8 Tips for Writing Clickable Calls to Action

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When you are writing button copy for contact forms or throughout your website, you need to have an amazing call to action in order to drive clicks. This means taking the time to understand what the real goal is – as well as understanding your demographic.

1. Use a STRONG Verb

When you are getting ready to write your CTA, remember you don’t have a lot of room. You also don’t want to delay when it comes to giving your audience direction as to what they need to do – which means you need a STRONG verb to get it started. Use words like “Download” or “Buy” so there is no confusion as to what you want people to do.

Create My Resume

This CTA makes it perfectly clear what your next step should be.

2. Provoke Emotion

The best way to get people to click on your button is to provoke some kind of emotion out of them. The moment they read your words, you want them to be enthusiastic. Without any kind of enthusiasm, people are likely going to keep reading – and miss out on the button where they can be taken to your site entirely.

QuickSprout

By focusing on benefits and the needs of the audience, these calls to action make people curious to learn more.

3. Know the Device

Did you know that the device that people use to access your marketing campaign is going to impact the best CTA for you to use? The people who are using their mobile devices are looking for instant gratification, so you will want to use more action verbs on mobile marketing. However, the people who are on a desktop or laptop are likely still doing some research, and therefore you want to encourage them to do research by calling to get more info. This means a CTA such as “call us now” could be more beneficial.

4. Get Creative

People are tired of reading the same words over and over again. You don’t want people to think your CTA is the same as everyone else’s out there because they are more likely to pass up your offers. Use more colorful words that focus on what you have to offer. This is also where it really pays to know your demographic so you can use language that they would see – and that they relate to.

PointBlank SEO

5. Use Numbers

Research has shown that people respond really well to seeing numbers. This means you don’t want to be vague within your call to action. Tell people what kind of discount, pricing, or other incentive they are going to get, such as “10% off today only” or “shop for electronics under $99” to maximize the amount of play your button can make.

App Templates

6. Make the Colors Count

You don’t want to focus solely on the words for your action button. You also want to pay attention to the color you choose. While green and orange are the button colors that perform the best, you also want to incorporate your overall site design into the thought process.

Contrasting colors are going to be the most eye catching and ensure they stand out. If you put orange on a peach background, it’s not going to have the same impact. Play around with colors until you can stand back and be impressed.

Charity Water

Even though the button here isn’t green or orange, the blue contrasts sharply with the red in the section below it making the button stand out from the rest of the page.

7. Make it Big

There’s no point in writing call to action wording at all if people can’t read it. Don’t make it intimidatingly large, but make sure that it is visible. Otherwise, all of your hard work is going to be for nothing.

Firefox

8. Don’t Go on and On

The best advice is to say what you want to say and get out of there. Be quick about the call to action and limit it to between two and five words as that will allow you to grab the attention of your audience and let them know what is expected of them.

Follow the natural user flow, test the buttons and don’t be afraid to change something if it’s not working for you.

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