A call-to-action (CTA) is an image or piece of text that tells your readers what action they should be taking next on your site. Your calls-to-action should lead to landing pages where you collect your visitors’ contact information in exchange for an offer that will benefit them. Effective CTAs result in more leads and conversions for you!
Occasionally, we republish blog posts, press releases and other commentaries of interest to our community. This piece By Lydia Di Francesco, appeared on Business 2 Community
However, CTAs need to be carefully crafted to ensure that people will click. An image is helpful, but the words you choose determine whether a visitor will click or not.
Here are 4 ways to write better copy for your CTAs and get more clicks.
1. Use Action Words (aka Verbs)
Since your CTA is a call to action, using verbs (especially simple present tense) directly tell your readers what to do. The verb should be used at the beginning of the CTA. Don’t bury it near the end. Tell them right away what action they should take, whether it’s “download now”, “click”, or “call today”.
By not including a verb in the CTA copy, your readers aren’t clear on what to do, which can hurt the click-through rate of your call-to-action and negatively impact conversions. Meaning, you’re potentially losing out on qualified customers.
In fact, verbs are the part of speech that generate the most shares on Twitter, as reported in HubSpot’s Science of Social Media research. Verbs beat adverbs, adjectives, and nouns in terms of their potential to attract Twitter shares!
2. Include Numbers
Just like with writing good headlines, numbers help with calls-to-action.
Numbers to be clear and specific about your offer and set the right expectations. A number tells visitors exactly what they’re going to get, how much of it, for how long, etc. For example, compare “42 Blog Post Ideas” to “Tipsheet: 6 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Generate Leads“.
Clearly there is a difference in how long the documents are and what you can expect from each.
The types of numbers you can include in your CTA copy are things like page length of the offer, a specific discount, or the numerical impact or benefit of a particular resource you are providing.
3. Keep it Brief
Don’t overload the reader will too much information in the call-to-action. Give just enough information that they are clear on the offer, but not too much that it gives everything away. Create curiousity so that they click.
Then, your landing page can go more in depth about the offer and highlight the reasons why they should download the eBook or contact you for a free consultation.
4. Use More Practical, Less Technical Language
The language in your CTA will likely reflect industry-specific knowledge, afterall you should be striving to be a thought leader in your industry. However, there are some best practices that hold true for all CTA copy regardless of industry.
Words that work well for attracting views to blog posts imply expertise and knowledge. According to The Science of Blogging, some of the words that are most viewed in blog posts include “insights,” “analysis,” “answers,” “questions,” “advice,” “review,” “why,” “product”, “top,” and “best.” These words suggest that the content can improve the reader somehow. Similarly, we can apply this principle to writing call-to-action copy. Emphasize the benefits of the offer and how it can make your prospects smarter.
Stay away from overly technical jargon. Generally people don’t even want to view content that includes such technical jargon, so you should definitely exclude it from your call-to-action.
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