One of the most under-appreciated strategies in marketing, yet, one of the most powerful, is the call to action. There is a huge misconception that the call to action is a simple prompt at the end of a message that will direct viewers to buy. As much as we’d like to believe that your video, website, ad, or email, is just THAT good, and that every viewer who comes across your message will make it to the end and act in the exact way you had intended—we know better. You could develop the most killer marketing video—but without a proper call to action, your efforts may be wasted if your audience isn’t sure what to do next, or how to do it.
Being knowledgeable about the call to action will allow you to better customize your CTA to more effectively move the audience to the next step. Because, well, that is exactly the point of the call to action. Doing this will help you jump ahead of the competition and, ultimately, boost engagement and ROI.
All your hard work should not be wasted because of a poor CTA. Here are some do’s and don’ts of creating a CTA that will not only motivate action but increase meaningful engagement.
Do create a clear CTA
Providing a call to action without any context could prevent viewers from clicking. Using “submit” or “download” is not clear enough and might make potential customers nervous about the why behind the button or where they will be taken after clicking. You have limited space to appeal to the audience, so be clear in what you want to say, and don’t leave any question as to what you want people to do.
Consider using verbs that inspire action to leave no question about what will follow
- learn
- discover
- start
- build
These verbs are some of the most effective, according to Wishpond, and that’s why so many CTA buttons use them. These words are motivating and clear about what will happen next. For example, “start a free trial” or “learn more about our service” inspires action with a clear expectation of what will happen next.
Do stay true to your brand, but keep in mind what consumers want to see
CTA color
There is no doubt that the brain will be drawn to certain designs, colors, and texts, so it is important to keep this in mind while still allowing your brand to show through. Do draw as much attention to the CTA as possible to attract the most traffic, but don’t overdo it and use obnoxious colors. Incorporate colors from your brand and use complimentary colors when you can. You can’t go wrong with blue and green, and red is eye-catching and often signifies confidence.
CTA size
Again, you want your call to action to stand out, but not overpower your message. If the context of your button is clear, there will be no need to insert a button half the size of your video, website, or email. The larger the action, the larger the button should be. If the CTA is prompting people to buy, your button should be larger than a button motivating people to “continue” or “read more.”
CTA gratification
People want to feel satisfied in their decision to act. Test your CTA to be sure that people will be instantly gratified by receiving the exact response expected from the call the action. This helps build trust with the potential customer and creates opportunity to further build customer relationships. Nothing will affect your conversion rate more than requesting an email submission after someone clicked on a “learn more” button or accidentally sending someone to an error page after they clicked on a “subscribe to emails” button. This is not only annoying, but comes off as misleading or untrustworthy.
Do recognize engagement opportunities
Ultimately, the end goal is always the sale, however, don’t always shoot to sell. CTA’s should not always direct people to buy. Recognize that everyone is at a different stage in the buying journey so you don’t come off as pushy. Building relationships with leads and nurturing existing customers is just as important as making the sale.
Motivate action through your CTA to schedule a demo or free trial, or talk directly to a sales rep to learn more about your company and product.
Give potential customers the opportunity to be more educated on your product by prompting them to sign up for your newsletter or subscribe to emails.
Increase the number of chances you have to engage by jumping on opportunities to build trust with your CTA.
Don’t wait until the end of the message to insert the CTA
Do not follow any rule that says the CTA should only be at the end of your message. Whether you are sending an email, posting a video, or placing CTA buttons on your website, consider that not everyone will make it to the end. Chances are, your message isn’t going to resonate with every viewer, so consider that your message might not hold a person’s interest until the end. Only placing CTA’s at the end puts you at risk of losing a large percentage of people who drop off mid-message.
Distractions also play a huge role in why you should place a call to action before the end of the message, so people can engage as soon as their emotions are peaked.
Here are some things to consider when deciding where to insert your CTA.
In your videos
- Average video view time on Facebook is 18.2 seconds
- Twitter users watch an average of 5.9 seconds of in-feed auto-play video
- 33% of viewers will stop watching video after 30 seconds
- 45% of viewers will stop watching video after 45 seconds
- 65% of viewers skip online video ads as soon as possible
In your emails
CTA’s in an email should reflect the average time spent reading an email. Surprisingly, the amount of time spent reading an email has increased over the years to just over 11 seconds.
On your website
Consider the average time visitors spend exploring. On average, 15 seconds is all you’ve got before the visitor is on to the next, so placing a CTA at the top, side, or middle of the page, will be most effective.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
Play around with your call to action to better understand what works. The CTA on your website isn’t getting the conversion rates you hoped for? Adjust the size, colors, or location to see what works best. Your CTA may need only the slightest modification to increase engagement.
CTA’s are meant to be measured and analyzed. There is no easier way to discover how well your call to action is performing than with the use of software, like taggCRM.
TaggCRM will allow you to make informed decisions when tweaking your call to action. You can use tagg analytics to guide your next move when trying to figure out the best call to action to place on your website, email, or video post to social media.
Did the call to action get the most clicks after 5 seconds or 12? Do more people take action in emails or on the website? These questions will be answered, and you’ll have more time to decide how to act on the information provided by taggCRM. Check out the video below.
TaggCRM gives you the ability to place CTA’s anywhere, at any point in your message, to benefit your brand the most. Develop a clear and direct call to action, stay true to your brand, and let taggCRM handle the rest.