Wikipedia provides a good definition:
Call to action (CTA) is a marketing term for any design to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate sale. A CTA most often refers to the use of words or phrases that can be incorporated into sales scripts, advertising messages, or web pages, which compel an audience to act in a specific way.
A call to action can take up different forms depending on the product or service your are looking to promote. For example, if you're an accountant or a personal financial advisor, where it's expected that you will have an ongoing relationship with the prospect; you will be need too have an exploratory meeting to see if there are reciprocal benefits to both you as the provider and them as the customer. In this case, the CTA will most likely be recommending a phone call or video call as part of the initial engagement.
However, if you're offering a download, PDF or invitation to sign up to a newsletter then your CTA will most likely include:
“Buy Now” or “Download Now” are typical examples of simple calls to action.
But a CTA can run longer, too, such as “Subscribe today so you’ll never miss a post.” The possibilities are endless.
Your call to action is your key element when it comes to your lead generation efforts, it acts as a signpost that lets the user know what to do next. Without a clear CTA, your prospects may not know the next steps to take in order to purchase a product, service or sign up for a newsletter and is likely to leave without accomplishing their task.
No matter what your intentions are in communicating with your prospects, you should always consider a CTA.
A good CTA can help with decision fatigue and give meaning to your content. Even if it’s just a two-word phrase, users need some direction to know what to do next.
CTAs that create a sense of urgency will also help increase conversions.
As long as it induces potential customers to get in touch, then your call to action has done its job.
Note that having one CTA highlighted is the most common way. At the same time, some marketers use both primary and secondary call to actions in their marketing. We’ll review some best practices of this later on.
The LeadHootz template manager allows for marketing placeholders to appear anywhere in the message, however, typically they will appear at the end of a message.
Lead generation is all about getting users to respond and engage. However, it’s no longer as easy as it sounds. With the vast majority of recipients say there are “too many spammy messages.” appearing in their inbox.
It’s tough out there.
To combat this, increase your conversions and engagement with a compelling call to action on your LeadHootz messages. Let’s see how you can achieve this.
Understanding your prospects needs, requires some thought. If you already have an ideal customer, you're halfway there.
Consider asking your ideal customers why they have chose you as a provider. Find out what pain points that your association with them have solved. Replaying these back to new prospects will help them to identify you as an authority, a specialist and a credible solution and asset to their business.
Writing short and strong CTAs is not only more persuasive, but it’s also necessary due to the character limits on some social media platforms. Start with a verb (“buy”) and follow with an adverb (“now”) or a subject (“ebook”) or both.
Here are two call to action examples to the above statement: “Buy Now” or “Download this ebook now.”
Below are some of the most common call to action verbs broken down by intention. Simply pair them with the offering of your business.
| Most Common Purpose | CTAs |
| Ecommerce | Buy, Shop, Order, Reserve, Save, Add to Cart, Pick, View |
| SaaS conversion | Try, Get Started, Subscribe, Sign Up |
| Non-profit conversion | Donate, Commit, Volunteer, Adopt, Give, Support |
| Newsletter or community | Subscribe, Join, Sign Up, Refer, |
| Freebie giveaway | Download, Get, Grab, Claim, Take advantage of |
| General | Learn More, See More, See How, Start, Find Out, Check it Out, Click here, Continue, Swipe Up, |
If you want to evoke an emotional response in your users, opt for a longer CTA. You’ll need to incorporate more modifiers in this case to get the desired effect.
Here are some examples:
You don’t need to stick to the good old examples, though. Get creative and make up your own call to actions.
First, verbalize to yourself what your company does for its customers (or simply look at your mission statement). For example, I run a spa where people get facial treatments.
Next, transform the verbs and modifiers into a 2-5 word call to action. Add relevant information where necessary → “Get a free mud mask” or “Treat yourself today!”
Tip: nobody gets their CTAs right the first time. Run at least one A/B test (but preferably more) on your ad to evaluate the strength of your call to action.
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