more often than not the tactics aren’t as complex as we think.
It’s the small things that add up to something big - like your call-to-action buttons. Think about it.
You’ve spent a decent amount of time working on your marketing campaign - why settle for a drab CTA button. Sort of. Compelling copy is what can tip the scale in your favour because everyone likes feeling like they’re being heard and their needs are being met.
When you craft a compelling CTA, consider what would make you click on one. Customising the message for your target audience (keeping it short and sweet, by the way. ) will encourage them to take action. But there’s more to it than just copy.
Placement and design are equally important. If you want people to buy something, put the Buy Now button somewhere they can see it clearly - don’t play hide and seek with potential customers. Another thing that may seem insignificant but isn’t at all is clarity in messaging. Don’t use complicated language when simple words will do.
What makes all this work so well together is making people feel safe enough to convert into buyers because you’ve also been honest and transparent about who you are and how you protect their information online. At the end of the day, crafting compelling CTAs is about being creative while also putting yourself in someone else’s shoes - so don’t overthink it.
Designing Eye-Catching CTA Buttons
There’s something slightly underhanded about a button. I can’t help but think of the person who first came up with it as a means of getting people to do things. Some poor sod was probably so sick of always telling people what to do that they invented a little button. And then others found it easier than having to make decisions for themselves, so they started pressing it.
It’s a bit like an inanimate Simon Says. When we look at the psychology of why we click on a CTA button, it makes sense to think about the times when we do, and what compelled us to do so. Sort of.
Was it the colour. The font. The size.
Or was it the fact that you didn’t really have much of an alternative. You either press this button or exit the site - which feels like choosing between going down the slip and slide or running away from your mate's house.
When designing a CTA, I think this is sometimes where we often make our mistake. We focus so much on the product and what we want to say, that we forget that people are going to have feelings about how we’re saying it. What we need to do is visualise all those little details that make us feel the way we feel when we visit other websites - as consumers ourselves - and keep those in mind when designing a CTA button for our own sites.
Sort of. And, let’s face it - being mindful and inclusive never hurt anyone. So maybe think less ‘my way or the highway’, and more ‘my way or my way’ (with inclusivity). It makes people feel like they want to press your little button because they want to, not because you threatened them with a long walk home from their friend’s house.
Timing Your CTAs for Maximum Impact
Timing is nearly always everything. I’ve found myself staring at the clock too many times, waiting for something to happen. I Doubt whether it’s getting my turn at the bank, or ordering my lunch and waiting for it to arrive, timing is inescapable.
But, what about timing in marketing. When it comes to compelling customers to take action, the right call-to-action (CTA) can work wonders. It’s a gold mine of sorts - making your audience do what you want them to, by playing your cards right. It seems like and one of these cards is timing.
A CTA that is too early can leave your audience perplexed, while a delayed one can make them lose interest. It seems like in either case, the result is a lack of conversions and disappointed marketers. Not quite a great combination if you ask me.
The secret lies in striking the right balance between a strong message and even stronger timing. Let’s explore how this comes together in web pages - a CTA asking your customer to book an appointment after they’ve scrolled through your page and read all about you and your services is impactful and meaningful. A CTA showing up on their screen as soon as they visit your website not so much. It’s also worth noting that CTAs are powerful across platforms.
But, it’s their timing that makes all the difference in conversions. An email newsletter CTA that says ‘Book Now’ at the end of the email is more likely to receive engagement because the customer has read through all the information you’ve given them about your brand before deciding whether they want to convert or not. CTAs bring content together and are a true reflection of action-oriented communication in marketing. While I do think every marketer must learn how to write them (because there are potentially a ton of badly written CTAs doing rounds), it might be equally important to know when they must be used.
Because let’s be honest, if an email doesn’t compel you enough, you’re more likely than not going to unsubscribe from it - either immediately, or eventually.
A/B Testing Your CTAs for Optimal Performance
We all know how vital CTAs are for driving action. Even the smallest tweaks can allegedly have a fairly big impact on your website’s conversion rate. That’s why A/B testing is such a critical step in fine-tuning your calls to action. By systematically comparing two versions of a CTA, you can figure out which version drives better results based on actual data.
To conduct an A/B test for CTAs, start by identifying one variable to test at a time - whether it’s copy, colour, placement, or design. Next, create two different versions (A and B) and randomly show each version to visitors. It’s a good idea to use tools like Google Optimize or Optimizely as they make the process so much easier.
After the test runs for a predetermined period and has enough traffic to achieve statistical significance, measure the performance metrics such as click-through rates (CTR) or conversion rates. More or less. This will help you determine which version is more effective.
Some best practices for A/B testing CTAs include focusing on a single element at a time so that you can easily track which changes make an impact. It’s also important to define clear goals and metrics upfront and ensure that you have enough traffic to get meaningful results. And remember to continually iterate and test new variations based on the insights gained from previous tests.
When you regularly A/B test your CTAs, you can continuously refine them for optimal performance and maximise conversion rates over time. This data-driven approach ensures that your CTAs are not just based on assumptions but are backed by real user behaviour and preferences. Although not every test may lead to significant improvements (that would be unrealistic), the cumulative effect of ongoing optimisation can result in substantial gains in overall website performance and revenue generation.
Analyzing CTA Effectiveness and Making Adjustments
It’s probably fair to say we all want more instant conversions from our digital marketing efforts. And CTAs - calls-to-action - are those ever-so-subtle triggers that take a visitor from the passive consideration phase to the ‘shut up and take my money’ phase. This is rarely obviously an ideal scenario, but it’s not as simple as you might think.
There are a million so-called ‘best practices’ when it comes to CTAs, but do they actually work for your brand or audience. You’ll only know if you track CTA effectiveness, and change them based on what works and what doesn’t. For instance, heat maps are a great way to see which elements on a landing page get the most engagement, including CTAs.
Sort of. Even just changing the colour of a CTA button can lead to better or worse performance, and using these analytics tools helps you understand what tweaks lead to better conversions. Of course, things like A/B testing are also vital in this process.
You may not be able to rely solely on Google Analytics for this purpose anymore since changes were made after 2022; platforms such as VWO are useful alternatives for effective split testing. If there’s one thing that digital marketers must remember about CTAs, it’s that regular analysis and tweaking is absolutely critical. Sure, data-based decision-making can seem like an uphill battle sometimes (we’re looking at you Google Analytics), but once you get the hang of it and build a good cadence for review, your conversions will start going through the roof.
If they don’t, at least you know exactly why they aren’t - no more guesswork.