Creating a good call to action takes time and creativity as they are the most effective elements of digital marketing which make the audience feel motivated to click, read, buy or download something during the conversions, lead generation, email list building or sales process.
Bloggers and entrepreneurs are constantly striving to create brand awareness and build brand credibility in the industry and among their users and audience.
To achieve this goal, every entrepreneur tries to generate leads.
Now, how would someone do that?
The best way is to write a compelling call to action in the advertisement or even in a blog post, that would urge users and readers to go make the purchase.
This is how you convert your ads and traffic to leads and then revenue.
This call to action should be effective and compelling enough so as to drive the audience into purchasing your product or availing your service. Hence, this is an absolutely important part of any ad that you create.
A call to action should tell your audience what to do, the moment they see the ad.
But writing a proper call to action is an area where a lot of people and the best business minds might fail.
It is not a tough task, but there are some great tips and tactics to follow while writing a call to action. We are here to give you the best tips to write the call to action.
Now before we get started, let us understand what call to action is and why it is important.
What is Call to Action?
Call to action is the action that you want your readers to take after they are done reading your content.
A call to action might be present in the form of a link at the end of your article or blog post that will take readers to the product page when they click on it. Or, it can be a link to one of your social media handles where they can ask you further questions and queries.
It can also be a request to your readers to subscribe to your website. It depends on you what you want from your readers and potential customers. You can club it with a free offer for those who perform that action.
But you have to accept that a lot of readers will just read your content and get done with it.
So, the conversion rate can never be 100%. However, there will be certain readers who will click on those links if they find it compelling enough.
They might also want to share the content with others. In that case, also, your call to action becomes extremely important. That might generate you more lead and more revenue.
Your call to action has to be written in the simplest possible words and should be easy to understand. Whatever you want your readers to do, ask them to do that. As simple as that.
Why is Call to Action So Important?
It is a great way to motivate your readers. Most of your readers are going to be reactive, and not proactive.
They will generally click on the links or follow any other call to action only when they are being asked to do so. If it is accompanied by a free offer, they will follow your call to action even more.
Sometimes, a call to action can be as simple as asking your readers to comment on your blog.
Your readers will do it if you ask them to do it. Hence, a clearly defined call to action is very important.
Action induces more action. When a certain section of readers will see that others are commenting on your post, they will be inclined to do that as well.
If some discussion is going on in the comments section, others will want to join in that discussion or debate as well.
Tips to Write the Best Call to Action:
Now that you know why is it so important, let us shift to the main focus of this article, that is, how to write the best call to action that will give you higher conversion and hence higher leads.
1. The command verb in your call to action should be strong:
You do not have a lot of space in your ad or in your post to write a huge call to action.
It should be short, crisp and yet readers should get your point what you want out of them.
So, use one strong command verb in your CTA. with just about 35 characters in one line, make sure you get to the point that you want from your readers.
- If you have an e-commerce website where you are selling your products, mention words like ‘shop now’ or ‘order now’ to give your target audience a sense of urgency.
- If you are asking your readers to subscribe to your newsletter, start with words like ‘Download today’ or ‘Subscribe now’.
- If you want more information about your customers or if you want to conduct a survey, use words or phrases like ‘Fill the form below’ or ‘Find out how..’.
Imagine you have an e-commerce website, and your call to action starts with “We have introduced this new summer collection…”
This is a great introduction, but if you use this as a call to action, you will not get a high CTR or click through rate.
In this case, an “Order today before stocks end” will be more valuable and will give you a higher CTR.
2. Use words that induce a sense of urgency and enthusiasm:
Your call to action should be something that will bring out a very strong response from your readers.
They should be excited and enthusiastic to read your CTA and take action according to it.
For that, even your CTA has to be enthusiastic enough. A call to action like “Order now and avail 30% off” will evoke strong responses from the audience.
That is because along with your call to action, you are also giving your audience a huge benefit.
Another example is, imagine someone is looking to go on a family vacation. In that case, a call to action like “Book your vacation with your family today before your kids’ summer holidays end!” will evoke that sense of urgency.
The exclamation mark at the end further adds to the urgent factor.
Here, even if you do not give a discount, someone who actually wants to go on a family trip will book his vacation right away. So choose your words and the punctuation carefully.
3. Give the readers a strong reason as to why they should do what you are asking them to do:
In simpler words, you have to give your audience a takeaway. They should see how it is going to benefit them.
Will it give them a better life, or help them to save money or make them better at their jobs?
Ask yourself these questions. The answers to these are symmetrical to the USP (Unique Selling Point) of your product or service that your brand provides.
The best way to write a call to action is to club it with the USP of your product and this will subsequently increase the leads.
An example of this would be, “Sign up today to get a free fashion consultation with the industry experts”. Here, you are giving them a call to action, which is that they should sign up today and you are giving them something, that is they are going to get a free fashion consultation on your website. This will entice them to actually sign up to your website.
4. People are always living in the fear of missing out something. Take the most advantage of that
This is one of the best and most popular tactics that entrepreneurs use to create a great and successful call to action.
Fear Of Missing Out, or as millennials call it FOMO, is a real issue.
It is a great motivator that entrepreneurs can use to the best of their abilities. When you make your readers or audience believe that they are losing out on a chance that might not come around again, they will quickly make the purchase, sometimes even if they don’t need it that much.
Effective calls to action like, “Buy xyz today! Sale ends tomorrow” or “Hurry! Last 2 items left” actually prompt your audience to hurry and make the purchase today itself. They will fear missing out on the sale or not getting one of the last 2 items.
5. Different calls to action for various devices:
Writing an effective call to action is very important. But you have to know the difference between user behavior when they access your website from desktops and from phones.
According to Google, desktop/PC/laptop and tabs are the same because of their bigger screen size. So, user behavior across these devices are the same.
But when users are viewing your website from their mobile phones, their behavior is going to be different. So, in such cases, your call to action should be tailored according to the device the user is accessing your website from.
When a user is using their desktop or laptop, they are still in the research phase and have not taken a decision yet probably.
But when a user browses from their mobile phone, it means that they are looking for instant results.
For example, a user sees an ad randomly somewhere on the road that appeals to them. They will take out their phones and search for it, rather than waiting to get to work or home and switch on the desktop to check it out. So, make your CTAs accordingly.
6. Use numbers whenever and wherever possible:
Consumers are known to receive and respond to number better than what they do to texts.
Numbers like price, discount, promotional activities, etc. resonate more with users because it helps them decide whether they are ready to make the purchase.
It also helps them figure out if that item is a necessity that they should be spending on. So, it is better to address your target audience and write a call to action that way, using numbers.
Using pricing information in the ad is actually quite an effective way to write a CTA. That way, if a user still clicks on the link after reading the price details, it means he or she is genuinely interested in the product and there are high chances that they will buy it.
So, this way not only lead and conversion is generated, but you also get the revenue from the sales.
You can try various permutations and combination while experimenting with the price details in the CTA. you can also include other numerical in the call to action copy.
A call to action like “Shop today and avail the best under Rs. 1000” is great in more than one ways. It gives the pricing information and the readers will know if it suits their budget.
It also targets the FOMO aspect. So what your audience will derive from it is that if they do not order today, they might not get it for under Rs. 1000.
7. Your CTA should have an offer that users cannot refuse:
This is the entire point of writing an effective call to action.
Your call to action should evoke urgent emotions in your target audience and they should feel the absolute need to buy the product or anything else that you want your readers to do.
You can include a free trial membership period, or give a certain discount, or any other kind of incentives that will lure your audience into performing the action.
Wrapping Up:
Now you know how important it is to write a compelling call to action for your business to thrive. Without a call to action, your ad copies are useless and the traffic to your site will not give you any conversion.
As earlier mentioned, writing a call to action is not tough, you just have to know the right tactics.