This month we’ll talk about calls-to-action.
How to come up with a highly-converting call-to-action that your users will want to click!
Orange Might Be the Best Color
Prompting action and usually appealing to an eye, orange is considered the best color for a call-to-action button.
It doesn’t mean you don’t need to test more colors. It doesn’t mean you don’t need to take your design and color palette into consideration either. But it’s a good start.
“Download” is the Most Successful Call-to-Action
Twitter has revealed some of its advertising takeaways a couple of years ago stating that of all calls-to-action (including “Buy now” and “Click here”), “Download for free” performed best in terms of click-through-rate.
There are more power words to put insider or next to your call-to-action.
Use Numbers When Possible
Like with the email subjects, numbers seem to re-enforce action in an on-page call-to-action too.
@Wordstream has a good piece of advice here:
Try experimenting with your pricing information in your CTA, as well as any other applicable numerical information. A CTA such as “Shop today for TVs under $300!” not only shows a user how little they will pay for a TV, but it also hits on the FOMO (i.e. “fear of missing out”) element as well.
Choose 1st Person Speech
Michael Aagard of @ContentVerve shared a study revealing that changing button text from second person (“get your free template”) to the first person (“get my free template”) resulted in a 90% increase in clicks!
Calls-to-Action Tools
- ButtonOptimizer.com is a browser-based call to action button builder. It’s very easy to use and you may enjoy building your CTAs! You’ll be able to copy the button CSS to copy directly into your code
- MaxButtons is a WordPress plugin that lets you create various CTAs on your blog. Here’s a video tutorial on how it can help, courtesy of @wpbeginner. You’ll be able to use a cool visual editor that will let you play with the option and preview the button as you play.
- Sumo (previously Sumome) my own favorite plugin allowing you to easily integrate all kinds of CTAs (optin, download, subscribe, etc.) into your site. It supports all kinds of content management platforms. It doesn’t need any design skills (I was able to set it up myself). You can use the free version if you don’t mind it having Sumo branding. If you upgrade, you’ll be able to easily A/B test your CTAs and compare results. Other options: OptinMonster, LeadPages, or Thrive Leads
Start with the Audience Research
.@DonSturgill has a beautiful input:
Make sure your offer fits the audience. Those who fish with the wrong bait go home hungry 🙂
If you find a need and fill that need, you are providing value. Businesses that provide value survive.
If you try to force a solution on those who have no problem, you aren’t providing value. Businesses that don’t provide value fail.
No amount of advertising or slick copywriting can make a lasting change in the equation. Once you have the right fit of solution to problem to people who have the problem (you may have to prove that or wake them up to the fact of it), it’s simple to write the call to action. You’re announcing something a large group of people will love to hear. The rest is hype.
Test and Optimize Your Landing Page
It’s not just enough to use attention grabbing CTA. It’s also important not to have attention-stealing elements near your CTA.
A few years back @TechWyse used a heatmap tool to test the effectiveness of the landing page of a client. While we thought the landing page was sales driven
the heatmap showed us that the red starburst was stealing a lot of attention and that the form and main CTA in the top banner wasn’t even getting any attention.
After a bit of experimentation, we finally concluded that there should be no elements close to the CTA that steals user attention. The final landing page was thus redesigned to this
CTA Stats:
Sara Duggan @saraassistsyou has always been interested in the stats behind colors, placement, and text used in Call-to-Actions. Here are a couple of CTA’s she has found that are unique:
1. Does “living” keep you up at night? CTA: Start your risk-free subscription now (this was on an aging website)
2. 30 Day Blog Mastery Videos (This popup will NOT appear again! Don’t miss out) CTA: Click Here for Access
3. Don’t Make a Single Move Without This Information. (Penny investing site) CTA: Yes, I want this special report.
4. From ‘aha’ to ‘oh sh_t’ I’m sharing everything on my journey to 100,000 monthly visitors. CTA: Teach Me How to Get 100,000 Visitors (NeilPatel.com)
5. Content Creation is not rocket science – Get the right tools CTA: Unlock the Tool Box (HannahEdia.com)
Neil Patel’s article on this subject says offering a Free Trail instead of a freemium (free ebook) is more effective.
Examples of companies doing this: Aweber, Shopify, and Salesforce
A really good example is Amazon’s Free Trial of It’s Prime Membership. 7 out of 10 people who signed up for the trial converted to paying customers (see)
Use Content Upgrades
This idea is coming from Raelyn Tan @raelyntan:
The most effective way to get people to join your email list is to use content upgrades. For instance, if you have a popular post, offer a relevant freebie that is related to the contents of your blog post. Another technique I realized increases conversion rates is to use a button with a color that contrasts and stands out from the rest of my website. My website is predominantly blue and white, so having an orange button makes my call-to-action button stand out and increases my conversion rates significantly.
Further reading:
MyBlogU and ViralContentBee mentions:
Guys… why not leave a comment on each article as you check it out? #myblogu
— Don Sturgill (@DonSturgill) February 23, 2017
Projects we participated in this month:
More projects for you to check out next month:
See you next month!