Your Guide to Using Call-to-Action to Drive Conversions

You recently hit publish on a webpage full of copy, and let’s be honest, it’s epic. You could draw anyone in with that hook, and the headline is killer. Let’s not forget that sharp design that we’re sure is the envy of any graphic artist. Best of all, your site is racking up the traffic. But when it comes to actually driving conversions with your copy — well, it’s falling a bit flat. Why?

Copy that lacks a call-to-action — that is, the action you want your audience to take — will fail to drive conversions. Call-to-actions are incredibly important because they tell your audience where to go once they’ve viewed your content. Without that direction, your audience may decide to leave, and you will lose out on valuable traffic, engagement, and sales.

In this post, we’ll outline what a call-to-action is and why it’s important. We’ll also provide effective techniques for using call-to-actions to enhance your copy’s performance.

So, What is a Call-to-Action?

A call-to-action, or CTA, is a statement that tells your target market what action they should take. CTAs are often used in sales pitches, advertisements, web pages, and other marketing material to elicit the desired response from your audience.

For example, an email promoting a company’s newest product may include a CTA like “Buy Now!” to prompt users to purchase that product online. “Subscribe today” is another example that might be used on a web page offering access to subscription content like newsletters or webinars.

In its simplest form, a CTA tells your audience, “here’s what you should do now” to keep them engaged in your marketing funnel.

Why Call-to-Actions are Important

It’s not enough to simply create well-designed content for a target audience and assume they know how you want them to respond. Too often, businesses focus solely on developing engaging and visually appealing content and neglect to use CTAs that guide prospects through the full user journey. Unfortunately, this can often mean losing the audience that you worked so hard to draw in in the first place.

Your CTA is the best way to tell audiences what you want them to do in each stage of the user journey.

Where to use a Call-to-Action

Let’s look at your content and see where you can use CTAs to your advantage.

CTAs can be used on essentially any marketing material or platform. This can include:

● PPC advertisements

● Landing pages & sales pages

● Websites

● Emails

● Newsletters

● Blog posts

● Social media posts

Where you include a CTA will depend on more than just the medium, however.

Generally, you should have a CTA at each stage of the user journey across mediums. A CTA can effectively guide a user from when they first encounter your brand to when they make a purchase and beyond.

For example, your PPC advertisement may direct visitors to your landing page with a soft CTA like “Learn more.” Visitors to your landing page may then be directed to make a purchase with a CTA of “Buy Now and Get 50% Off.” Once they’ve converted to customers, you can hook them into promoting your brand with a CTA like “Like what you read? Click to Tweet” on social platforms or blog posts.

Effective use of CTAs will help your target audience navigate the user journey and convert visitors to leads to customers to brand advocates.

Types of Call-to-Actions

Marketing professionals list eight different types of CTAs that can be used on your material to guide audiences through the full user journey.

These CTAs include:

● Lead generation: Using CTAs can help attract prospects and turn them into leads (someone who has a genuine interest in your product or service). These CTAs are often used in blogs, email marketing, social media marketing, landing pages, and more.

Example: Get more tips for transforming your morning routine

● Form submissions: You’ll need to ask for a prospect’s information to convert them to a lead. A popular method is to offer something of value to them that they can download by submitting a form with contact information.

Example: Enter your email to download your guide today!

● Read more button: A “Read More” CTA is simply that — a call to read more. This is often used in social media posts or website homepages where you can’t share the full content and instead want to drive audiences to where the full content is housed.

● Product or service discovery: This one’s all about helping a prospect find more information about your product or service. Maybe they’re looking for your about page, contact information, or product features. Use a CTA to direct them to where they need to be.

Example: Learn more about the services available to you

● Social sharing: CTAs are key in encouraging social sharing of any content on your webpage. These are often paired with social icons that can easily be clicked to share content.

Example: Click to Tweet

● Lead nurturing: Lead nurturing is a process of growing relationships with your customers. This is often achieved by providing relevant information or meeting a need or desire of your audience — just think free webinars or email subscriptions.

Example: Get Your Free Webinar Today

● Closing the sale: This is where the sales happen. You’ve generated and nurtured your leads, and now it’s time to convert them to a customer. You can direct audiences to purchase your product or service with a sales-focused CTA.

Example: Get yours today for 50% off!

● Event promotion: The final type of CTA is used to promote your events. This can be a simple call to raise awareness around your event or solicit registrations.

Example: Register today!

Create Your High-Converting Call-to-Action

Understanding what CTAs are and how to use them effectively in your marketing will help you deliver on the hard work you put in every day. Let’s face it: your work is valuable to your audiences, but without that CTA to tell them where to go next, you’ll lose them along the way.

Be sure to include that CTA next time you develop new marketing material and take your audience along for the full user journey.

Have questions or comments about this essential guide to using call-to-actions? Other tips and tricks you’ve found helpful? Drop us a comment below!