CTAs are arguably the most important element on a webpage, whether it’s a product or service page or a blog post. They are meant to inspire action and direct further traffic, and they need to be designed and written well if you want them to work as intended.
Sadly, a lot of brands choose to stick to the very simple “click here” and “sign up” solution – which is fine, but it could do with significant improvement.
Let’s take a look at nine examples and tips to help you create a CTA that will work great for your site.
Highlight Your Main Selling Points
In order to convert, customers want to know what it is you are offering. They may also be interested in reading your entire page and diving deeper into the features you’ve listed, but for now, they want you to cut right to the chase.
This is why CTAs that highlight your main selling point(s) are a great choice. They will showcase in a nutshell everything you want your audience to know, saving them valuable time. Plus, you will be underlining the key benefits of doing business with you.
Take a look at Smart Look and how they have done it. They have two main CTAs: booking a one-on-one demo or starting a free account (with no credit card required).
They’ve left their visitors a clear choice of either getting a tutorial or doing it on their own, and they’ve also noted that there is no charge involved.
Use Action Words
Another way to get more clicks is to use action words in your CTAs that will make them a bit more interesting and a lot less mundane. A rudimentary “click here,” of course, serves the exact same purpose, but it makes for much poorer copywriting.
Quetext has done a great job of pairing action with call to action. Their “check for plagiarism” is both clear and direct, but it also instantly highlights the benefit of using the service.
You might not be able to craft something similar, as your slogan or the action you need visitors to take might not be CTA appropriate. If this is the case, try to use a powerful verb that will spark a bit more interest.
Make sure you don’t overdo it with the actionable, though, as you don’t want to sound like you’re giving out orders. Your choice of verb should be soft enough to gently convert, not make a customer feel under any pressure.
Make It Personal
A great alternative to action-oriented CTAs are personal CTAs, which will make a customer feel like you’re speaking directly to them. Customers love to shop from brands that foster that community feeling. If you’re able to incentivize them with your CTA, they are much more likely to bloom into regular customers.
Glossier has practically written the textbook on how to drive sales through community, and their CTAs are no exception. Their newsletter signup CTA – the first thing you see when you land on the website – is a super-simple “I’m in.” However, it makes it quite clear that when you click on it, you will become a part of a group.
By using formulations like “sign me up,” “get yours now,” etc., you will make each visitor feel valued and appreciated. You will move away from the impersonal brand and become more of a brand that cares.
Brand It
Branding your CTA will take it a step further as well and make it an integral part of your brand messaging.
Note that not all brands will be able to do this. But if your brand name is directly linked to your product or if you can come up with a fun play on words that will resonate with your branding, make sure to use the opportunity.
UnscrambleX is a great example. Their CTA couldn’t be more on-brand, but then again, that’s why they chose the name in the first place. “Unscramble it” is simple yet effective.
If you can’t use this tactic, you can get creative with naming your services or packages and use these names in your CTAs. They will help improve your overall branding and allow you to stand out among your competitors.
Cater to All Audience Segments
Rarely does a brand appeal to a single audience segment. In most cases, there will be two different types of customers you want to attract or at least more than one buyer persona you’re trying to charm.
You may also be selling more than one product or service, and you don’t want to choose one over the other and make it the focal point of your homepage.
When this is the case, crafting two parallel conversion routes and using two similar CTAs that will cater to different interests and needs is the way to go.
Let’s take a look at Voices. Their clients are voice actors and the companies that need voice-acting services. As such, the brand had to use two distinct CTAs that will appeal to one or the other, as there isn’t one CTA that will work for both.
This also gives you the chance to experiment with different sales funnels and test out which pages your audience wants to see first.
Take the Longer Route
More often than not, you will want your CTA to lead to a fast conversion. You want your visitors to sign up for your newsletter, make a purchase, or get in touch right away. However, in certain niches, taking the longer route can sometimes be the better choice.
WP Engine has recognised this, so it offers two longer roads. You can either check out their pricing or check out all the different products they offer. They know that their offer is complex and that their customers will need to compare prices and features before making a decision, which is why there is no direct route to their most popular package.
This is your way to help your audience make an informed decision while also making them feel more respected and less rushed. They are more likely to convert if they feel they have been handed all the data they need to make the best choice.
Play with FOMO
Alternatively, you can play off of your audience’s fear of missing out. By highlighting that there is only a limited time to make a purchase or make good use of a discount or that there is limited stock available, they will be much more likely to make an impulse decision.
However, there is an expiration date on this kind of messaging, so you can incorporate FOMO in your CTAs in a different way.
Check out Touchland. Their main “get yours” CTA has managed to find that sweet spot between making a visitor feel included and creating a sense of urgency. Without being too pushy, it’s highlighting the fact that numerous people have already purchased this product and that you, the person browsing at the moment, can become a part of this group or miss out on the opportunity.
Highlighting the exclusivity or the value of a product can play with people’s fear of missing out as well as their need to be included and perceived in a specific way.
Make It Pop
When it comes to CTA design, there are countless routes you can choose to take. You can make your buttons oval or square, you can use any colour you can think of, and you can play with fonts until all of them start to look the same.
There are, however, two rules you want to stick to, the first one being to make your CTA pop.
This does not mean that you need to make it the most vibrant and colourful element on the page, merely that you need to differentiate it in some way. You can make it the darkest or the lightest element; you might make it larger than the surrounding text. Choose whatever you think works best, as long as it’s easy to spot.
Joy is a great example of great design in several ways, one of them being their use of colour theory. Their CTAs always stand out, but they are never obnoxiously bright, nor are they too distracting. They are the first thing you see on the page, but they don’t distract from the imagery or the copy.
Blend It Into Your Colour Story
The other way to make your CTAs stand out is to use a colour that is already a part of your page to highlight them. This will make the entire design more cohesive, and it will help you tie everything together.
Affinda does this well with their use of red. They haven’t chosen a wild colour, nor have they used it too much across the page. They’ve found that blend of black and white with pops of colour that makes their website easy to browse, yet certainly not dull.
A similar play of colour can be a great way to direct the visitor’s eye where you want it first: on your CTA and checking out your most important features.
Final Thoughts
Designing and writing the perfect CTA takes some trial and error and a fair bit of target audience research. In order to create one that truly converts, always aim to speak the language of your customers and to make them an offer they will not want to refuse.
