Let’s talk about Call To Actions, a.k.a., CTAs.
So you’ve put a lot of hard work into creating this amazing product, now what? Getting your audience to buy it.
And it’s not as simple as just announcing your new business offer to the world and watching your bank account explode.
Actually, asking your prospects to take any action, whether it’s buying or not, is one of the toughest parts of the marketing process! That’s what we call the “Call-to-Action (CTA)”.
According to Unbounce, more than 90% of the audience who read your headlines also read your CTA. Which makes it a business term you should definitely add to your repertoire. But, if you’re not familiar with it, I’ve got your back.
This article is curated to help you build CTA for your campaign by looking at 20 Call to Action examples and why they work. But before we get into this, let’s learn a little bit about call-to-actions (CTAs), when to use them and why they are so important.
Ready? Let’s dive right in.
What is Call to Action (CTA)?
A call to action is a directive used in marketing campaigns that urges a prospect to take action by clicking on it.
It comes in different forms like buttons, hyperlinks, or even plaintext directed towards a link.
You can use CTAs wisely in your landing page, Facebook pages, emails, and more. According to Wordstream, emails with a single CTA can increase clicks by 371%, leading to more sales of 1617%.
It is essential to add a perfect CTA if you want to make your campaign flawless. This includes creating initiatives to capture email addresses that you can nurture over time and convert into sales.
Before I tell you how to do this, let’s see where your CTAs should go.
Where do CTAs fit in?
When your marketing campaign offers too many options on a single landing page, it either results in the wrong action taken by the prospect, or no action at all!
That’s because different CTAs for every goal can confuse the visitor, and they might take a less desirable action.
As a rule of thumb, you need to have one goal for your marketing campaign as well as your landing page. With a single conversion goal and a CTA in the form of a button or a link, you can get more effective results.
That’s not to say that the CTA should always be the same. Your marketing funnel would need different CTAs at different times, depending on what stage your prospect is on their customer journey and what your business goal is.
Some of the most common places where you need to use CTAs are:
- CTAs for lead generation
- Click-through CTAs
- Sales and signups
- Click-to-call button
- CTAs for social engagement
A different kind of CTA is required for each of these points in your funnel, but there’s a basic technique behind writing every CTA. Let’s get into those real quicks.
How to Write a CTA?
There’s no one-size-fits-it-all CTA that works for every campaign and every marketing sequence.
Different formulas are required for each campaign depending on many different features like the audience, product, segments, and much more. Not to mention matching your CTA to your brand voice and messaging framework.
But, there still are some general guidelines that you can follow while writing a CTA:
1. Always use action verbs in your CTA
Let your reader know what to do next. By adding an action verb to your CTA. you’re making it clear what you want your audience to do with your CTA and let them make a choice. It encourages an action to be taken, and if you do it right, an action that you want.
2. Make your CTA conversational
Do not come on too strong or formal with your prospect. The more personal and friendly your CTA is, the more likely your prospect feels comfortable and takes your desired action. But don’t be cheesy either, unless that’s the tone your brand is going for! Need help writing conversationally? Read my blog on how to write conversationally for your business.
3. Create a sense of urgency
This is the most important technique when writing a CTA. Creating a sense of urgency will make the decision time-sensitive, and your prospect is more likely to click that CTA. It also makes the decision easier for your audience as it becomes a “now or never” situation.
4. Do not create any hurdles
Make the process of taking action as smooth as possible. The blocks on the way of completing that action might contribute to your prospect losing interest.
5. Make your CTA easy to find
Your CTAs should not be hidden somewhere in the pool of text. Highlight the CTA part to grab your reader’s attention. Always focus on the color, font, and style of your CTA button. It needs to stand out.
There you go! Now that you know the basic guidelines, let’s look at some interesting CTA examples that work.
Call-to-Action Examples
Call-to-actions play a vital role in conversion rates. What follows is a list of 20 CTAs that I have either written personally or researched and collected on top websites.
Be warned, you won’t see any “read more”. “learn more” or “contact us” here. Instead, the CTAs compiled are more specific to a unique next step the business wants the reader to take.
1. Confirm your details here
This CTA can be used in opt-in forms and contact forms. You are directly asking your reader to confirm his details and are creating a sense of urgency. He will confirm his details by giving you his date, and you can ask for permission once they are done filling the form. This highlights transparency and ensures no mistakes are left in the form.
2. Click here for your free copy
This kind of CTA is very helpful when trying to distribute your resources like a whitepaper or blog. You are telling your prospects that the resource is free and downloading it won’t hurt. You are moving one step ahead with that resource.
Also by using the word “your” instead of “a”, you are already giving ownership of the free resource to the prospect, making them more inclined to want to grab it!
3. Start the conversation
This CTA can work great for when you want your prospect to get in contact with you. It is a casual way of saying “Contact us” without sounding so mainstream.
The word “conversation” lets the prospect know that this is a 2-way chat that will involve someone genuinely interested and listening to what they have to say.
6. Let’s talk!
You have shown everything to your prospects via your landing page or your blog. This CTA will prompt your prospect to get to the next part, i.e talking. The CTA is acting as a friendly bridge between you and your prospect.
The directness of the CTA shows that the prospect has nothing left to read and think about, it’s time to have that chat!
5. Show me how!
In this CTA, the copy is speaking in the reader’s voice.
Your prospects will click this CTA to get the gist of what you were talking about. It can work for things like demos, trials, webinars or any how-to resource.
If you are a service provider, You can also direct your prospect to your unique process through this CTA. It is an example of a show-don’t-tell phrase, and everyone loves clarity and assurance on what they are heading into.
6. Start your free trial today
“Free” always works, and offering a trial for free attracts so many. This CTA can generate a generous amount of leads as the prospect is losing nothing when clicking on it.
You might have noticed the Shopify CTA that is “Start your free 14-day trial today”. It has managed to increase the Shopify sales 10x times in just 3 years.
What better way to learn about the product than by using it and that too for free? Win!
7. Get Offer
This CTA is simple and straightforward, telling the prospect that an offer is waiting for him on clicking this button. Who says no to an offer? You can make it attractive by showing what offer it is beside the CTA button and mentioning a surprise when the button is clicked. The suspense will get you more clicks than you thought.
8. Join X Now
This CTA is an invitation to join a club or a team. It also gives a feeling of community more than simply purchasing a product.
Just add your desired word in place of X. For example, Insider has a CTA saying “Join Insider” that works for them. But you can also use this CTA for your newsletter, Facebook Group, or SAAS.
9. Be among the first X people to
This CTA is creating a sense of urgency by highlighting the word “first” in “be among the first X people”. This is a great way to attract early adopters who love novelty and being different.
So you can either be among those early adopters or lose the game and be a follower. I’d choose to be the early adapter on any given day.
10. Save up to X%
There’s a certain appeal to savings that everyone gets drawn to. Your CTA gives your audience a feeling of what they can save rather than what they are spending with you.
11. Find X now
This is a great CTA to use for directories. If your prospects are looking for tutors, your CTA can say “Find Tutors Now”. This is a direction for them that they have come to the right place, and this is exactly where they’re going to find what they are looking for.
12. Save a bunch
Like our specific CTA save up to X%, here’s a generic one with the same concept. The only difference is, this CTA also has so many questions hidden, like how much? Save on what? All of these questions can be answered if they click on this CTA. Great for the curious minds.
13. Get your hands on this offer now
As we stated earlier, creating urgency is the key to an efficient CTA. This one is doing exactly that. It looks like the prospects can get this offer for a certain amount of time and not later. Tick tock.
14. Book a demo here
A simple CTA guiding prospects towards a demo they can book can not go wrong. The directions are very clear, and with good formatting, this can increase conversion rates easily. Simple yet powerfully effective.
15. Enter and win
The winning part is inviting for everyone. You can use this CTA for opt-in forms by giving them something to win. For example, completing a form to get a free spin on spin wheels with prizes.
16. Let’s get you all set
This CTA is pointing towards complete signing up before your prospects get into business with you. It shows that this button will guide the prospect with everything included in the process. It offers the reader a sense of comfort and direction.
17. Download your free article
Everyone loves a free resource of knowledge. You can add your desired keyword to this CTA by downloading a free report or clip to bring prospects into the buyer’s journey.
18. Claim your voucher
The CTA is pleasing for many as a voucher is waiting for them on the other side of this button. They can simply claim the voucher and start shopping with you.
19. Try us for X days
This CTA is crafted for free trial versions of products. You are assuring your prospect that by trying your product, they are trying you. The personal touch makes it more attractive.
20. Explore X
Exploring feels more exciting than simply “viewing” or “seeing”, right?
This CTA is an invitation to prospects about your product or business. To explore your product as a whole, they have to press this button. You can collect your leads through this button, too, by taking prospects to the contact form.
With the right CTA, you facilitate a great User Experience
So there you have it. What CTAs are, how to use them and some examples of good CTAs you can start using in your business straight away.
If you are a business owner, digital marketer or copywriter, make sure to bookmark this article and add it to your toolkit to help you create the most effective CTAs.
With good CTAs you are helping your buyer move effortlessly through the customer journey and making them more confident and sure about purchasing your product or service.
But, don’t just limit yourself to this list! Depending on your brand personality, you can get as creative as you want with it, as long as you are keeping it direct and clear for the reader. Have a look at the CTAs I use on my copywriting website!
Ultimately, I recommend using these CTAs as inspiration and curating your own through these to increase the effectiveness of your strategy.
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