What is a Call to Action?

A Call to Action (often referred to as CTA) is a concise prompt on your website, e-mail, or other content that encourages visitors to take a specific action and further engaging with your brand. To be impactful, a CTA should clearly communicate the benefits or outcomes of taking immediate action. CTAs can be presented as clickable text, buttons, or images, guiding viewers toward the next desired step.

In essence, CTAs are designed to entice and motivate viewers to act, depending on the goal or purpose of the content.

Some examples of CTA wording may include:

  • Start your free trial today
  • Download your comprehensive guide now
  • Join our VIP community
  • Get 50% off your first purchase
  • Subscribe for exclusive updates
  • Book your appointment now
  • Unlock premium content
  • Claim your limited-time offer
  • Get a personalised demo
  • Shop now and save

Whether you’re looking to increase the number of subscribers to your newsletter or convince your visitors to make a purchase, you need the best possible call-to-action to get them there.

CTAs are an effective way to encourage your audience to continue interacting with your brand, website, or blog. Without them, your potential customer may be unsure where to go next to continue interacting with your brand, and, as a result, they are more likely to abandon your page or site for lack of direction and look elsewhere, such as to your competitors.

What is the Impact of a Good (and a Bad) Call To Action?

With all the work that goes into creating a digital marketing plan, the last thing you want is for your audience to go elsewhere without taking any action after spending time on your content.

CTAs can motivate your audience to enter into deeper engagement with your brand, such as following you on social media where you can share more content.

The impact of a good CTA can also add to your marketing assets by growing your e-mail list, so you have a broader set of leads to nurture and build relationships with.

Ultimately, a good  Call to Action can impact your lead generation, improve your conversions, and even increase your sales.

A bad CTA, on the other hand, can drive potential customers away. An example of a bad CTA resulting in a negative reaction by viewers is making it too salesy, turning them away from your product or service and losing their trust. Also, if your CTA is too long or generic, viewers may skim right over it without acting.

How Do You Write a Fantastic Call to Action?

To benefit from a Call to Action, it needs to be fantastic and irresistible to your targeted audience.

To write one of these, start by determining the goal, or intention, behind each Call to Action. Is it to boost conversions, increase subscriptions, capture e-mails, or direct viewers to other content on your website?

Next, understand your buyer personas and speak to them where they are on their buyer’s journey; using different CTAs at different stages.

But this should only be the starting point, remember to always contextualise CTAs in a way that they communicate the benefits or outcomes of taking immediate action.

Write your CTA following these tips:

  1. Keep it short
    • Heading - 2 to 6 words is best.
    • Description - Aim for about 25 words and get straight to the point.
    • Link - Be sure to select a link that will take your reader to the desired action and keep the name or label short, 3 to 4 words is best. 
  2. Use action words and phrases
    • Use your CTA to compel viewers to take immediate action using action words or phrases.
  3. Add a sense of urgency or immediacy
    • With so much noise online and in everyday life, visitors can easily become distracted. 
    • By including a sense of urgency or immediacy in your CTA, it can move viewers to take action immediately instead of allowing a distraction to move them away from your offer. 
    • An example of words to use includes “limited time offer”, which conveys a sense of urgency to respond right away.
  4. Emphasise no-obligation, low risk
    • Direct your CTA to something of high quality, beneficial to your viewer but also low risk, such as a no-obligation offer. 
    • Avoid any pressure tactics and let your viewer know that by clicking on your CTA, they are not committing to anything just yet. 
    • For example, you can use “Get a No-Obligation Free Trial” to emphasise low risk.

How do I edit the home page Call to Action?

To edit the home page Call to Action do the following:-

  1. First tap or click  Call to action from the menu;
  2. Then update the displayed fields as needed:-
    • Display this section in menu's and on the home page - Select if the Call to Action section is to be displayed. If it is to be displayed, choose whether this will show on the home page and have a link in the menu, or if it will just show as a section on the home page.
    • Call to Action title - Enter a short and catchy title that will grab your visitors attention, prompting them to take action. Try to keep this less than 6 words long and be sure to include at least 1 keyword to help boost your on page SEO.
    • Call to Action details - Enter details about the action you are intending your visitors to take. Aim for about 25 words and try to include at least 2 keywords to help boost your on page SEO.
    • Call to Action button name - Give the button a descriptive label, something that will make your visitor want to tap or click it. You should keep this 3 or 4 words long and be sure that the label relates to the link you selected above. To help boost your on page SEO, avoid generic terms like 'Click Here', or 'Read More'.
    • Call to Action button link - Use the drop down box and select where visitors should be directed to when clicking the Call to Action button. You can choose to direct your visitor to another page you have created, a section on your home page (like your contact form), one of your social platforms, or if you select your contact number here your visitors mobile device will initiate a telephone call.
  3. Finally, tap or click Save Changes.

How do I edit a pages Call to Action?

To edit the Call to Action on a specific Page, do the following:-

  1. First tap or click  Pages from the menu;
  2. Then tap or click to Page you want to edit;
  3. Now update the following fields as needed:-
    • Call to action box:-
      • Call to Action title - Enter a short and catchy title that will grab your visitors attention, prompting them to take action. Try to keep this less than 6 words long and be sure to include at least 1 keyword to help boost your on page SEO.
      • Call to Action details - Enter details about the action you are intending your visitors to take. Aim for about 25 words and try to include at least 2 keywords to help boost your on page SEO.
      • Call to Action button name - Give the button a descriptive label, something that will make your visitor want to tap or click it. You should keep this 3 or 4 words long and be sure that the label relates to the link you selected above. To help boost your on page SEO, avoid generic terms like 'Click Here', or 'Read More'. 
      • Call to Action button link - Use the drop down box and select where visitors should be directed to when clicking the Call to Action button. You can choose to direct your visitor to another page you have created, a section on your home page (like your contact form), one of your social platforms, or if you select your contact number here your visitors mobile device will initiate a telephone call.
  4. Finally, tap or click Save Changes.

Note

When you first create a new Page the Call to Action will default to the Call to Action details used on you home page. Changing the Call to Action on a specific Page does not affect other Calls to Action you have setup.