How to Master the Call To Action!

CTA - Master the Call To Action!

One of the biggest challenges email marketers face is getting their subscribers to perform an action once they have received, opened and read the email.  Calls to action (CTA) can vary a great deal depending on what you want the recipient to actually do. A well thought out and suitably executed call to action can mean the difference between a great email campaign and a very poor one.

What makes a killer call to action?

Master the Call To Action - Rule #1 Get to the point

Before you start to think about the wording, positioning or style of your call to action, you need to decide what it is you actually want the recipient to do. Although it might be tempting to give the reader options, asking the recipient to ‘share, like, book, read and learn’ all in one email can result in a somewhat confusing experience. If you feel that you absolutely must have multiple calls to action, ensure that one of them is clearly the most important and catches your subscriber’s attention foremost.

Master the Call To Action - Rule #2 Be Repetitive

Give the reader multiple opportunities to click through by strategically placing click-able components throughout your message.

Master the Call To Action - Rule #3 Be Visual

Consider using visuals as cues alongside the text of the call to action.Think shopping carts to encourage purchases, a watch to convey the fact that time is running out etc.

Master the Call To Action - Rule #4 Be Tempting

Fear of loss is a powerful marketing technique. Use a statement alongside your CTA that suggests an expiry date or a limited supply of the offer. For example ‘last few spaces’ or ‘offer ends Friday’.

Master the Call To Action - Rule #5 Be Arranging

While web users do scroll below the fold on websites, Neilson have reported that ‘the portion of space ‘above the fold’ still remains the most valuable, with 80% of users’ time on sites spent in this area’.

For your information, the fold is the part of an email a user sees before they are required to scroll down. Therefore, by placing your CTA higher up in your design, you are more likely to convert those people who spend little or no time reading beyond the fold.

Master the Call To Action - Rule #6 Test

Experiment with your campaigns. Tweak the call to action and send one variant to one group and another to another to see which performs best. 

- Christer B Herou