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Increasing Conversion with Effective Calls-to-Action As you develop an inbound marketing strategy, one of the first things to think about are your website’s calls-to-action. The call-to-action (CTA) can make or break your conversion rates. A call to action placed in the flow of the main body of the page will often outperform the same call to action in the header or high on a sidebar, even if the call to action is lower on the page. Positioning calls to action in the main body of content is more effective than position it high on the page. And one of the most important aspects of your copy is your call-to-action (CTA). Follow these basic principles when crafting yours: Your CTA should be easily recognisable and consistent across your website. Try a clear button or a simple line of text; Place it logically where you know your interested prospects will read it. If you craft your call to action message in such a way as to create the desire in your prospects to know what’s on the other side of that CTA, they’ll be more willing to click giving you the lead generation you want. And, the higher your CTR, the more sales you’ll make.

If you’re running a business, you don’t want people to just read the information you’ve published on your website or blog. You want them to do something, like subscribe to your email list, enroll in a workshop, or buy a product. How do you make this happen? By including a strong call-to-action (also known as a “CTA”).

The problem is that most websites and blogs don’t get as many conversions as they could because their calls-to-action are weak or MIA altogether. So how do you write a call to action that gets your audience’s attention and converts? We break it down below.

Increase your subscribers, sign ups, or sales by placing your calls-to-action in the right places on your website.

Download my FREE cheat sheet on the 8 key places to insert your call-to-action.

What is a call-to-action?

Before I tell you how to write a strong call-to-action, let’s talk about what a call-to-action actually is. A call-to-action is the part of your website copy where you tell visitors what you want them to do on a page. That is, it calls on them to take some sort of action. (Get it?)

Here’s an example from Coschedule’s home page:

The anatomy of a strong call-to-action

A strong call-to-action contains up to three elements: a headline, an offer, and a button or link.

1. The headline

The headline is the first section of copy in your call-to-action. Like all good headlines, a strong call-to-action headline grabs your visitors’ attention. But that’s not all it does. It also conveys the benefits of what you’re offering in exchange for the action you want visitors to take.

For example, let’s say you want people to subscribe to your email list in exchange for your vegan recipe ebook. If you’re like a lot of brands, you might write a call-to-action headline that looks something like this:

“Get our 35-page ebook, which contains over 50 recipes for vegan appetizers, entrées, and desserts.”

What’s the problem with this headline? It focuses on the features of the ebook instead of on the benefits. As I’ve mentioned before, focusing on features instead of benefits is one of the biggest website copywriting mistakes you can make. Why? Because your audience doesn’t care about the specs of your products or services. They want to know what’s in it for them.

Write a strong call-to-action headline that hooks your website visitors by staying laser focused on the benefits of your offer. Here’s how I revised the vegan ebook headline:

“Make weeknight vegan dinners simple so you can spend more time with friends and family.”

Note that you might not always include a headline in your call-to-action. It makes sense to include one in the main calls-to-action on your website. See this example from Melyssa Griffin’s home page:

However, if you decide to insert calls-to-action in the middle of content or copy on a page, leaving the headline out might be less disruptive and create a better user experience. Check out this call-to-action in one of Neil Patel’s blog posts:

Related:

2. The offer

The next section of a strong call-to-action is the offer. This is where you tell your visitors in plain English what you want them to do and what you’ll give them in return.

It can be tempting to be unique or quirky by writing clever offer copy. However, your visitors are most likely to follow your call-to-action if you make it clear. Good offer copy is short and to the point, so don’t beat around the bush or craft cryptic messages.

Here’s an example of offer copy for the vegan ebook example:

“Make weeknight vegan dinners simple so you can spend more time with friends and family.

Get 50 free recipes of easy-to-make vegan appetizers, entrées, and dessert.”

You can also take a look at this example from HubSpot:

3. The button or link

A strong call-to-action ends with a button or link. This is what your website visitors click on if they decide to take action.

It can be tempting to quickly throw together some copy for your button or link so you can get your call-to-action done. After all, you’ve already spent lots of time crafting your headline and offer copy. But remember that the copy you use on your button or in your link text can make the difference between a website visitor who converts and one who doesn’t.

Instead of using vague or dreaded words like “submit,” “learn more,” or “buy” in your button or link, be specific.

One trick that’s particularly helpful here is thinking of the phrase “I want to _______” and using the text you’d place in the blank as your button or link copy. (“I” represents your website visitor, not you).

So if you want visitors to watch a masterclass video, you might use “watch the video” as your button or link copy. Similarly, if you want visitors to sign up for your vegan recipe ebook, you might use “get my free ebook.” See this example from TOMS.

Tips for writing a strong call-to-action

Write a strong call-to-action by using these tips to craft your headline, offer, and button or link copy:

Use action words:specify the action (“watch,” “sign up,” or “enroll”) you want your visitors to take.

Create urgency or scarcity: If your offer has an end date or is limited in quantity, emphasize this to encourage people to take action. You can also mention what people will lose if they delay acting on your offer (e.g., “Don’t waste another year losing customers to bad copy.”)

Minimize risk: No one wants to invest money or time in something that doesn’t end up being worth it. If you’re offering something for free or have a money-back guarantee, mention this to minimize the perceived risk.

Use first-person pronouns: Some brands have boosted their conversion rates by using first-person pronouns in their calls-to-action (e.g., “Send me the guide”)

Avoid friction words: There are certain words that make people reluctant to take action. These friction words include “buy,” “order,” and “submit.” Steer clear of these in your call-to-action.

Related: 7 characteristics that make your website copy persuasive + free checklist

Craft a call-to-action that converts

Your call to action may be the last thing you think about when writing copy for a page on your website (or for a blog post). But without a strong call-to-action to tell your website visitors what you want them to do, you’re setting them up to slip through the cracks. Patch up the leaks in your sales funnel by using these tips to craft a strong call-to-action your visitors can’t resist.

Increase your subscribers, sign ups, or sales by placing your calls-to-action in the right places on your website.

Download my FREE cheat sheet on the 8 key places to insert your call-to-action.

Learn More. Sign Up. Click Here. Shop Now. What do these phrases make you want to do? Nothing, right?

(Except maybe roll your eyes.)

They’re meant to drive readers to action, but because we see them so often, we filter them out when reading online content—especially when it comes to email marketing.

If you want your emails to stand out in your reader’s overcrowded inbox, you need to create email calls-to-action (CTAs) that compel readers to take action immediately—and that’s a difficult thing to do.

So today, I want to show you how to create email CTAs that your readers can’t help but click (with examples), so you can break through the noise and drive higher email engagement and sales.

But before I do…

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Why Are Email Calls-To-Action Different?

Before going into the details of how you create a compelling email CTA for your emails, you need to understand why they’re different.

The most obvious difference is that you have limited space to work with.

Every word in your email is part of your CTA, and there’s no room for getting sidetracked.

Every word in your email is in some way part of your CTA, which is the hard part about email CTAs.

You can start your email off by sharing a story about a recent experience you had at the grocery store, or blabber on about how furious you are with people in oversize t-shirts (or whatever makes you fly off the handle), as long as your story has a point and encourages readers to take action.

When you write a blog post or create a video, for instance, you have plenty of space to make use of different elements to help influence the reader to take action, such as visual cues (images, GIFs, body language, and so on).

Here’s an example from Target, where body language helps encourage viewers to take action:

Being limited by space isn’t necessarily a bad thing (and that’s coming from me “miss can’t-stop-writing”).

It forces you to consider every single word in your email, which will result in stronger copy and drive people to action.

With email CTAs, length doesn’t influence SERP rankings, and your reader’s attention is limited, so each word has to earn its way into your email with the purpose of maximizing the time you have with your readers.

Remember that a CTA is not just a simple button or a small sentence at the end of your email.

A good CTA starts with the subject line and follows all the way through the email to your PS.

Many marketers think of a CTA as a single element in their content that can drive people to action with one simple phrase:

Crafting A Strong Call To Action For Conversion Calculator

Download. Join Now. Read More.

It’s not.

Your button or link is only part of the CTA—admittedly an important part—but it doesn’t stand a chance on its own.

So how do you write an effective email CTA?

That’s what I’ll tell you now.

How to Create a Powerful Email Call-To-Action

There are a few elements to writing a powerful email CTA, and in this section, I’m going to break it down into three parts:

1. Defining your goal
2. Writing the copy
3. Designing your CTA

Let’s have a closer look at each one.

i. Define the Purpose of Your CTA

Before you start writing your CTA, you need to define the purpose of it.

What is the action you want people to take and how do you get them to take it?

Let’s say you run an e-commerce with clothing, and you want to email your list with the purpose of increasing sales on a new line of dresses.

Here’s what most businesses would do:

Create an email with images of the new dresses and finish off with a button that says: “Shop Now.”

Does it work?

So here’s what you do instead.

You know what action you want people to take, so now you ask yourself how.

What value is your product giving people that they can’t get elsewhere?

Here’s an example from Casper:

Casper knows a concern of their buyer persona is keeping bedsheets clean (nothing beats the feeling of new, clean bedsheets—am I right?)

They address this concern in the copy of their email and instead of writing “Shop Now” in their CTA button, they chose to write something that supports the CTA in the copy.

Now we’ve already touched upon it slightly, but let’s go into more detail on how to write the copy for your CTA.

ii. Write Compelling CTA Copy

Your CTA copy is what ultimately convinces your reader to take action—or not.

You must create a killer value proposition if you want people to click-through.

Dale Carnegie, author of the classic How to Win Friends & Influence People, puts it this way: “The only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it.”

Each of the CTAs in your email should trigger a different emotion in your reader.

For instance, Chubbies taps into people’s fear of missing out to get people to click their CTA button:

Curioos, meanwhile, lures readers in with the promise of getting lost in a dream world, tapping into their curiosity:

Don’t use the same CTA throughout your email. Switch it up and trigger different emotions with your CTAs.

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The action is the same, but your approach is different.

Many marketers use the same CTA throughout their email and then reuse that CTA in the next email, and the next, and the next (I could go on, but I’ll spare you).

By adding multiple CTAs that have the same goal but conveyed differently, you increase chances of “hitting your readers’ sweet spots” and get them to click.

Here’s an example from Trunk Club:

In the first part of the email, they introduce their new feature along with a CTA.

The second part of the email gives a more thorough description of the feature along with a new call-to-action that has the same purpose as the first.

In extension to this, I want to emphasize the importance of NOT writing “sign up” or “click here”.

Whether you’re using buttons or embedded text (more on that later), your CTA should never be generic.

People need to differentiate between the CTAs and know which one to click when they want to take a certain action.

Source: Smashing Magazine

See the difference?

By just writing “click here”, you’re concealing what the user is actually clicking.

When writing your CTA, keep it short, relevant, and intriguing.

iii. How to Design a Call-To-Action Readers Will Click

Once your CTA copy is on point, there are a few final things you should consider before sending your email.

First, you should never include too many CTAs in your email.

This doesn’t mean you can’t include multiple links and buttons; it just means the purpose of them must be the same in each.

Here’s an example from Green Chef:

They start out by addressing a common pricing problem: buying organic can be expensive.

Green Chef knows people don’t always read the entire email so they’ve added a call-to-action where people can try their product for free (again addresses the concern over price).

This is the second part of the email:

They then overcome the price objection and convince the reader their product is more affordable than in regular grocery stores.

Crafting A Strong Call To Action For Conversion Chart

Green Chef still addresses the same concern, and even though the button here is different, it still has the same purpose: Get people to try Green Chef.

If you use buttons, be careful not to add too many.

Doing so will create confusion, and readers will refrain from clicking them.

Another option is to use embedded commands in the copy.

Few marketers are doing this, and the only way to see if it works for you is to test it.

Embedded commands are in-text links, meaning you link a part of a sentence instead of adding buttons.

By adding embedded commands in the copy, you avoid breaking up the flow of the email, and it becomes more readable.

You also appeal to skim readers (and trust me, they’re many). A skim reader is much more likely to click a link that has a command such as “Try the new fragrance now” than a simple “click here”.

Here’s an example from Beardbrand:

There are no buttons to click, but the message is still clear: “try the Sea Salt Spray.”

Crafting A Strong Call To Action For Conversion Pdf

A good rule of thumb is that if you have a lot of text in your emails, you should use embedded commands, and if you have a lot of visuals (product images, and so on) buttons tend to be more effective.

But, like I always say, you should test it to see which option works best for your emails.

FREE DOWNLOADABLE BONUS

Want More Email CTA Examples?

Download our bonus resource to learn how to craft the perfect email call-to-action, step-by-step.

Finishing off with a Call-To-Action: Leave a Comment

Writing CTAs for your emails is TOUGH, but not impossible.

Keep your CTAs short, relevant, and unique (probably my favorite word to use), and refrain from using generic phrases that your readers will ignore.

By following the tactics in this article, you’ll be able to create effective CTAs for your emails and increase engagement and sales.

What are your favorite email CTAs? And do you have any advice not mentioned in this post? Leave a comment below (see what I did there?).

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