Did you know that emails with a single Call-To-Action (CTA) can increase clicks 371% and sales 1,617%? According to WordStream.
What is a call to action you ask? If you're new to the CTA, here’s a quick definition;
Call-To-Action (CTA) is basically an invitation to your readers or visitors that inspires them to take a certain action.
The HubSpot Academy definition says: "A Call-To-Action (CTA) is a button or link that you place on your website to drive prospective customers to become leads by filling out a form on a landing page. A CTA is the link between the regular content that your potential customer is interested in, and a page with a more high-value offer on it (the landing page) that is relevant and interesting enough to persuade your visitor to complete a short form."
These days, when we browse through websites, newsletters and even when reading emails, we constantly encounter these - ‘pop-ups’ offering new products, cute rounded orange buttons nudging to subscribe to newsletters, an invitation for trial offer or a ‘Free E-Book download’ bar, located at the bottom of a blog…
Yes, all of these are clearly a Call-To-Action. They're the catalyst in any ‘lead generation mechanism’ helping to convert visitors into leads and potential customers.
The CTA example below from Element 7 Digital encourages downloading an E-Book:
But here’s the catch, not all CTAs are... say, ‘click worthy’.
You must have come across those pesky ‘pop-ups’ that jump right in front of your face. The ones that block the articles you're trying to read, and enjoy. But, guess what? Not anymore…
Because, the CTA interrupted with your flow, some of these ‘pop-up-CTAs’ can be so annoying and disruptive, that you’d rather cross it off, or worse, click out!
Now that’s a huge blow to content creators and marketers. What’s the point in ‘Pied-Pipering’ tons of traffic to your website when your CTA's cannot furnish a single lead?
An effective Call-To-Action (CTA) is one that;
- Is simple, clear and highly visible.
- Pushes benefits over the features – thus enticing the readers.
- Follows a visual hierarchy or a path to conversion.
- Adds a sense of Urgency – persuades visitors to take action ‘now’.
- Motivates the reader into a deeper engagement.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Let’s look into some effective Call-To-Action hacks, which will help convert traffic and stack up your leads:
1. The Right Placement – Finding your readers’ eyes.
It's crucial to understand where your readers’ eyes fall when they first look at your web page. If you can place your CTAs in the trajectory of the readers’ eye, you’ll have a good chance of them clicking on it.
It's proven that people follow an ‘F’ shaped pattern when reading web content as shown below in the eye-tracking heat maps.
Courtesy of: neilpatel.com
The reader tends to go with a horizontal movement from the top, followed by another horizontal movement below the first. The third vertical movement below the two bars, completes the shape of the letter ‘F’.
Following this trajectory of the visitors’ eye, it shows they first read in a horizontal movement, above the fold. Thus a CTA placed above the fold will significantly boost the click-through rates.
Below is an example of CTA button at Crazyegg, which is placed above the fold;
2. Colours and Contrast – Entertain the ‘Lizard’ Brain
We're often reminded of the nature of our ‘reptilian’ or the ‘survival brain’ when we make the ‘fight or flight’ response, in any threatening circumstances.
This survival instinct is also associated with an intrinsic nature to differentiate the changes in our surroundings. Our brain instinctively finds and zooms into the unusual detections – the ‘odd one out’.
In the example below on button treatments from Copyblogger, we can see two different variations of CTAs showing changes in the copy, contrast and colour.
CONTROL
In the above CONTROL sets, the one that is different from the other two is the final one to the right with a different copy, also supported by an additional copy below the first line. The lizard brain is most entertained by the third button, which would garner more clicks.
However, a further two different button treatments were carried out for the paid conversions, as shown below.
VARIATION B
In VARIATION B, a second line of copy was added to the buttons, along with a different coloured button (green) for the middle of the road plan.
VARIATION C
In VARIATION C, everything is the same as ‘B’, except the colour of the middle of the road plan, which is orange.The test results showed that, VARIATION B with the green button had an 81% lift over the control, while VARIATION C with the orange button, had a 95% lift over the control.
The assumption that our brain favours contrast and is geared to focus on the ‘one that stands out’ holds true – A neat hack for our CTA buttons!
3. Bring out the sense of Urgency
One thing that really inspires people to take action besides compelling copy, is to fill CTAs with words exuding urgency.
Conversionxl claims to have increased its conversions by 332% using scarcity and urgency. However, Marcus Taylor from Conversionxl, says URGENCY in CTAs only works if:
- Your offer is clear.
- You increase the relevancy of your offer to your user personas.
- You increase your value proposition.
- You increase trust.
- You eliminate distractions.
Check out the following two examples of variations tested on an offer’s landing page. The first one being VARIATION A, doesn’t convey any urgency, whereas the second one VARIATION B conveys urgency:
VARIATION A
VARIATION B
The results of the tests came out with VARIATION B outperforming VARIATION A by threefold, with its remaining download timings and ‘bundle bought’ copies.
Well placed urgent but powerful words such as; ‘Now’, ‘Today’, ‘Take Your Offer’, ‘Get Started’, etc., will gather more clicks for you as they engage people into taking the action.
CTAs are integral components of the Inbound Marketing Mechanism that help capture leads and instigate the buyer’s journey to the next level into the customer funnel. However, regular A/B tests for CTAs to ensure maximum conversion rates, should be the norm for all Content marketers.
If you'd like more assistance with keywords or want to discuss anything covered today, we'd love to hear from you.
Call Andy Fox (me) on (03) 5249 5570 or email andy@element7digital.com.au
Our Website is element7digital.com.au
