If you are in the digital marketing world, you are probably familiar with the concept of the call to action (CTA). A successful CTA is designed to encourage your customers and clients to take the next step in interacting with your company. A CTA is intended to rally the target audience and spur them to purchase a product, book an appointment, learn more about your organization, or employ your services.
So, how do you build a compelling call to action? Where should it go, and what should it include? The team here at Bizwrite uses CTA in nearly every piece of content we write and have gained a few nuggets of insight over the years. Here we will dissect the ins and outs of creating an effective CTA and let you know how Bizwrite can help.
What Every Call to Action Needs
When creating a call to action for your business blog, there are certain things you will want to be sure are included. Here is what every CTA needs:
- Imperative: Tell your customer what to do next. After all, the whole point of a CTA is to provide the customer with their next step. Tell your customers exactly what to do next, like “order now,” “come visit us,” or “book an appointment.” Beginning with an imperative gives your customer a sense of urgency and necessity.
- Lead, don’t scare: As you encourage your customers to take the next step in their buyer’s journey, it is important to lead them to a decision rather than scare them into one. Encouraging does not say, “If you don’t do this, then [insert bad thing] will happen.” Instead, encouragement says, “if you order this product, [insert good thing] will happen.” This lets the customer know they have a choice in the matter and how your product or service can aid them.
- Give a timeframe: Tell your clients and customers to take action right away. While you have their attention, build in urgency by stating or implying that they should respond immediately. This can be done by adding a “today” or “why wait?” at the end of your CTA. Regardless of how you graft in your timeframe, be sure you give your customers a sense of urgency.
- Make it obvious: Be confident that your call to action stands out on your page. Add a CTA button or make the CTA its own section. Build your page in a way that accentuates your CTA.
Where to Place your CTA
There is debate about whether you should include your CTA in the title tag and headings. While there are several arguments for placing your rallying cry at the top of your page, most writers prefer it to be at the end. Placing your CTA at the end of your content lends itself to inbound marketing as you have already provided your audience with the information they need to decide. The ending CTA is the final push towards a successful conversion.
Conversely, placing a call-to-action at the beginning of your content can be a convenient feature for returning customers or customers that already have the information they need to commit. You may also consider having the CTA in both content areas to capitalize on both buyers.
Wherever you place your CTA, you should make it easy to understand and implore your customers to take the next step on their buyer’s journey.
Now, do CTAs work? Studies resoundingly show that they do indeed work extremely well. One study cited by SEO company, Protocol 80, found having a CTA button on article templates increases conversions by as much as 83%, and also boosts ecommerce conversions by 22%!
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