How To Write A Call To Actions For A Landing Page
If you’ve been learning about Digital Marketing to gain new skills or improve your brand’s marketing strategy, you surely encountered the term Call-To-Action (CTA), especially in Landing Page creation.
You probably read about how important CTA is but you don’t exactly understand its usefulness and how to effectively incorporate it on your website, ads, blogs and particularly, on your landing pages.
Free Download: Landing Page Copywriting Formulas Template
While the landing page is a very important part of your marketing strategy, it should be complemented with a compelling call to action landing page to be fully effective.
You ask why? Because the CTA is your driving force to get that desired conversion.
Yet, how do you write a CTA that will captivate your landing page visitor to take action? Let’s get down to the bottom of it.
But first, let us discuss what a CTA is and the many reasons why it is a very important element of your landing page that you shouldn’t take for granted.
What a Call-To-Action Really is?
Learn more. Shop now. Click here.
You’ve seen them everywhere online. You’ve even clicked some of them. But you don't know they have a name - they are called CTA.
A call-to-action (CTA) is a button or text link used to drive prospective customers to take further actions like explore the site further, download a file, watch a video, or purchase on an online store.
It is often a final instruction with the main purpose of converting the visitors to leads and eventually to loyal customers.
It can be composed of one or two words or can also be a sentence, yet should be concise enough to let the user know exactly what to do next.
While you can randomly use any CTA you think is perfect for your landing page, you can actually follow proven and tested formulas used by successful marketers and copywriters.
There are certain CTA qualities and secrets that you can unveil and apply to your marketing campaigns, especially, on your landing page.
So, what are the secrets to having a powerful Call-to-Action? Let’s open them one-by-one.
The Secrets to Writing Your Landing Page Call To Action - The Right Way!
No matter what you want to achieve with any of your marketing campaigns, you won’t be able to successfully pull off without a Call-to-Action. Even more so on your Landing Page.
Your landing page should have that CTA button or text to be able to make a successful sale or convince your prospective customer to leap into action. It should have a well-crafted CTA designed to drive someone into action.
The CTA on your Landing Page will not only give your potential customers clarity but will also make it an effective sales funnel medium.
Here we have organized the secrets to successfully write compelling CTA triggers that will captivate your target customers and increase your conversions.
1. Determine your goals
If you want to get the right CTA to associate with your landing page, then, you should get back to your goals. It is the number one secret that you shouldn’t miss.
What is your goal? What do you want to achieve in your landing page? Is it to drive traffic to your website, generate leads, or increase sales? You should be clear with your goals to be able to come up with a powerful Call-to-Action.
Your CTA should be in line with your campaign goals to trigger the person to take immediate action.
2. Use contrasting colors
Your CTA needs attention and since it needs attention, it has to be eye-catching enough to attract the viewer’s eyes. How do you do that? By using contrasting colors.
We, humans, are naturally attracted to sharp color variations and thus, we subconsciously draw our attention to it. If you want your CTA button to stand out, you have to choose a color that will make it pop among the crowd of texts, widgets and images.
Choose a color that will increase the visibility of your CTA. If the green color is dominant on your landing page, then, choose red for your CTA.
Remember that a prominent, striking CTA, results in more conversions and we want that.
3. Create a flow towards your CTA
While your CTA text is important in getting more conversions, designing your landing page in a way that creates a flow towards your CTA is also a great tactic.
You may create a flow through the objects around your CTA, as well as, the texts before your CTA to improve its overall effectiveness. You may use subtle signs that will direct your visitors to the CTA.
4. Use short, simple, action-oriented words
Whether we admit it or not, we are all active skimmers and scanners. We tend to quickly skip something that doesn't get our attention or is not relatable. Just like landing page headline formulas, a call to action has a formlua.
Yet short, simple and action-oriented CTAs can positively induce quick reactions in our favor. While longer and specially-clickable CTA buttons work, the short and concise CTAs work wonders.
The simpler the words you use on your landing page’s CTA, the better it will resonate with your target audience. The more action-oriented it is, the more instant action you provoke.
5. Location matters
The placement of the CTA button is as important as the message. That is why it is very important to decide which location you would place your CTA button.
Generally speaking, we view and read screens in an “F” shape. We start from the upper left going to the upper right, then go back to the left portion again.
While you can A/B test your landing page's CTA, if you are short of time or money, it would help if you stick with the standard and place your CTA in a location that your visitor will first see, like in the left-hand or right-hand side on the above-the-fold section.
Depending on your landing page’s goals, you can, however, put multiple CTAs.
6. Sell the free
It might sound funny to sell something free, but it really works!
Offering “free trial” or “free ebook” at the onset of your marketing campaign always works just because it’s free. Who doesn’t love free gifts nowadays, right?
This is certainly the type of CTA that people just can’t help but click. Though they know it might not be totally free - they just want to take advantage of the free gifts and decide afterward if it’s what they need.
While this can be risky on your part, it can definitely increase your conversion if used well.
7. Make it benefit-oriented
People want features and benefits, thus, if you want people to click on your CTA, you have to clearly show them the benefits they would have when they proceed to the next step. They have to know the value your CTA button will deliver, else, they won’t spare you even a second of their time.
8. Leverage on Instant Gratification
While delayed gratification works better for other real-life circumstances, instant gratification is the key to get more conversions.
If you want people to take immediate action, then, you have to take advantage of the benefits of instant gratification. Indicate in your CTA the immediate reward they would get after a click.
Satisfying your customers is the reason why you are in business - give them that.
9. Evoke curiosity
Human beings are curious by nature. There’s always this subconscious desire in us to know something more. Thus, a Call-to-Action message crafted to arouse interest can stir up desires in your prospects to know what is on the other side of that button.
One way to evoke curiosity is to tell people what you do together with your accomplishments but don’t exactly tell them how you do it. Considering using a landing page hero image to increase the curiosity.
10. Create a sense of urgency
I can’t stress enough how helpful this is on your CTA and on your overall marketing campaign.
Creating a sense of urgency on your CTA button increases your offer’s click-through rates. The urgent feeling is what forces people to do something as they are afraid it would be gone at a later time.
11. Integrate Persuasive Words
A CTA should be persuasive enough to achieve your desired conversion. Use the following persuasive words to make your CTA more effective.
- Bonus
- Because
- Free
- Instantly
- New
- You
12. Aggravate the problem
The reason why people visit your landing page is that they are looking for a solution to a problem.
While your business may be the solution they are looking for, your offer should tell them the solution and your CTA should support that solution.
Yet, one effective way to really captivate people’s emotion is to first aggravate the problem they are currently experiencing, then, provide the solution afterwards - and you can definitely do that on your Call-To-Action.
13. Use Social Proof
We are social beings and we crave that feeling of belongingness.
Social proof is an effective tool to entice a person to purchase a product or service. It not only invokes a feeling of belongingness to a particular group but also, a feeling of trust. Plus social proof is one element of high conversion landing page design.
Using social proof on your CTA is definitely the easiest way to eliminate the doubts and objections of your prospective customers.
14. Use a strategic cliffhanger
Whether it’s in a movie, a blog, or an ad, cliffhangers are effective attention-getters. It’s cliffhangers that make movie-goers anticipate the next episode or the reader to read the next article.
Cliffhangers create a sense of excitement or suspense. It also gives out a sense of unresolved emotion. This feeling could trigger someone to move on to the next step.
If you use the same tactic to write your CTA message, your target audience will be compelled to click the button to find out what’s hidden behind that button.
15. Offer a Bonus
No one can resist the allure of a freebie that piqued our interest including a free ebook or a rebate after a successful purchase.
Another effective way to attract more customers is to offer a bonus. One way to do that is in your CTA message.
When you give someone an opportunity to save money or gain something out of their main purchase, you entice them to click that button and even potentially make them your loyal customers.
Your “bonus” can be an extra saving, free shipping, rebates, or free book.
Featured Resource: Landing Page Copywriting Template
Ready to write your own landing page? Download Crocodile Marketing's free
Landing Page Copywriting Formulas template to get started.
30 Effective Call-To-Action Examples To Engage Your Ideal Customers
We are all beginners at some point, and we gradually learn from others. Sometimes, that includes copying them too.
Here is a look at a few different CTAs used by big brands and marketers that you can also incorporate on your landing page.
1. Get the secret now!
The sample CTA above is from W Magazine. This CTA is definitely effective as it evokes curiosity to the visitor to know what is beyond that button.
2. Sign up and reserve your spot today
This one above is from Banyan Hill Publishing’s Sovereign Investor. The “Sign up” may be generic but the “reserve your spot” creates a feeling of urgency to the visitor.
3. Get Access Now!
This CTA is best if you want the visitor to sign up to a website, watch a video or webinar, and download a file.
4. Sign Up (Free)
This type of CTA is widely used but never neglected because it is truly effective. Who doesn’t want something free, right? Litworth recognized that.
5. Sign Up Free
Here’s another version of “Sign Up Free” by Mailchimp.
6. Start My Free Trial Now
As you can see above, the CTA is from Bigcommerce which is another form of the widely used “Free” CTA, yet it is for a trial.
7. Yes, Let’s Start The Free Course
As the CTA implies, this is for giving out FREE courses. This is best for coaches or agencies selling out courses like Quicksprout.
8. Get eBook
This is definitely one of the most straightforward CTAs. What do you get? Of course, it’s an eBook.
9. Download Now
“Download Now” may be a common CTA but it is still effective even to this day.
10. Show Me My Heatmap
This is Crazyegg’s customized CTA aligning it to one of their product’s features that provides data about the website.
11. Yes, Get The Free Case Study Now
As you can see, the CTA implies a Case Study giveaway.
12. Get The Checklist
Instead of using the word “FREE”, this CTA prefers to be direct to what they want to give - which is the checklist.
13. Shop Now
This CTA is commonly used by eCommerce businesses. But if your offer is a digital product like an eBook or a template, you can opt to have this one on your landing page.
14. Sign Up (and launch your site)
This is another example using the commonly used “Sign up” CTA, yet, adding an extension to further urge the user to really make an action.
As you can see in the CTA above, the words “Sign up” is followed by “and launch your site” which is intended for those users who are planning to create a website. Obviously, this is best for website builders or CMS.
15. Yes, I want more traffic
This one can be used if you are into a business related to SEO.
16. The simple “Sign Up”
While it may be simple, what makes the CTA here powerful is the use of social proof to persuade first-timers to opt-in.
17. Click here to subscribe
This is another CTA with supporting social proof which makes it more effective.
18. Go premium
This is a straightforward CTA best to be used for retargeted individuals who already know about your services but haven’t opted to get the premium plan yet.
If you are offering multiple services with free plans, then, you can also opt to use this kind of CTA.
19. Get Started
In this example, instead of using a CTA that refers to the 14-day free trial, Shopify uses the Get Started CTA instead.
20. Start my free 30-day trial
Instead of simply saying, start my trial, if your service has a specific duration of the trial, then, you can use and specify that on your CTA just like in the example above by Moz.
21. Be Awesome
Instead of using the commonly used CTAs, you can opt to be more creative with your CTA just like with Point Blank SEO’s shown above.
Point Blank SEO chooses to be more enthusiastic by using the word “awesome” instead of having the word “Get” which is clearly visible in the description above the CTA button.
22. Let’s do it
You thought it was Nike’s? Nah! “Let’s do it” is an energetic CTA by Less Accounting that you can use not only in the above scenario, but even with other offers. You can use it for webinars and for SEO-related offers.
23. Talk to us
This can be used if your offer is needing an appointment or a consultation, wherein they have to talk to you via phone or video call.
24. Send a gift rocket or send a gift
This sample above is one from GiftRocket. What makes it exciting is they use their brand name on their CTA.
This type of CTA is perfect for businesses who run a promotion that will require the visitor to send a gift to their friends or their loved ones. This can be used in ecommerce businesses, finance, or even in digital marketing businesses. You just have to think about what campaign would suit this kind of CTA.
25. Join for free
Here’s another effective CTA combining the power words “join” and “free”.
26. Download and subscribe to our newsletter
Here’s another CTA for a downloadable eBook with an opt-in to subscribe to the company’s newsletter.
27. Show Me This Contract Pack
Music Law Contracts also evokes curiosity in their call-to-action button. The landing page headline makes a promise and the CTA button delivers on that promise.
28. Start Your Free Trial
Instead of using the usual first-person pronoun “My”, Amazon opted to use the second-person pronoun “Your” to give a different feel on the CTA. You can definitely use this too.
29. Get it Now!
This CTA sample used by Rascal Rides is definitely effective as it gives a sense of urgency.
30. Watch now
The sample above may be a commonly used CTA, but definitely effective for free webinars or videos.
Conclusion
While you may be able to directly apply the other CTAs mentioned here to your landing page, you may also tweak some of the sample CTAs and compose them to something that aligns with your business campaign goals.
The list provided in this article is just a sort of a guide for you to be able to have an idea of what type of CTAs you can use and what CTAs are effective.