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Your target audience is unlikely to be persuaded by common call-to-action methods because they are more informed than ever before.
This article is written to teach you how to write an effective call-to-action that will appeal to your target audience and increase your conversion rate.
A weak call to action is one of the main reasons why most landing pages and sales pages are not converting leads into customers.
Most B2B digital marketers are not using effective call-to-action messages to engage their ideal customers, and some are not using them at all.
If you’re not seeing the results you want from your website, it’s time to focus on creating a simple and effective call to action. This will help to establish you as an authority and boost conversions.
9 Tactics of Call-to-Action Triggers That Would Hook Your Customers
It can be difficult to write a call-to-action message that gets your visitors to take the right action. You have to be careful to create a sense of urgency without being pushy. The following 9 tactics will make it easier.
1. Selling the Trial
If you’re selling software as a service, it’s a good idea to use a free trial instead of freemium. Free trials are more effective at getting people to sign up.
It’s important to provide potential customers with free trials or ebooks as they move through the various stages of the purchasing process. This will help you to understand what strategies are effective and which can be ignored. Offering a free trial or ebook shows that you are confident in your product and that you are willing to provide value upfront. It’s a great way to increase your conversion rate by catering to the needs and concerns of your target audience.
You must help your customers by making it as easy as possible for them to take action. They will have many questions and will rely on you to provide the correct answers.
You should focus on giving potential customers a free trial, as this can increase conversions by 328%.
When using free trials in your call-to-action copy, you might lose the trial users at the end of the trial period.
A study conducted by Marketing Professor Harald Van Heerde and his co-researchers from Tilburg and Maastricht Universities examined household data from 16,512 customers. The study revealed that a large percentage of users who signed up for a free trial didn’t upgrade to a premium (paid) solution after the trial period.
The data should show you the dangers that can happen to software service providers who are not careful.
You can determine the best free trial length for your business by conducting A/B tests and tracking relevant metrics.
What is the best free trial period for you: 14 days or 30 days? It’s hard to say without knowing more about your business and your ideal customers.
INSTEAD OF GUESSING, TEST IT OUT FOR A MORE DEFINITIVE ANSWER ON WHAT TIME PERIOD WORKS BEST FOR CONVERSIONS TO YOUR PREMIUM PRODUCT.
Many well-known brands offer free trials to new customers, even though they already have a large customer base.
2. Use a strong command verb to start your CTA
It is important to have a clear and concise call to action (CTA) in your ad. You are limited to 35 characters per line in your ad, so you need to get straight to the point. You should start your CTA with the desired action you want your audience to take.
- Run an e-commerce website? Start your CTA with words like “buy,” “shop,” or “order”
- Promoting a newsletter or white paper? Start your CTA with words like “download” or “subscribe”
- Want someone to request more information? Try “fill out a form for…” or “find out how…”
If you’re a marketing agency and you want people to read your latest tips and insights in a white paper, make sure your call-to-action (CTA) is direct and informative. A CTA that simply says “Our latest white paper is available” may not be effective because people may not be sure how to access the white paper. A better CTA would be “download our white paper today!”
3. Use words that provoke emotion or enthusiasm
If you want to evoke a strong reaction from your audience, make your call to action (CTA) enthusiastic. Your audience will mirror your enthusiasm if the CTA is enticing, such as “buy now and get 50% off!” This CTA provides a huge benefit and will likely result in very enthusiastic responses.
If you are trying to get someone to book a trip with their family using your ad, then using a call-to-action (CTA) such as “plan your dream vacation today!” will excite them about the idea and make them more likely to click on it. A small, but effective, element you can use here is adding an exclamation point to the end of your CTA to create more enthusiasm. This will make your CTA stand out more and give it a little extra “kick.”
4. Know your devices
A call-to-action (CTA) is an important aspect of creating a successful ad campaign, but it is also important to customize the CTA based on the device being used by the target audience. For example, Google considers a desktop and tablet as the same device because the screen sizes are similar and people use them for search in similar scenarios. For example, someone might see an ad on TV for a product they are interested in and then search for more information about it on their laptop or tablet.
However, it is prudent to tailor your CTA based on the device being used because mobile devices tend to have different user behavior and search intent than desktop/tablets. Users who search for something on their desktop or tablet are typically still doing their research and are not ready to commit, whereas users who search for something on their mobile phone often want “instant gratification” or fast results.
If you want people to take action on your mobile ads, make your call-to-action (CTA) focused on making a phone call. Something like “call now to get started” or “call us today for more information” will encourage people to take the action you want.
There are two ways you can make this tactic even more effective:
- Google gives you the ability to set a mobile preference for your ads, which allows you to designate certain ads to only appear for searches completed on mobile devices. With this option, you can focus your CTA on generating more phone calls.
- You can also enable call extensions, which allow you to display your phone number alongside your ads. This option is available for all devices, and I strongly recommend that you take advantage of it, but Google automatically adjusts the way your call extensions are displayed on mobile searches. Instead of your number appearing, a small “Call” button will be display, allowing for one-touch dialing. This is what is known as Google’s “Click- to-Call” function.
5. Use numbers when possible
We, as consumers, respond better when we see numbers such as pricing, discounts, promotions, and incentives. This helps us to determine whether or not an item is worth purchasing. So when the opportunity arises, it is beneficial to appeal to your target audience using numbers.
I am always in favor of including pricing information in your ad copy, including your CTA. If a user sees your pricing information in your ad and clicks through to your site, you know they are still interested in what you are offering. This gives you a valuable click and a better chance at generating a conversion. However, if you don’t include pricing information in your ads, someone may click through to your site and then be scared off by your prices. This leads to wasted spend in your account.
If you want to increase your conversion rate, play around with the pricing information in your CTA. For example, if you’re selling TVs, you could include information about how much they cost in your CTA, like “Shop today for TVs under $300!” This not only tells potential customers how much they’ll pay for the TV, but it also creates a sense of urgency (pretty sneaky, huh?). If you’re running a special promotion, like free shipping if ordered by a certain day, you could mention that in your CTA too. For example, “Order by Sunday for 1-day shipping.” Or, if you’re an auto body shop looking to attract new customers, you could offer a discount in your CTA, like “Book today! 15% off your next visit.”
6. Use crappy language
While this technique may not be the most successful one, it can still be somewhat effective in catching someone’s attention. I would not recommend using this method often as it can be difficult to execute well, but using negative words can sometimes motivate a person to change something they are not confident about. For instance, if I were to see a call-to-action on Google that said “end your crappy diet today” while searching for ways to lose weight, I would be more likely to click on it. Even though it is rather blunt, this method definitely demands attention.
7. Evoke curiosity
The more curious your prospects are, the more sales you’ll make. Curiosity is the desire to know something. If you can make your call to action message create a desire in your prospects to know what’s on the other side of the CTA, they’ll be more likely to click, giving you the lead generation you want. A higher CTR means more sales.
Making your customers curious about your product is not purely a matter of luck. Emotional triggers that evoke trust, satisfaction, surprise, and fun also play a role in making customers curious about your product.
If you’re curious about something, it means you’re interested in it and want to learn more about it. This can be a good thing, because it means you’re motivated to improve your own life.
Using curiosity to generate interest is only effective if you are honest about what you are offering. Don’t use persuasive language and call to action buttons to get people to click if what you are giving them is not what they were expecting.
When writing your call to action, you should find a way to integrate these persuasive words:
- You
- Free
- Bonus
- Because
- Instantly
- New
8. Aggravate the problem, then offer the solution.
A research study revealed that 96% of unhappy customers don’t complain, but 91% of them will leave and never come back.
If you want to write a call to action that gets results, you need to understand your audience. According to Lee Resource, most customers who are unhappy with a product or service don’t complain. They just take their business elsewhere.
Demian Farnworth shared a powerful copywriting formula for dominating social media platforms and captivating people’s minds:
- Identify a problem
- Agitate the problem
- Proffer a solution
9. Offer a bonus.
There’s nothing we crave more than a reward. Even though the saying goes “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” we humans can’t resist the temptation of a freebie. This includes something as simple as a free ebook that caught our eye.
One way to attract and keep more customers is to offer them a bonus. You can also include a bonus in your call-to-action message.
When a company or service provider offers you a discount for placing an order, they are taking on the risk, and thus offering you a reward.
Make sure to test your call-to-action messages, copy, and button design, whether you’re getting traffic from search engines or social media referrals.
There is no clear cut rule for writing an effective CTA, you can only figure out what works by testing different versions.
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