What is a Call to Action?
(and How to Make a Great One)
Whether you have just launched your marketing strategy or are looking to enhance your business’ potential of converting casual visitors into customers, you have to ensure that you have a compelling call to action. Regardless of how great your content, how interesting your website design, or how smart your v-/blog is —without a great call to action, none of the above matter.
A call to action is a subtle yet clear statement that tells people exactly what you want them to do next. It doesn’t always need to lead people to buy products or spend money; it could coerce them to watch a video, read an article, sign up for a newsletter or attend an event, etc. Although a call to action is usually placed at the end something, it can also be placed just about anywhere on your webpage, book, blog, or email as well.
Here are some ideas to make a great call to action:
Give Them a Reason to Respond
Everyone knows that a call to action is a bait for bigger things. Give your readers a reason to respond to the and they might be more willing to bite the bait. A simple ‘Click Here’ won’t melt hearts unless people know the ‘why’of it.
Create a Sense of Urgency
If you give your readers time to think and respond, you might be left waiting for days on end. Instead, create a sense of urgency and they might be tempted to act faster. Force your readers to act now; use terms like ‘Offer expires now!’or ‘Hurry, last books on shelves!’, etc. These will certainly tilt the balance in your favour.
Offer Something Extra
When a little something extra is offered, it’s natural for humans to jump at it. Why not include an extra offer to sweeten the deal? The incentive might be a discount, an extra product, etc. As long as you don’t promise something over-the-top, it’s worth offering a bonus.
Limit the Choices
Giving your prospects a wide variety of choices or an open-ended call to action is useless. Limit the number of choices you offer; doing the opposite will likely confuse people. With limited choices, you ease the process of decision making.
Presentation Matters
On your webpage, article or video, make sure your content doesn’t drown the call to action. It should stand out and be clearly visible. Try changing the colours, making it larger, moving it, etc.
A call to action doesn’t mean an in-your-face message; maintain the fine line between gently coercing and aggressively selling. Your customers will likely see through any shoddy plans trying to sell them something. So to make a great call to action that can turn visitors into customers, be sure to compare your marketing plan to the points above!