Mastering the design and copy of calls-to-action is crucial in creating a marketing strategy that will reap great results. Because a good call-to-action will enable you to gather traffic, leads and customers, it is imperative to make sure that it is created properly and masterfully.

Because calls-to-action can significantly help in every aspect in of marketing, it should be integrated in every marketing aspect in your business. You will be able to create a holistic marketing strategy that can capture valuable leads by integrating your calls-to-action in it.

Calls-to-action Design

After you have assessed the way you are going to present your calls-to-action, it is now time you can determine and establish its design. Because the design of the calls-to-action need to be catchy and compelling, it should be thought of carefully. You need to know how you can make your calls-to-action attract people and accomplish your goals.

• Make Your Calls-to-Action Big

Making your call-to-action big without overwhelming the design of your whole website is important. Because your call-to-action will be responsible for attracting and telling your website visitors what to do, it should be easily seen – big enough to show its importance.

• Make It Simple and Relevant

Another way to make your call-to-action attractive and easy to understand – so that your visitors will understand what you want them to do – is make your call-to-action simple. Giving it enough space so that it is not overcrowded and not overwhelming is a great idea so that you can emphasize the importance of your call-to-action to the rest of the website.

But, if your call-to-action is quite relevant to your content, you should not separate the two that much. You need to connect it with the rest of your content so that your visitors will see it as a relevant content. Supplementing your call-to-action with relevant content will help convince your visitors to take action and accomplish your goals.

• Make It Visible to All

Your call-to-action should be placed where your visitors can easily see it. You can place it on top or near the top of your website so it is above the fold that makes it clearly visible without your visitors having the need to scroll down. A call-to-action that is readily visible to visitors is more likely to be filled up rather than a call-to-action that is placed at the bottom of the website page.

Testing about the results of the placement of your call-to-action is also essential in determining the best placement of your call-to-action. Learning how to experiment with the placement of your call-to-action will enable you to determine where you should really put it to make it more visible and attractive.

• Use Contrasting Colors for Emphasis

To make your call-to-action stand out from the rest of your web content, you can use contrasting colors. By using colors that are a contrast with the rest of the website color, your visitors can easily see your call-to-action. But even though you are using a contrasting color to make your call-to-action stand out, it is also important to consider your whole website palette. The color should also compliment the overall look of the website so that your call-to-action would not be an eyesore.

Using different font styles and sizes can also help emphasize your points and instruction which explains the benefits that visitors can get from your offer.

• Integrate Interactive Effects

Integrating interactive effects like hover animation to your call-to-action will give visitors the impression that your call-to-action is active and they will be able to take the next step once they accomplish your call-to-action.

There are a lot of interactive effects that you can do with your call-to-action. You can integrate these effects through Photoshop or other software that enable photo editing or HTML editing.

• Make Your Call-to-Action More Button-Like

By using unusual shapes, instead of the standard rectangular or square box, you will make your call-to-action more button-like. This will make your visitors see your call-to-action as a helpful tool inside your website instead of just seeing it as an ad, which is often avoided by website visitors.

There are no definite shapes that you should use in a call-to-action. You can experiment with various shapes so see which ones are effective in increasing click-through rates.

• Create a Sense of Direction

Creating a sense of direction such as putting arrows on your call-to-action will give your visitors the impression that they should take action and get to the next step. Having images that point to your call-to-action will shift your visitors’ attention on the CTA.

• Focus on Text – Not on Graphics

It is important to offer information instead of just putting images on your calls-to-action. Because people are looking for useful information, you should provide them with what they need. Images are nothing if you have no useful information on your CTA that you can offer to your visitors.

Tips for Multiple Calls-to-Action on a Single Website

If you want to place multiple calls-to-action on a single website, you should consider the importance of each call-to-action and then prioritize. Place the most important call-to-action on the highest and most prominent place on your website. Making your top CTA bigger will also emphasize its importance.

Writing Call-to-Action Copy that Gets Visitors Clicking

If you want your visitors to click your CTA button and take the next step, you have to create a compelling copy. A compelling CTA copy is not just about listing benefits to the visitors. A compelling copy is about providing useful information and direction that your visitors will find useful in gaining benefits from your calls-to-action by accomplishing your goals.

• Start with Subjects and Verbs

When writing a call-to-action, you should try to start with subjects and verbs so that your visitors will immediately know what your CTA is about. Placing your subject on top of your call-to-action will instantly tell what you are offering. Same goes with verbs. If you are going to explain what your visitors should do in the beginning of your CTA, your visitors will likely accomplish what you want them to do.

• Include Numbers

Using numbers in explaining your CTA is also very effective in getting people do what you want them to do. By clearly stating what your visitors are going to get from your offer, through clear numbers, your visitors will likely get more interested in your offer.

• Use Adverbs Sparingly

Adverbs can be used to shorten your CTA copy but it has the least shareability on social network so better decrease its usage. Although, you can use it only if its helps your visitors understand what you are trying to say more easily.

• Correct Length: 90-150 Characters

It is always advisable to make your CTAs short and precise so that your visitors will not lose interest in your offer. Making your CTA copy long will make your visitors bored and just leave your call-to-action alone or even might leave your website. So make sure that you are able to show the benefits and instructions on your CTA shortly and precisely.

Do Not Use Technical Terms

Avoid using technical terms that some or even most of your visitors won’t understand. Using technical terms on your CTA will make it look complicated and not applicable to the masses. Try to use simple terms and not industry-specific ones.

Use terms that show improvement on your topic so that you can help your visitors see that they will be able to improve some of their aspects in some way with the help of your offer. Also, do not use terms that will obviously just make your visitors accomplish your goals.

Optimize Calls-to-Action through A/B Testing

To make sure that your efforts will reap satisfactory you should be testing the strategies that you have applied on a regular basis. By doing so, you will be able to analyze the results of the various strategies that you have integrated in your CTA.

Because not every strategy in this guide will be compatible with your industry and your needs, it is important that you monitor your results. Monitoring your results will enable you to change or enhance the strategies that do not offer good outcome. You can also improve the strategies that you have already used when you know what works and what not.

You can do A/B testing by creating variations on your chosen strategies so that you know which ones are getting good results and which ones need to be enhanced or remove from your call-to-action. In this kind of testing, you will be able to determine where the problem comes from if ever you receive poor results. By slowly making changes over a certain period of time, you will be able to determine which factors affect your strategy.

Note the various changes that you made and the results that those had received so that you can tailor your call-to-action to truly fit your needs.

By Candy Lowe