How to Write a Call to Action That Works [Tips + 6 Examples]

You know what they say that you don’t eat with your mouth shut? If you want someone to do something, you must ask for it. Writing a killer call to action (CTA) is one strategy for getting what you want.

Whether you’re trying to get people to buy your products, subscribe to your emails, or join your cult, crafting the perfect call to action is essential to success.

But how do you write a call to action that stands out from the crowd and really drives results? In this blog post, we’ll show you how to motivate with some great examples of moving calls to action and tips on writing them yourself.

What is a call to action?

A call to action is a word or phrase that prompts action. This is a marketing term that describes getting your audience to act in a certain way.

A call to action can be displayed as a clickable button or simply as a piece of text. Buttons and call-to-action phrases can appear anywhere in the user journey that you want to direct your audience to.

Let’s say you’re trying to sell a pair of shoes on Instagram and you’re creating clear social media calls to action. You might have a call to action at the end of your social media post that says, “Click on the link in our bio.”A link in your bio may lead to a product page with information about the shoe. The call to action on this page will be the “Add to Cart”button.

CTAs aren’t just for social media. They may also appear in emails for an email marketing campaign, paid ads, at the end of a blog post, and on landing pages.

Calls to action are also common in print marketing – think of billboards or flyers that scream “Call Now!”

Common CTA Examples

You will see a lot of calls to action, but there are a few tried and tested phrases on repeat.

These generic calls to action are simple phrases that tell your user exactly what to do and what they can expect when done. There is power in simplicity, so these words will be used over and over again.

Some of the more common CTAs are:

Buy now
Subscribe
Connect with us
Try it for free
Try
Add to Basket
To learn more
Begin
join us
Read more

Why is a good CTA important?

A well-designed call to action serves as a bridge or a well-lit path. It directs the user to where you want. What if your business plan is in the right place will help achieve your goals.

A strong CTA will capture the attention of customers and encourage them to take the plunge needed to reach their goals. Effective calls to action give customers confidence in your business. They can report safety, reliability, and convenience, all of which can increase conversions or drive traffic where you want it to go.

Calls to action also help fight decision fatigue. When someone has too many options, they can get confused in choosing. CTAs can help avoid decision confusion by giving your reader a direct command. Read on for tips on creating effective calls to action.

Best Practices for Creating Effective Calls to Action

As with bangs, there is a right and wrong approach to creating calls to action. You will need to consider things like copywriting, design, visuals, and web page placement.

This may sound like a lot, but we’ve put together a handy list of best practices for you below!

Make it short and clear

The CTA should be concise and contain a clear request to the customer, whether it’s joining an email list or buying a product or service. Don’t write your reader a paragraph with a call to action inside it; you want them to know right away where they should go.

Source: Squarespace

Make it visible

People are not viewing your web page. They don’t read every word and certainly don’t like to search for something. If your call to action doesn’t immediately catch the eye, you’ll lose the viewer’s interest in a matter of seconds. Remember that a competitor is most likely doing the same as you and your customers are spoiled for choice.

Make sure your call to action buttons or phrases are clearly visible on your page. You can customize the images or site design to point to the CTA for more visibility. Take, for example, Fashion Nova. Here, the body of the banner model points to a “Buy Now”call to action.

Source: Fashion Nova

Use empty space

A great way to make sure people see your call to action is to surround it with white space.

Don’t be afraid of spaces on your site! This allows your viewers to breathe between content and highlight important information.

Surrounding the CTA button with white space makes it stand out.

Source: West Elm.

Use contrasting or bold colors

Stop signs are red for a reason. They stand out in cityscapes or countryside because this bright, exciting red doesn’t risk blending into them. Do the same with the CTA button colors.

Keep in mind that you should not deviate from your brand colors. A secondary brand color can do the job well. (And if you want to learn more about brand colors and a consistent style guide, we’ve got you covered.)

Source: McDonald’s

Thoughtful placement on the page

Where you place your call to action buttons matters a lot. You want to consider the natural course of your user’s journey. You will have users who will immediately want to make a purchase or go to the next page, and you will have users who will want to scroll through your landing page before moving on.

The call to action should be placed under the title and at the bottom of the page. You want to grab people immediately (if they want to) and give those who need a little more time another opportunity to click on that call to action at the bottom.

Source: Squarespace

Write supportive text about the benefits

Helper text is content that appears before or between calls to action. This could be blog content, email body text, text on your website, or any copy that supports your call to action.

This additional information is your opportunity to show your audience the benefit they get when they click on your call to action.

Source: Squarespace

For example, perhaps you are trying to get your audience to sign up for an email newsletter. If you want to convince people to hand over their email addresses, you will have to tell them what this newsletter will give them.

A copywriting newsletter might say something like, “We sift through thousands of copywriting samples and select only the best for you to use for your own purposes. Plus, we’ll tell you exactly why they work, so you don’t have to spend time figuring out the strategy. Impress your customers, save time and feel like an expert. Register Today.”

Supporting text highlights the benefits, so the call to action seems more compelling. The reader knows exactly what to expect by subscribing to the email newsletter and how it will benefit him.

Create thoughtful copywriting

Aside from supporting text about the benefits, the rest of your copywriting needs to be to the point. Everything from your website headlines to your social media posts should be the voice of your brand and speak directly to your audience.

Remember to pay attention to the language you use both in and around calls to action. Powerful words resonate with your audience. Hot CTA text is an explosive way to dramatically increase your ROI. (See what I did there?)

Don’t confuse your audience though. While your surrounding text can be filled with strong language, your calls to action need to be clear so your audience knows where they’re headed. “Pass Quiz”or “Buy Now”gives your audience everything they need to know about where the button is leading.

Source: Kunol

Test, test and test again

The only way to really know if you’re using the best version of a CTA is to test it. A/B testing your calls to action will show you which strategy works best.

It’s a simple method: you change one element (such as copy, placement, or colors) and let it run for a certain amount of time. Then see how it compares to the previous version.

6 great call to action examples

Now that you know what to do, it’s time to check out what others are doing! Get inspiration for your next call to action from the examples below.

glossy

Oh, how we love a good mystery! Whether it’s a cheesy crime drama or a surprise gift from a company, there’s something so enticing about not knowing what you might get.

Glossier “It’s a mystery!”The CTA makes us want to click that button to see what’s on the other side.

Source: Gloss

Article

The article uses color to its advantage with call to action buttons on the website. Their secondary brand color is bright coral, which, as you can see, is used for the Add to Cart CTA button.

It’s clear, attractive, and concise—everything a great CTA button should be.

Source: Article

Coco and Eve

Coco & Eve’s email marketing campaign uses a discount code as a CTA. Who doesn’t love saving money? Including your discount code in the CTA is a smart way to get people to click.

Source: Koko and Eve’s e-campaign.

While this strategy worked well for Coco & Eve’s email campaign, they ran into CTA limitations on other platforms like Facebook. If you’re advertising on LinkedIn or Facebook, you should be aware that apps force you to use a set of standard CTA copy on buttons.

Although this imposes some restrictions, you can still add helper text that motivates your audience to click. Below, Coco & Eve have included an image discount code instead, which is just one of the many smart ways to advertise on Facebook.

Source: Coco and Eve on Facebook.

Twitter

The “Tweet”call to action on Twitter uses its own brand language. Before the advent of social media, if you told someone to tweet something, you would be met with a blank stare. (We’ve been coming since 2006, really.)

To do it yourself, simply create a globally usable platform that makes birdsong synonymous with fragments of thought. Easy.

Source: Twitter

Carcasses

Tushy uses social proof as supporting text in her Instagram ads. The “100,000+ 5 star reviews”statement below motivates others to buy Tushy. Social proof is one of those marketing tactics that just works. People look at other people to determine what is popular and what is not.

Social proof works much like the bandwagon effect, a kind of cognitive bias. The bandwagon effect is almost as sound as it sounds; when most people like or approve of something, it is often picked up by others. And with 100,000 5-star reviews, Tushy uses the kickstand effect to its fullest below.

Source: Tushy on Instagram

NatGeo

NatGeo offers a free trial in their Instagram ads, one of the many effective call to action ideas you can shamelessly steal. Although, when so many people do it and succeed, is it really theft?