The importance of a good CTA in your inbound marketing strategy
What is a CTA?
The call to action (CTA) is an important part of any website. Whether your goal is to get visitors to your website to fill out a contact form, sign up for a newsletter or read a blog post, it is essential to provide a call to action so that the visitor can have a clear direction.
An effective CTA can help you increase your company’s revenue while expanding your customer base. From social networks to blog posts, CTA is widely used online.
Conversion, revenue, activity and profits can all improve with a successful CTA. In digital marketing, CTA can be a button with a copy or a simple description. A successful CTA will lead to a conversion which is usually achieved by clicking on a link. However, when you want users to perform or respond to something, there are actually countless ways to use a CTA.
CTA forms for your inbound marketing strategy
Buttons
The call to action by button can go just about anywhere. The CTA button works best when there is a description of the offer or a convincing CTA around the button that makes users want to click on it. It is best to educate your readers or offer something of value just before asking them to click a button.
Banners
To a large extent, the banner call to action has the same design principles as buttons. Color, copy and position are always important. The main difference between a call to action button and a banner is size and location. CTA banners are usually placed at the bottom or top of the landing page and cover the entire width of the page.
Website banners are ideal for announcing news, updates, notifications, sales or promotions. For example, it is common to see banners at the top of e-commerce sites offering “free shipping”. For conversion purposes, the CTA banner is a useful tool to grab the attention of readers, present them with a unique value proposition and encourage them to take the next step.
Anchoring texts
Anchor texts are usually ignored compared to the large buttons and banners that are used. But they can, in fact, more effectively attract viewer clicks. When users are used to seeing banners and pop-ups telling them where to click, they will eventually become immune and therefore blinded by the banners. This is why customers become accustomed to seeing and ignoring advertisements.
Anchor text solves this problem by using normal text to motivate users to act. The fact that they blend well with the text may be the reason why they are so effective. This is especially true for blog pages because including text with hyperlinks is a great way to send readers to another landing page to view more content, download useful resources or connect with companies. Anchor text usually looks more real to the reader, which may be one of the reasons why anchor text is sometimes more effective than image CTA.
The best way to use this strategy is to add an anchor text CTA throughout your blog post, especially at the top and bottom. It is best to include the CTA immediately after you have taught the reader some knowledge. Give them valuable information and then provide them with resources to learn more about the topic.
The right place on your website
When your CTA button is ready to be implemented on your site, all you have to do is put it in the right place. Visibility is a key factor in the effectiveness of a CTA, so it is not a task to be taken lightly. First of all, you need to use ATCs sparingly and for a specific purpose. If you flood your site with actionable buttons, your users may be confused or hit by choice paralysis, which can simply result in fewer clicks.
Some websites may have multiple CTAs. Where you place your primary and secondary CTA is almost as important as what you say on them. There is a fine line between encouraging users to take the next step and disturbing them to do so. If your call to action copy is convincing and users see the value of your offer, they will move on to the next step.
While there is no better place to issue a call to action, there are some good practices. For example, it is common for CTA to appear at the top since it is much more likely to be seen than something placed at the bottom of the page. It is also common to use the A/B test, which consists of testing several variants. It would be interesting to test whether a CTA is more likely to be clicked on the left or right side of the web page.
An effective CTA for generating contacts
Catchy
One thing you need to remember about CTA is that it must stand out and have an impact. When creating a CTA button or image, do not follow standard design rules. It should not be mixed up with the rest of the page design. You can incorporate elements that match your style, such as fonts and brand colors, but make sure that the final CTA appears on the rest of the page. High contrast design is the key to eye-catching action.
Action-oriented
Finding the right balance between simple, clear instructions and an attractive, jargon-free copy that uses action words such as “download”, “save” or “start” may require a bit of iteration and creativity. Browse the websites of major brands to see what kind of viable copy they use, then let your in-house writers do the rest.
A clear promise
People don’t like to be deceived or made to click on things that have no value to them. Keep your CTA informative and make sure the copy clearly informs your customers what they should expect in return for their click. Will they subscribe to your newsletter or will they be redirected to a new page to complete the order? Focus on communicating the benefits of clicking on CTA.
A logical conversion
Map your conversion path to ensure a smooth process and fluid logic to make your CTA more efficient. The important thing is to align your CTA to a specific stage in the sales cycle in order to provide relevant quotes. CTAs that focus on conversion can get the most out of a dedicated landing page that minimizes interference, thus increasing the chances of conversion.
Color & Design of your CTA
The appearance of your CTA can have a huge impact on its effectiveness. How you design and present a CTA can be its most important aspect. The main consideration is visibility. After all, if the user cannot easily see your CTA button or banner, the likelihood of clicking on it is greatly reduced. Therefore, we recommend using buttons instead of text links. Buttons are more visible and more likely to be seen and clicked.
The design of your CTA button therefore depends on the design of your website. As a general rule, you want the CTA buttons on your website to have the same size and color. It is best to find a color that will stand out on the page when you use the overall color scheme. Although none of the sizes match the CTA buttons, some colors are better than others. One study found that a red CTA button was selected 21% more often than a green button.
The choice of words
Once the design of the CTA has been determined, it is time to think about what the button should say. The importance of sending a clear and powerful message makes sense in this situation. You don’t have a lot of words to use, so everyone must count.
For example, three different phrases are used in a newsletter. The phrase “Learn more” is vague, which results in fewer clicks. “Continue reading” is clearer but still relatively vague. The biggest improvement comes from the phrase “Click to continue,” which is a very precise description that clearly indicates what needs to be done and what will happen next.
Of course, the message itself will vary depending on where your CTA is going, but it is worth keeping this example in mind. Accuracy and simplicity will eliminate ambiguity every time. You should also focus on using positive feelings and powerful words to make your text more appealing.
Take some time to think carefully about how you want to convey your message and what words are best suited. You can even tell users not to click on buttons to be creative. If this is done correctly, it can attract the attention of readers and stimulate their curiosity.
