Calls to Action- where and how?

Call to Action (or CTA) is a buzzword in the Marketing and Web Content fields these days. But, what actually is a CTA? Simply put, you’re inviting your visitors to take a desired action. It can range from two words (“Buy Now”) to two sentences, and its end goal could be anything - getting email subscribers, trial sign-ups, conversions, etc.

A well crafted CTA can determine not only whether people take the desired action, but also how many. For an effective CTA, you need to consider both the design and the placement. For the design you can consider questions like how long should it be? How do I want to format it so it pops? When it comes to placement options, you can choose to put it at the top of your website for maximum visibility. Or you might find that placing it after some contextual info makes it that much more impactful. 

Do these decisions sound familiar to you? Tell us all about your learnings, tips and best practices on how to design powerful CTAs for a website and where to place them in the comments below!

I have a couple of CTAs  on my landing page which direct to pages on the main site. There are a number of CTAs included in the main site. One is an rss feed registration button to follow.it, one is for leaving a form message, one takes you back to the main story (blog) page from the footer of any blog post.  There are some read more links to offsite urls, and links at the bottom of posts that are in parts from one part to the next one. I try to make it easy to navigate around my two blog pages, one of which is all summary items of the other blog page posts. 

I think before getting into the language you want to use for your call to action, it is best to start with the goal(s) of your page. What is your intention for this page - what do you want people to do next? When you stop and think about how someone is moving through your website, and the actions you'd like them to take, the position of you CTAs along with supporting text becomes much clearer. 

From there I think you can get into a bit more experimentation around actual copy, using action oriented text, colour, urgency and so on. 

@Jo_SQSP Interesting thread!

You have seconds before a visitor to your website bounces right out of there. 

A strong CTA in the Banner or Hero Image is crucial. It's prime billboard real-estate - why let it go to waste? 

A call to action is an opportunity to tell the visitor what benefit they’re about to receive. Or, at least, what action they’re taking. A good CTA is specific and benefit-driven. A bad call to action says nothing. For example, a button that just says “submit.”

The more descriptive the CTA, the higher the conversion rate. “Submit” says nothing.

CTA click-bait tips: what to do instead / Click :

1. Highlight the benefit to the visitor in the CTA.
2. Use first person voice and descriptive action words.
3. Does Your Button Pass the WYLTIWLT Test?
4. Me vs. You: First person or second person?
5. Use Colour That Contrasts with Other Elements
6. Design a Button Big Enough to Touch
7. Lower the commitment (shop now vs. buy now)
8. Made from code, not a graphic.