CTA that works: Inspire action

"Subscribe". "Register now". "Go to cart". A call-to-action (CTA) is more than just a few words providing a choice to customers, visitors or leads - it is a powerful tool to inspire action, modify behaviour and even increase brand awareness. So here is how you can use it effectively.

Crafting an effective CTA starts with getting clear on a few aspects:

• Goals

• Brand voice and tone

• Clarity

• Visibility

Goals

To define your CTA goal, look at your immediate goal (get many downloads, get many likes, get many subscribers, sell a product or service, etc.) and look for potential benefits that can motivate your audience to act as suggested.

If your goal is to increase sales within a specific period of time, for example, you need to:

- Showcase benefits

- Create urgency

In this case, you could use "Offer expires tonight - Shop for springs looks now" as your CTA.

Brand voice and tone

Just because your CTA is usually used in specific parts of your website or ads, and it might change over time, it doesn't mean that you should pick it randomly. If your company is in a traditional industry and your brand voice has always been serious and formal, your CTA should align accordingly. At the same time, if your brand, blog or channel is changing and you want to appeal to a different audience, changing the tone of your CTA can help you support your branding efforts and make you stand out.

CTA in practice

Now that you have your goals and your tone defined, aim to create CTAs that are short, clear and visible:

Short CTA: You can always use a statement right before your CTA (your ACTION), so keep it short and sweet. Most CTAs have 1-5 words max.

Clear: Your CTA should include only one action, so pick the one that makes most sense (click here, learn more, download report, etc.).

Visible: Most CTAs are placed in buttons that have a differentiating colour and positioning that makes them pop up. Other times, the CTA is a statement marked in blue -showing that it is a link taking you to a landing page or separate file. In any case, your users, visitors and customers should see clearly that your CTA is, precisely, inviting them to do something. Use all the tools at your disposition to make your Call to Action be seen -and let your wording help you get those clicks in.

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Hi! My name is Aneley Lampugnani and I am the founder of Ona Communication. If you have questions regarding effective CTA, drop me a line at hello.aneley@gmail.com or leave me a comment below.

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