Call to action (CTA)

CTAs are present in many marketing and advertising messages. Logically, they include action verbs and invite internet users exposed to the ad to take action. Their purpose is to prompt clicks and, ultimately, to generate sales.

In the past, CTAs were not exclusively reserved for the web. In fact, they even made their appearance in paper advertising campaigns sent by post.

Their purpose was to elicit a response or an order.

Later, CTAs appeared on the internet in the form of banner ads, often bearing the traditional "Click here" tagline.

Today, CTAs can be found in many different types of dematerialized media, such as newsletters, validation forms, order buttons, emails, landing pages, blog posts, subscriptions, and banner ads. Common words and phrases found in CTAs include “Add to cart,” “Free,” “Buy now, “Reserve your spot now,” “Download,” etc.

CTAs are no longer just buttons. CTAs can also appear as images, banners, or popups.

CTAs can appear at various opportune moments during the visitor's navigation or in the sales process.

First of all, CTAs can play an attraction role. In this case, they can be used to introduce the offer or collect contact data. In this sense, they become an integral part of an inbound marketing strategy.

Further down the line, CTAs can also play a conversion role, transforming the simple prospect into a customer.

Of course, like all marketing tools, CTAs must be adapted to the target audience and the advertiser's final objective.

In this context, the five most frequent uses of call-to-actions are as follows:

• lead generation;
• redirection to social networks, so that prospects interact with the brand;
• conversion of prospects into customers, via a lead nurturing strategy;
• sale closing; and
• event promotion.

For a CTA to be effective and for visitors to interact with it, it’s essential to do the following:

• know your target audience;
• vary between images and classic buttons;
• create a sense of urgency;
• use color to catch the user’s eye;
• place it in a strategic location;
• limit one objective per page;
• adapt it to the rest of the site's content; and
• A/B test several of them and then analyze the conversion rate to adapt them and make them even more effective!