How to Create a Clickable Call to Action button
Visitors who don’t click don’t convert. And, without those clicks on your call-to-action buttons, you’re not going to get leads, customers or orders.
Your call to action is the key gateway to increasing your conversions on web pages.
So it's important to make them as "clickable" as possible, especially at such a crucial point in the buying cycle.
So how do you make them more clickable? Here's how.
1. Match your CTA with Anxiety Relievers or Assurances.
An anxiety reliever is a little line of text under your button with a reassuring message. I’ve listed a bunch of anxiety relievers at the base of this article. Meanwhile, see below, how the statement “9/10 Rating on Booking.com” relieves anxiety by providing social proof that you are about to make a good click ...
2. Grab attention & let visitors know what they’ll get
“Yes! Give me my free Quote” (instead of “Apply for a Quote”)
“Become a marketing hero” (instead of “Join the community”)
“Grab my free report” (instead of “Subscribe to newsletter”)
3. Use ‘Add to Cart’ not ’Buy Now’
‘Buy now’ sounds so final. What if I change my mind? ‘Add to cart’, on the other hand, implies I still have the option to change my mind. I’m not buying now; I’m adding the item to my cart to buy at a time when I’m ready.
4. Use specific action verbs, not generic words
‘Grab’ or Get’, not ‘Download’
‘Send Message’, not ‘Submit’
5. Write in the first person
Write your CTAs in the first person, even when the rest of your copy is in second or third person. You want your CTA to focus on the reader in a personal sense so they connect with the action you’re asking them to take. They have to personalise the action. After all, your reader is the one to take the action.
For example … what’s more compelling to you?
1. “Download your free report”
or
2. “Get my free report”
OR:
1. “Enter competition”
or
2. “I want to win!”
OR
1. Subscribe
or
2. Become a Marketing Legend!
Hopefully you’ll agree … no 2 wins hands down in all cases.
6. Create some urgency
Use words like now, today, instant.
You want to inspire fast action or show how quick something will be.
7. Make it sound easy, not hard.
Don’t ‘start‘ or ‘sign-up’. ‘Start’ and ‘sign-up’ sound like I have some work to do. Try ‘become’ or ‘join’.
‘Discover how’, instead of ‘learn how’. Learn implies work. Whereas discover is adventurous.
8. Use Grab My Quote not ‘Request a quote’
‘Request a quote’ sounds like I’ve got a lot of work to do. I have to make a request and probably have to give a lot of information to get the quote. It all sounds very formal. Try ‘Grab my pricing’ or ‘Get my quote’. The strong action verbs grab and get focus on an easy action or the outcome, rather than what I must do.
9. Never Use ‘Subscribe to Newsletter’
‘Subscribe’ – I may subscribe to a school of thought, but I don’t want to subscribe to your newsletter. I want to get my free checklist and exclusive benefits!
10. Never Use ‘Submit’
‘Submit’ has to be the worst call to action. Who wants to submit to anything? Plus, submit is not specific enough. It gives no indication as to what happens after the ‘submit’. Sell the destination, not the journey.
More Anxiety Relievers
As promised, here are some more ideas for Anxiety Relievers to pop under your buttons …
9/10 Rating on Booking.com
14-day free trial
Money-back guarantee
Lowest price guaranteed, or we’ll match it
No credit card required.
Free shipping
Free returns
Flat Rate Shipping
Guaranteed secure
100% private
#1 best-selling _____________
#1 most-trusted ____________
Largest selection of X
The only licensed retailer of X
Guaranteed 99% uninterrupted service
No-questions-asked returns
24/7 customer service
Unlimited online storage
Used by _________ people
Over __________ completed by nearly _________ people
Always free
We support [non-profit]
One Final Tip
You should aim to stick to one CTA per webpage. If it’s a long page, like a landing page, you could have your CTA a couple of times. But make sure you keep the wording the same or very similar. You’re asking them to do the same thing multiple times on the same webpage (e.g. buy your course).
Why? Because of the paradox of choice. If you confuse, you lose. Too much choice and we humans become paralysed and make no decisions at all. We’re complicated that way.