The goal of advertising is to push the user to buy, download, subscribe. To do this, calls to action, or CTAs, are added to it. Let’s figure out how to formulate and strengthen them.
What is CTA and what is it for?
Types of CTA in Marketing
How to Create a Call to Action
CTA Performance Analysis
How to Measure CTA Effectiveness
Call-to-action examples
Expert advice
What is CTA and what is it for?
Table of Contents
A call to action, or CTA, is an image, button text, pop-up window, or line of text that is designed to encourage potential customers to take a targeted action.
Users constantly interact with content – they read, write, comment and forward messages to each other. A call to action on a website is a piece of content that helps to get the user to take targeted actions or help them navigate the site.
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Types of CTA in Marketing
In marketing, there are several main types of CTA depending on the action expected from the user:
1. Go.
Often used between site blocks. For example, “Read more”, “Expand”, “Download”, “Learn more”, “Show more”. These calls are found on information resources or on sites where the user takes a long time to make a decision, for example, on a developer’s site.
2. Spread the word.
Share on social media links and buttons help users share content. Website developers usually combine these CTA elements into ready-made modules.
3. Complete the interaction.
They complete the chain of interaction between the visitor and the site. This could be a subscription, registration, purchase, or ordering a call. Often, such a call to action is used on sites where you can quickly order goods or services.
4. News or promotion.
Their purpose is to attract the user’s attention. They are used in different businesses and have great potential for working with the audience. Companies have many different news reasons that will be useful to customers. A promotion can also have a news reason, for example, Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
Before creating a call to action, the marketer decides where and to what part of the funnel to lead the user , what action to encourage . It is important not only the result to which he will come, but also how to direct him to this result. This can be a path from an advertising banner to a site, from one page of the site to another, from a pop-up window to a section of the site or to a form for collecting data. To do this, he creates a map of the user’s path and places calls to action in key places. A key place can be:
1.● advertising banner;
2.● site login page;
3.● marketing block on the login page or an offer to go to another page. For example, an announcement of the 2+1 promotion and a link to it are added to the product image;
4.● shopping cart, checkout page, personal account;
5.● letter from the newsletter.
You can learn how to work with a marketing funnel on the course “Internet Marketer”. Students practice on real projects, choose suitable tools for each stage of the funnel and implement them under the guidance of mentors and reviewers.
How to Create a Call to Action
There is no universal call to action, but using rules and formulas you can create a CTA that will work.
Rules for creating a call-to-action
1. Use the correct verb form.
Often, CTA uses verbs in the imperative mood, infinitive, or first person singular.
The imperative mood is a riskier option, because some of the audience may find this tone rude. The marketer chooses the form of words for the CTA depending on the tone of the site and the portrait of the target audience .
2. Consider the tonality of the resource.
If the tonality of the site allows, you can use first-person verbs. For example, the phrase “I want to try it!” in a CTA button is suitable for a site that offers a trial version or a discount on the first order. But for other businesses, such wording may be inappropriate. What the call to action will be depends on the business, target audience, and stage of the funnel .
3. Make the button and the text on it noticeable.
To emphasize the attention, you can free up space around the CTA. It is easier to do this with a button, but it does not always meet the goals set in the call to action. If the goal is to get the user to finish reading an article, then it is better to insert a CTA in text form – a link or a phrase with a specific message. For example, “Be sure to read to the very end”, “Here you will find everything you need.”
4. Use animation.
It is better to use animation according to the principle of “less is more” so as not to visually overload the site or ad.
5. The CTA text should be clear.
For example, write numbers as numbers, not as text: “2500 rubles” is read better than “two thousand five hundred rubles.”
6. Don’t deceive users’ expectations.
It is necessary to maintain the relevance of the call to action to the main goals of the business. In pursuit of the most interesting wording, you can get carried away and overdo it. The user will click on the banner or link, see that the content of the site does not correspond to the offer, get disappointed and leave.
7. Strengthen the call to action.
This is usually done with the words “now”, “have time”, “today”. This is suitable for promotional offers. These amplifiers should be used in moderation – no more than one amplifier per call.
CTA formulas
A call to action can be formulated in several ways:
1. The formula “Benefit + action”.
Focus on the benefit that can be obtained if you take advantage of the offer, for example, saving money.
2. The formula “Dream/idea/goal/task/mission + action”.
In the CTA, draw the user’s attention to the fact that the service or product can give him what he has been thinking about for a long time.
3. The “Time or Quantity Limit + Action” formula
Inform the CTA that the offer is scarce and will not be available to everyone. For example, that the promotion is available for a limited time or is limited to a certain number of participants. This can prompt the user to hurry up with the decision and take the action.
4. The formula “Fear/pain/problem + action that will lead to a solution.”
Using marketing research, you need to find out what problem the user came to the site with and select a relevant message.
5. The formula “Error/task + action”.
This formula is also aimed at showing how a product or service will help solve the user’s problem.
CTA Performance Analysis
It is quite difficult to analyze how successfully the CTA worked, there are no special metrics for this. Its effectiveness is indirectly indicated by the number of clicks and transitions.
You can track conversion, but there is no guarantee that a CTA button that brings 10% of conversion will remain as effective if you move it to the opposite corner of the site.
Typically, the impact of CTAs is assessed through testing—testing hypotheses to determine the most effective combinations of settings.
There are many tools for A/B testing. The most commonly used is Google Optimize . It allows you to test how changes to the site page interface affect conversion and other metrics.
It is important to keep in mind that the results may not always be reliable on small samples, even when using an A/B testing tool. Often there is simply not enough time and budget to conduct long-term testing.
How to Measure CTA Effectiveness
If you have doubts about whether a CTA is working well, it’s worth thinking about its relevance. You can ask friends or colleagues to follow the user’s path and note where they felt the call to action didn’t meet expectations. And at the same time, find out whether the page is overloaded with calls to action.
Sometimes a user sees a button or text with a call to action, but can’t understand why it’s needed. That’s why it’s important to check if there’s a lead-in, context, or clear explanation of where the button leads.
If the task of the button is to prompt the user to make an order or leave a phone number for feedback, then it is enough to check whether the button is where it should be. If the user expects to see the button, he may not pay attention to the link “sewn” into the text.
Additionally, you can analyze user behavior on the site using the Yandex Metrica click map and identify how well the buttons and phrases are located. Perhaps the CTA should be placed on the first screen of the site – this is suitable for those businesses whose services and goods are already known to the audience. If, on the contrary, you first need to immerse a person in the essence, then it is more logical to place the call to action at the bottom of the page.
If an analysis of user behavior on the site shows that the call to action is difficult to notice, you can highlight it using contrasting colors.
To understand what parts of the site the user pays attention to, you can use the Webvisor analytical tool. Using Webvisor reports, you can check how the site is displayed on a mobile device. This will help you understand whether all the buttons are visible, whether the pop-up window is blocking the shopping cart.
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Call-to-action examples
What other types of CTAs are there and what can they be used for:
1. Free period.
Suitable for companies that sell software.
2. Subscription to useful materials.
Suitable for information resources, online services and e-commerce.
3. Useful material that you can get right now.
Will fit into any outreach campaign.
4. Focus on the benefit.
If the goal is to sell at a reduced price, the user must be informed about this.
5. Care for the user.
So that the visitor feels that they are cared for, or does not get lost in a complex structure and filters.
