What is a call to action (CTA)?
Concrete/specific call for action in all channels (online/offline)
in online marketing mostly in the form of a button or link
CTA design and placement important, clear and conspicuous, place at beginning and end
Goal: Customer should take action, e.g. purchase, subscribe to the newsletter, share a post, download a white paper -> CTA in content marketing: not too promotional, added value must be the focus. Should fit into the editorial environment
Formulations: from the reader’s/customer’s point of view, not too patronising
Color design: Clearly recognizable, stand out in colour, but do not bite
Placement: not intrusive, but offer added value
A CTA is a direct request to your customers/visitors to take a specific or desired action.
There are many different CTA options and they don’t necessarily have to be related to the content.
Example:
Register
Buy now
Download
Order now
secure coupon
Read more posts
share content
In online marketing, a CTA can either consist of just text or a link, or it can consist of a button or a complete box
When it comes to lead generation, the box can either have an input form directly or it can lead to a landing page where there is more info and an input form
Here the box can also be an image. Of course it’s cleaner if everything is in HTML. When we talk about CTA in inbound marketing, we usually mean the complete box.
Because a CTA can take many forms, it can be placed anywhere:
On your website
Before, in or after your post
Before, during or after your podcast episode
Before, in or after your video
In your email
in your presentation
On social media
In paid ads
Why is a call to action so important?
It’s simple: if you tell people to do something, more will take the desired action. This is human psychology.
Conclusion:
A CTA is a clear call to action for your visitor, which you should place almost everywhere. Since we live in a fast-paced world, it’s important that you tell your visitor exactly what to do next.
Calls to action work so well because they are based on human psychology. If you tell your visitors directly to do something, more will do it.
Your call to action is the final instruction to your visitor. That’s why you should always have a good CTA in action.