9 Best Practices To Optimize Your Calls To Action

Your CTAs (calls to action) are the most important parts of your copy. CTAs are the key to guiding users through your marketing funnel and giving them clear instructions as to what they should do next. CTAs are crucial for converting leads into profitable conversions.

It is so important to have your CTAs correct. You should take the time to optimize them in terms of text, color, positioning and other factors.

Optimizing CTAs can be both an art and a science. It's difficult to predict what will work, but split A/B testing will help. There are some best practices that you can use. These best practices will help you optimize your CTAs and ensure that you don't waste time on ineffective copy or graphics.

Here are some quick tips:

• Your CTAs should be concise and prompt “quick action”.
• It has been proven time and again that personalization can increase conversions.
• Buttons are more effective than links, text, and images.
• Your landing pages should support your CTA with content and offers.
• Keep testing your CTAs.

1. Be brief

CTAs that are too lengthy and complicated are not effective. Keep your text concise and to the point. If possible, keep your CTAs to no more than four words. Strong verbs can help you make the most of this small word count. You can use strong verbs to make short, generic CTAs such as “get started”, “learn more”, “join now”, and “buy here”.

2. Urgency

A well-known and powerful trick to increase conversions is creating a sense of urgency or scarcity. This can be done in a variety of ways.

• Time-related language: Use “shop now”,'start now', & “sign up today”.
• Use words like: “limited”, “reserve your spot”, “last chance”, “sale ends tomorrow”
• To show when offers expire, add a countdown clock.

You want to create an “FOMO” (fear or missing out) which will encourage users to take the action. Otherwise, they could lose what you offer forever.

It is possible to offer something in return for your actions. Incentives such as discounts or free shipping can be included. You can also offer this for a limited time.

A little extra could be all a prospect needs in order to purchase your product or service. You don't need to go overboard. It should be enough to get visitors to click on the “buy” button and fill out your content offer form.

3. Try Reverse Psychology

This type of CTA is probably something you've seen on a website popup. This type of CTA has become extremely popular over the past few years because it works so well.

It is important to give the user two options. Instead of a simple “yes or no”, you can use reverse psychology to encourage the user to take the action that converts.

Neil Patel's blog offers great tips and tricks for increasing traffic and conversion rates. One question asks: “Want more traffic?” There are two options: “Yes, I want to get more traffic” or “No, there is enough traffic.”

No website owner would ever refuse more traffic. This prompts the user to stop and consider the possibility they are turning down, rather than clicking “no”, to dismiss the popup.

4. Personalize your CTA

Personalizing CTAs can increase your conversion rate by more than 200%. It doesn't necessarily mean you should use “Click Here [firstname]!” everywhere. However, it's a good idea to make use of the data available to modify the CTA's wording depending on the user's location, whether they are an existing customer or a new lead, as well as other relevant factors.

5. Use responsive design

It's probable that at least half your users browse your site or read your email via a mobile device. Your communications should be easy to navigate and read on small screens. This is especially important for your CTAs.

Before you publish, ensure that you have checked the appearance and placement of your CTAs across a range of devices and software agents. Your CTA should be in the middle of the page, at the top of the page. This is the place where most people look when they land on a landing page.

On a smaller screen, a button that has been reduced in size can be easily overlooked. It should still be visible and clearly distinguishable. You can even make your CTA visible on every page of the website. It is not a good idea to make it difficult for prospects to contact you.

6. Use Contrasting Colors and White Space

You must make sure that your CTA stands out from the rest of the pages in order to be effective. This is easiest to achieve by using contrasting colors. Your CTA will blend in with the background if it is the same color that the rest of the text.

Your CTA will stand out more if there is plenty of white space around it. It is important to make your CTA text larger than the surrounding text.

The CTA should be the first thing the user sees on the page. Don't distract the user with images or other distracting elements. Make sure that the design draws attention to the CTA.

7. Turn Your CTAs into a Button

You can design your CTAs in many ways. However, buttons convert the most. Crazy Egg, a conversion rate optimization expert, says:

“The call for action is so vital, so crucial, and so powerful that you shouldn't attempt to make it anything other than a button.”

Because the brain expects action from a button pressed, this is why we are wired to expect it. Buttons can be very tempting. We want them to be pressed. (Imagine the temptation of a large red button mixed with the reverse psychology trick of “don’t press that button!”

Although you can play with the colors and design of your buttons, it is best to use one type of button for your CTAs.

8. Double-check Your Landing Pages

If the CTA isn't working, it doesn't matter how effective it is. Once you have finished creating your website or email, be sure to click through all CTAs. Also make sure that all forms and links work properly.

9. You can test and refine

You won't be able create the perfect CTA from scratch. This is a continuous process. You should test and improve your CTAs as you discover what works best for you.

This is what A/B testing looks like. Divide your audience and show them two versions of your CTA. The one that converts best wins. Do not change multiple elements at the same time. Instead, compare variables like color, placement, copy, and copy.

Another alternative to A/B testing is available that is worth exploring. Artificial intelligence software can optimize your CTAs automatically based on user interactions. This optimization method is as efficient as split testing, if not more effective. It also allows you create the optimal CTA faster than traditional testing and optimizing cycles.

Now that you know how to improve your CTA, it is time to ensure you have the right content. To learn more about improving your content marketing strategy, check out our SEO Blog Writing Services.