Getting clickable calls to action right

Effective CopywritingPart II – Getting your calls to action right…

Getting your ‘clickable’ call to action right*

* A collection useful hints and tips – some that we’ve learnt from experience and some that we’ve stolen from others...

1. Don’t use ‘submit’ on your form buttons (or in your email copy)

It scares people. After all, ‘submit’ is a term full of commitment. Rather than remind people that they’re about to hand over their personal details, remind them why they’re doing it…

… use valuable action text such as ‘download whitepaper’.

2. Don’t hide your CTAs

Make sure your CTA is above the fold and ideally keep them inthe readers ‘eyepath’. If you need lots of content on yourlanding page (and we recommend you don’t), have two calls toaction – one at the top of the page and another at the bottom.

Hiding a CAT can be fun (if you’re that way inclined). Hiding a CTA is silly.

3. Don’t make your CTA the same colour as the page background…

If the CTA can’t be easily seen or read you will lose at leastsome of your prospects.

It makes it hard to pick out

Use a contrasting colour instead

4. Make your CTA clear and concise

That’s right, clear and concise…

Don’t use lots and lots of words as that would be daft. Using too much unnecessary text would be a waste of space, not to mention that too many words would make readers very bored and lose attention. Yawn. What was I saying, oh yes, don’t go using too many words when just the one word will do. If you repeat yourself or just ramble on too much when you don’t need to, you will completely fail to engage the reader and more than likely they will give up. Even if you include one strong call to action somewhere along the way, they probably won’t actually notice it. A vague call to action among lots of text won’t perform like a clear call to action will do amongst more concise text, etc, etc (you get the idea…)

Use compelling and actionable copy that tells the reader exactly what to do

5. Don’t link your CTA to your homepage

Linking from an advert in an email bulletin to a dedicated (or atleast relevant) landing page will provide a far less confusing userjourney than linking to your homepage.

Don’t expect people to go to your homepage and search aroundfor relevant content. They won’t.

6. Don’t ask for too much... Or you may get nothing!

The more CTAs you include the lessresponse you’ll get.

As tempting as it can be, don’t askthe reader to visit your webpage,email you, follow you on Twitter,and/or phone you - experienceproves they won’t do either.

Instead provide a single strong call toaction.

You know what happens to kids that ask for too much…

7. Experiment with your CTAs

Try some A/B testing.

It takes planning, but not a huge resource. Testing could beespecially valuable if you’re able to target specific groups, wheresome CTAs may be more effective for certain groups than others

8. Optimise CTAs for mobile devices

• Keep copy concise

• Don’t use flash or complicated animations

• Give careful consideration to the user journey

9. Multichannel your CTAs

Don’t miss opportunities tosupport campaign results bypromoting CTAs across allmarketing channels

Messaging should beconsistent, but copy style, length, and tone should bechannel appropriate.

10. Ask for help…

Our campaigns team have years of experience when it comesto knowing what works and what doesn’t when engagingdifferent audiences, job roles or industry sectors. A quick chatcould have a big impact on your campaign results.

If advertising through a publisher such as Sift Media,you havenothing to lose and lots to gain by asking for help or advice.

www.siftmedia.co.uk