What is a call to action?
According to Hubspot, “a call to action (usually abbreviated as CTA) is an image or line of text that prompts your visitors, leads, and customers to take action. It is, quite literally, a “call” to take an “action.”
Calls to action should be an essential part of your online marketing and overall website strategies. As competition heats up online across nearly every industry, and as more and more companies fight for the chance to gain new customers, it’s important that you make it easy for your website visitors to understand what you want them to do when they land on your site. To get an idea of the types of call to action statements you should be using on your website and blog, look through the examples below:
What types of call to action statements should you have on your website?
There are a number of types of call to action statements you can include on your website. Here are seven of our favorite examples to help get you started:
1. “Get Access To Our Exclusive Offer”
Your website visitors aren’t just looking for compelling links and messages to your product pages. They are also on the lookout for exclusive offers that will help persuade them to actually follow through with purchasing your goods or services. The messaging you use in a call to action statement like this is important. Online users like to feel like they are being individually rewarded online, so using words like “exclusive” can be an effective way to increase the likelihood that a visitor will actually click on a link included in a call-to-action message or button—and follow through with a purchase.
2. “Download Our Exclusive Guide”
Contrary to what you might think, call to action messaging doesn’t always have to point website visitors to product pages (or exclusive offers for products, as mentioned above). Your call to action messaging can also direct readers to helpful guides. As we’ve mentioned in blog posts before, online users are looking for websites and brands that provide value. In order to convince your website visitors that you actually care about them (and aren’t just interested in their money), consider developing a call to action statement or button that directs people to an exclusive e-book or webinar you put together. These value resources help leverage you as influencer, help qualify your leads, and give you the opportunity to include more intentional call to action messaging or links to product pages in the actual resource itself.
3. “Get Helpful Information Delivered Directly To Your Inbox”
It’s time to face the facts: no one is paying attention to the generic “subscribe to my e-newsletter” button you have on your website. In order to continue building your email list (and qualifying your leads, strengthening your reputation as an influencer in your industry, etc), you need to take the time to develop compelling lead generation call to action messaging for your website. Remember: the focus of this statement needs to be on the unique value you provide in your emails—otherwise why should anyone sign up to receive them?
4. “Join Others Like You”
Online users like being part of a group. It’s why social media sites are so popular. People like being able to identify with others. You can piggyback off of this truth by including call to action messaging on your website that helps people understand they are becoming a member of a group. Use this type of statement to send people directly to sign up pages, product pages, or other offer pages.
5. “Be One of The First To Try Our New Product”
Online users (and people in general) also love to obsess about being the very first to try something new. If you’re gearing up to launch a new product, create a call to action statement that invites only a select amount of people to try the new product before it becomes available to the general public.
6. “Attend Our Next Event”
Don’t forget to use your website as a place to intentionally invite new people to attend your next event. Instead of simply including an RSVP link in your navigation menu, develop a call to action statement that actually gets people excited about your next event. If possible, you should try to update your event call to action buttons or messages for each event you have, rather than just rely on the same old RSVP button you’ve always used.
7. “Take a Complimentary Tour”
Online users love to take products and services on test drives before making any final purchasing decisions. Don’t hide your demo button on the bottom of your product page. Instead, develop a compelling call to action statement that makes your website visitors feel like they are getting the VIP treatment from you.
Things To Remember
Your call to action statements should always be customized for your audience, industry, and purpose. You can use the call to action statement examples above on your own site, but don’t forget to customize them for your own business. A generalized call to action statement is no better than generalized copy, photos, descriptions of services, etc.
Do you use calls to action on your website? What statements have been the most effective for your business? Leave a comment for us below.
