Want to know how marketers are getting high click through rates?
Have you tried changing the design of your landing page and where you are obtaining traffic?
Sometimes the smallest tweak such as changing the wording of your call to action can help improve click-through-rates.
Having website visitors follow a conversion path can sometimes feel like herding sheep.
It’s frustrating that visitors aren’t clicking through to your landing page or continuing to the pricing page once they have landed on your site.
In this blog post, I am going to explain the purpose of the call to actions (CTAs), 11 irresistible examples of call to actions you can use and tips on what you shouldn’t be doing.
The Purpose Of Call To Actions
A call to action is a snippet of wording that directs users to your landing pages or directs visitors to the conversion path.
Call to actions could be used for anything such as asking people to sign up for your newsletter, asking them to sign up for a free trial or ask to download content.
Call to actions such as “submit” and “download” just aren’t good enough these days.
They don’t have the same capturing effect as a call to action such as “get you free beginners guide”.
The Recommended Size And Color Of Call To Actions
There is no single recommended size or colour that your call to action should be.
However, there are a couple of best practices that you can follow before looking at what wording to use.
These best practices are:
- For your call to action button to stand out on a landing page, make sure it is bigger than other buttons on the page.
- Don’t have the button a slightly lighter or darker color than the landing page background; make sure it is in a contrasting color so that it stands out from the page.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way let’s start with 11 call to actions you can test on your emails, ads and landing pages.
1. Try It For Free
This is a good call to action to use because the word “try” is a lot softer than “buy” or “order”.
The word “try” makes visitors feel that there isn’t any obligation.
The word “free” takes away any risk and makes it hard for the visitor to reject the offer.
Everyone loves something for free, especially when that something is what they need or want.
A good example of a company using this technique is Freshbooks.
As you can see in the image below, they also add how long visitors can try their product for free as well as highlighting the benefits above.
2. Get Started Now
This is a call to action that is short but very sweet. It doesn’t leave any guessing as to what the visitor should do next and is compelling enough to trigger a reaction.
This is a great call to action to use if you don’t have much space for text in your call to action button.
An example of a company using this call to action is CreditKarma.
You can see from the below screenshot that their call to action button is also in a contrasting color to the background to stand out.
3. Log In With Google
Because Google is such an established and worldwide brand, the name itself can add reassurance for visitors.
Another reason this call to action works so well is because it makes it easier for the user to join.
People are impatient and sometimes asking for contact information for registration can be unappealing to some.
Giving the option to log in with Google and highlight this option takes away this annoyance.
A company that is using this as a call to action is KISSmetrics as seen in the image below.
Keep in mind this call to action is mainly used for SAAS (Software as a Service) companies so they can build information from your Google Account.
This isn’t recommended to use for squeeze pages in B2C unless you have a specific reason for it to be used.
This one isn’t possible to make work in ClickFunnels.
4. Show Me My [Product]
This is a great call to action to use as visitors will know what to expect upon clicking through to the next page of your conversion path.
Someone who does this well is CrazyEgg as seen in the screenshot below.
They also use the Google log in feature on the following page.
They have made the whole conversion path so easy for visitors to complete.
Visitors know exactly what they are expecting with their call to action, “show me my heatmap.”
5. Sign Up For A Free Trial
While this isn’t as strong as “try it for free for 30 days” or “show me my heatmap”, it is certainly still a compelling call to action if you can’t use the others.
The reason this call to action is compelling is because of the word “free” as in the first call to action I mentioned.
If you offer different free trial lengths for different pricing plans and can’t use “try it free for 30 days”, then this call to action is a good alternative.
There are many companies who use this call to action, one of them being Insightly.
6. Start Your Free Trial Now
This call to action is very similar to the previous “sign up for a free trial”.
The difference with this call to action is that it used the word “now”.
This is a very actionable word that triggers a reaction from visitors.
It can also add a touch of urgency to your offer that will again, tempt visitors to click.
A company that uses this call to action is Dropbox however they do not use it as a button but rather a headline.
7. Let’s Do It
I love this call to action. It’s certainly different, and it instills excitement into what product or service you are offering.
It also gives the impression that you’re not alone, and the company will be with you along the journey. It is a very friendly call to action.
A company that is using this call to action is Less Accounting as seen in the screenshot of their landing page below.
8. Get [Benefit Of Product] Today Only
This call to action has it all! It creates a sense of urgency with the words “today only” as well as stating a benefit of your product or service. Most of the times, people would much rather know how your product or service will benefit them rather than knowing the features of it.
Adding both the main benefit and a sense of urgency, how could people possibly resist clicking.
9. Get Your Free [Something]
This is another short and sweet call to action but this time, it includes the much-wanted word, “free”.
Offering something for free doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be a free product or free trial.
You could give away a free eBook, free webinar or any other form of valuable content.
As long as what you are offering is of value to users, this call to action will work.
10. Give [Product] A Try – It’s Free For 60 Days
This is another variation of the free trial call to action. If you are offering free trials, then you can split test each of variation of the call to action to see which one works best for you.
Basecamp uses this call to action brilliantly as seen on their landing page below.
11. See How It Works
This is a great call to action to use if you want to drive traffic to your product demo either via your landing page or advertising.
A company that uses this call to action on their landing page is Stay.com.
They have added “in 60 seconds” to further temp users to view the demo.
Call To Actions That Don’t Work
Now that I have given you a list of 11 irresistible call to actions to play with, I also want to advise you on what not to do.
There are two main things to be careful of when writing your call to actions which are having a call for actions that are too weak and having a call to actions that are too strong.
Weak Call To Actions
A weak call to action is something that doesn’t clearly explain what the user can expect to see or receive after clicking the call to action button.
Don’t ever assume that visitors will know what to do next, help them by giving them clear directions with the clear call to actions.
Too Strong Call To Actions
Just as you can have a call to actions that are too weak, you can also have them too strong.
An example of a call to action that is too strong is “buy our product now”.
You are asking for too much commitment, especially if users are landing on your page for the first time.
Conclusion
That just about does it for my list of the irresistible call to actions and tips and tricks.
You have plenty of ideas now to start split testing and to optimize your call to actions for ads, emails, and landing pages.
You can experiment with the wording of your call to actions to find what works best for your company and audience.
Do you have any more ideas for a call to actions?
Leave all your ideas in the comments below.
How do we take advantage of the “Log In w/ Google” option using Clickfunnels?
This one can’t be used in ClickFunnels unfortunatly. It’s mainly aimed at SaaS companies who want to build their database from people’s Google’s Account to increase “stick”.
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