Building convincing call to actions are important for any website, it guides your readers to the next step you would like them to take.
Most often, if you do not put CTA in your blog posts, readers will just leave the website, without further taking any action, just because they do not know what to do next on the website. It makes them easier if you have a definite CTA in the blog.
According to Wikipedia, the definition of CTA is “Call to action (CTA) is a marketing term used extensively in advertising and selling. It refers to any device designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate sale. A CTA most often refers to the use of words or phrases that can be incorporated into sales scripts, advertising messages or web pages that encourage consumers to take prompt action.”
In short, Call to Actions are direct guidelines to your readers to take immediate action, but Call to Actions need not be only related to sale, like Buy Now. There can various kinds of a call to actions.
Different Types of Call to Actions (CTA)
Call to Action can be of different types, and the main objective for different CTA is to help your reader to navigate your website smoothly.
Different Call to Actions can be used to achieve a specific end result like:
Download:
As a content creator and a blogger, you provide different resources to readers which can be a PDF, e-book, which you want to share with them, so you can guide them by using specific phrases like “Download Here”.
Learn More:
By “Learn More” phrase you can guide readers to a useful resource or article on your site or can be an external resource which can be helpful and informative on the subject.
Watch This Video:
Today videos are the “most popular type of content and people prefer to “watch” the content over “read” the content.
So you can embed a video on your website and add the CTA like “Watch this Video”, or you can send them to YouTube directly. But it is always better to embed Youtube video on the website, as it increases watched time on the website.
Contact Us:
Contact us generally in a form, which every website have to get connected and receive responses, queries from the readers.
You can also add a phone number or email address to the phrase “Contact Us”
Subscribe:
Generally, Subscribe phrase is used in email marketing and you can guide the readers to subscribe to a newsletter and RSS feed.
Click Here:
Click Here is a very popular Call to Action phrase, which can be used for all kind of actions mentioned above. For e.g. Click Here for Download the e-book
Click Here for Share this article
Click Here for Subscribe to our newsletter
Click Here to watch the video and so on.
How Many CTA’s can you have in a post?
The main intention to add Call to Actions in your post should be to guide readers to take definite action, so you should be careful while adding CTA to your blog post.
More CTS’s does not mean more clicks, in reality, it may create more distraction. So you should be placed your CTA’s very strategically.
There can be various different opinions on where to add CTA in the post, but as a rule of thumb, you should add a relative call to actions at the middle and at the bottom of the post.
How many CTA’s should be added to a post, depending upon the nature of the post, generally two or three CTA’s are enough if you have an informative type post, but if you are writing a review post, say Top 10 type of post, you need to add CTA at the end of each product’s description, so you can have 10 or 25 CTA’s on your post, if that’s what the post demands. So basically it depends on the nature of the post, how many CTA’s you should add.
What is the effective Call to Action Phrases?
Effective CTA’s are important for conversion, but there are certain types of phrases that work better, again it all differs from niche to niche and person to person. It is always better to do A/B Testing, for better results.
But let’s take a look at different CTA’s that work in well in variety of situations.
- Yes, I Want X
This is a very effective affirmative CTA, to which readers instantly related as it puts the reader in an affirmative state. It can be a download, a discount, free shipping or a coupon. It does not matter what is the offer is, but your goal should be to put your reader into an affirmative state and wants whatever you are offering.
2. Start Your Journey Toward X
The best CTAs which convert are those which let the readers know what they expect after clicking the CTA.
Start Your Journey Toward Weightloss
Start Your Journey Toward Financial Freedom
Start Your JourneyToward a Greater Health
It works well as it allows the reader to imagine his or her success. It’s also motivational and suggests that the goal lies just behind their reach.
3. Don’t Miss out
A bit of urgency and scarcity goes a long way in conversion, but it is important not to go overboard, as it can be risky.
Limited Quantities Available
Act Before It’s Too Late
Get Your Discount Before It’s gone
Consumers respond to urgency and scarcity, they do not want to miss out.
Add to Cart
All said and done, it is also important to note that the simple CTA like Add to Cart, converts well, and shopping sites like Amazon uses the Simplest CTA, which converts best, otherwise, Amazon would have switched them by now.
A simple CTA works best because when you use a familiar CTA like this one, your prospective customer doesn’t have to think too much.
Which Colours Work Best for CTA?
Colors affect human psychology and many experiments have done related to CTA and the different colors which can lead to conversion.
Many studies show that Red, Green, and Orange converts best than black, brown and white.
The Red color stands out on most web pages and executes passion, excitement, and urgency, so if you want your readers to take urgent action on your products, like download, subscribe, use Red in your CTA.
Green converts best if your website is related to the environment, peace or psychology-related topic. Green generally executes calm, and soothing vibes.
Orange is warm and exciting and therefore creates a feeling of happiness. It directly affects the psychology of buyers. It creates happiness which leads to better conversions.
Final Thoughts
Call to Action is one of the important factors for conversion. A strong, positive call to action converts better.
Conversion are of many types, it not necessarily mean a sale, but it also includes other actions like download, share, learn more, watch video, contact us, subscribe and click here.
In simple terms, a call to action is a guide to your visitor to take next action and navigate your site easily.
But it is also important to use CTAs strategically, more CTA does not mean more clicks, on the contrary, more CTAs can confuse your reader.
The placement of CTA is also important, in most cases in the middle and at the bottom, CTA works best. It is always better to do A/B Testing.
The words and phrases are also important, you need not be sounding salesy. Some times simple CTAs like Add to the Cart, works best just because customers are familiar with it and do not have to think too much before taking an action.
Colours play a huge role in the conversion, positive colors like Red converts better as it executes passion, energy and excitement. Orange is warm and happy, so it creates the vibes of happiness in the readers which turns them into a consumer. Green is indicative of peace and calmness, which gives a feeling of security to readers and help them to buy from your website.
Black, brown and white do not convert well as per studies, so avoid these colors into CTAs.
How many CTA should we add in a blog post it also depends upon the type of post. In general, two or three CTAs is enough, but if the post is of a product review, where you are going to review Top 10, Top 25 type post, it is a must to add CTA for each product, so it is ok to have 25 CTA in your post.
Recently many studies have done in the field of CTA, and it shows that it actually impacts the buyer’s psychology and mindset.
But at the end of the day, it is important to get your point across the board with quality content and to match this you need to have a relevant call to action.
Call to Action is an integral part of Internet Marketing, today Internet Marketing is more influential than ever before, as more and more people prefer to buy online. It is of utmost importance to keep ourselves updated, and the best place which I can recommend is Wealthy Affiliate.
Hey Friens, what is your opinion about a different call to actions, and how do you choose your call to actions?
If you have any suggestions or queries about the topic, comment below and I will be more than happy to guide you in the right direction.