Here’s a story of Scott, a person who’s very passionate about his business. He is marketing-savvy and continuously seeks new and innovative ways to promote his company digitally.
Advertising is one of the most important tasks, hence he is making attractive ads that display his products in the best light, followed by various social media campaigns to connect with more people. Despite the efforts of his team, he’s not satisfied with the returns he’s getting. To check what was wrong with his strategy and way of promotion, he started asking people for feedback.
Scott was muddled after listening to the various responses, so to get to the root of the problem, he presented all the feedback to his employees and asked them to analyze it. He told them that finding the issue was of paramount importance. The following day, his team gave him a detailed report after deep analysis and came to a unanimous conclusion that “poor call to action in his ads” is resulting in low click-throughs even after spending loads of money on advertising. He asked his team to run research and provide him with novel ways to improve the call to action on all the marketing channels. A few days later, the team was ready with many ways to improve CTA, along with a few examples. Have a look!
15 Tips for Effective CTAs That Will Help You Convert Faster
1. The Blank Magic of CTA
This is one of the simplest yet the most effective techniques! Place your ad with a black/white background so that your ad is the only thing that grabs the attention of the viewer, the viewer will definitely read your ad. Have a look at the example below, you’ll notice the impact of such ads.
2. Hit Where It Counts
Using words that spark emotion within the one who’s viewing the ad is of the utmost importance. If that hits rightly there’s a very high possibility that the viewer will carry on with your call to action. It is proven that even just adding an exclamation point to your call to action can bring a positive change (if added to the right place).
Connecting with the audience on the emotional level is very important. That’s how you leave an impression in their minds. There are multiple ways to do so, connecting through their culture, lifestyle, routine, etc.
3. Promo of FOMO with CTA
Fear of missing out, also known as FOMO, is the most effective influencer. When people get to know about an opportunity that might not come around again, they’ll be mighty quick to hop on the bandwagon.
The best use of FOMO in a CTA is by mentioning a sale or a promotion that won’t last for long. It’s tough to ignore a prompt like that, especially during a time-sensitive or under-pressure situation. You can use words like ‘limited period’ or ‘once in a lifetime’ to create more sense of urgency and to assure yourself of more clicks!
4. ME, MYSELF & I
A recent study showed using first-person speech in a CTA yields a 90% better conversion rate than CTA’s using a second-person. (Source)
To create a first-person CTA (written from the reader's point of view), you need to look from your customer's perspective. Using first-person voice emphasizes whether they decide to click or not. This gives a sense of control to the reader.
5. Numbers Can Do Wonders
The human mind always responds to numbers well. Don’t forget to use this to your advantage! While purchasing, we constantly look for prices/discounts, so try to include numbers while designing your CTA. For a better understanding, look at the example below!
6. Don’t Miss Out on this one!
Creating a sense of urgency can generate some impressive click-through rates. For example, using words like “right now!” or “offer valid till today!” Builds up a sense of urgency for the users.
No one would miss on an opportunity that is for a limited time only, hence creating urgency is very impactful for your CTA.
7. Be On Time
A perfect ad at the wrong time can irritate a user. We all must have experienced this. Displaying full-screen ads in the middle of a livestream video is only going to irritate your audience.
One way to avoid this is to improve the landing page experience. Let the user browse for a while, get comfortable, and then offer your amazing discount codes/coupons, etc. The user is more likely to follow your CTA after getting comfortable, which also increases the chances of conversions.
8. Tussi jaa rahe ho? Tussi na jao!! (Stay We Have Got Something Better!)
Is what you have to do for your customers
The technology used here is called “the exit-intent” which allows you to convert abandoning visitors. Statistics say, 70-96% of visitors will leave the website without making a purchase (Source). So, here’s a thing that can help you. The moment a visitor is about to hit the back/exit button, you make an exit pop-up appear! This gives them another chance to think and are more likely to opt-in to your email list.
9. Oh Don’t read this one…
(I know you’ll read it anyway)
Why not play with some reverse psychology? It has been observed that this technique has been considerably successful in reaching out to the target audience. It especially focuses on creating curiosity among the reader.
For example: “Don’t click here” and “Do not click if you’re lazy” will pick attention right away. Also, it creates an impression of a well-thought-out advertisement, which is people-centric. Adding some humor to your CTA will always be welcomed by your readers.
10. Arresting Effects of CTA
Buttons play a significant role in the conversion funnel flow. Once they’re set right, you really don’t have to worry about the click-through rate and engagement. You can enhance buttons with multiple special effects. Do not overdo, but adding a few emoticons, animation and gradients will definitely give you an advantage over the static button.
Here’s an example: https://www.instagram.com/p/CL0v_gSH11A/?igshid=o5ncb4eyo4gs
11. Some Advice For Device
Before you put all the creativity into your ads, you should first understand how it’s working. Mobile phones differ from desktops or tablets. Design your ad in a way that serves the purpose of every device. Seek proper technical support while doing so. Google allows you to set a mobile/desktop preference, understand it fully, and then go further.
12. Where does the Customer land?
On the Landing Page!!
The Importance of a landing page is that the right one pleases them and converts loggers into customers. Landing page optimization is the enhancement of the page using data instead of guesswork to make it more effective. Each factor on the web page should be made better to increase the conversion rate of web page visitors to clients, which should be done only through proper research. You can try A/B testing different headlines and call-to-actions here and even personalize the landing page using tools like HubSpot or Google Optimize.
13. The Email Information!
We always expect conversions from email campaigns. By adding CTA buttons/links, we ensure the reader knows what’s the next step. These are extremely important as they increase click-through rates and help the user reach the linked websites/applications. Certain things to keep in mind while adding CTA to the email are:
The size of the button should be much bigger so that it catches the reader’s eye instantly.
The color of the button should not mix with the background and should still go with the overall color theme.
Placement of the button should be done wisely; the mail should provide proper information and then expect the reader to take action.
14. Ad Positioning
The positioning of an advertisement is of utmost importance, be it online or offline, a perfectly designed visually appealing misplaced ad is of no use as it loses its primary purpose, i.e. getting the attention of potential customers.
Each online platform may demand different positioning of ads and each ad will demand different positioning on different platforms. Choosing the best way of positioning should be the topmost priority for best results while having the flexibility to change it as and when required.
15. Button Beautification
No color is essentially “the best” for your CTA button. Colors that go with your product or color combinations you think display your product in the best light should be chosen. Before you choose a color, ensure that it doesn’t mix with the background. The least used colors with CTA are black, white, brown, and grey because they mix with the background easily.
The team started executing all this and a couple of months and a lot of ad spending later, Scott and his team were still thriving making the most out of CTAs, they were satisfied with the result and were glad that they analyzed the situation and implemented necessary solutions.
CTAs work differently for different products and services. Scott’s story reminds us we need to apply the right CTA for the right product. This amalgamation of CTA and product is key in modern-day advertisement.