Introduction A Call to Action, or CTA, is a prompt found on a website that encourages users to perform a certain action, such as ‘Sign Up’, ‘Buy Now’, or ‘Learn More’. CTAs are a key part of creating a successful online experience – they guide visitors toward the actions you want them to perform, which are closely linked to your business goals. In this guide, we will share website best practices for designing and implementing CTAs on your site to capture as many conversions as possible. Understanding Call to Action (CTAs) The Call to Action (CTA) is the smallest and arguably the most important part of web design. It’s the element that makes everything happen, transforming a passive visitor into an active user. A CTA on a website is a prompt that tells users to do something, whether it’s buying, signing up, or something else. The purpose of a CTA is to guide visitors towards a desired business goal, with the aim of increasing the conversion rate. Types of CTAs There are different types of CTAs, each suited to different situations and goals on your website: Buttons: The most common CTA. Buttons are visually set apart in some way and often placed in prominent areas to draw attention. Examples include ‘Buy Now’, ‘Sign Up’, and ‘Get Started’ – buttons clearly explain what you want the user to do. Text Links: Usually inline, these CTAs are clickable text and are very subtle but effective, often used as secondary actions such as ‘Read More’ or ‘Learn More’. Forms: These CTAs take the shape of forms and are used to collect user information, like email addresses or other contact details, such as when signing up for a newsletter or completing a contact form. Banners: Banners are large CTAs that stretch across a portion of a web page. They are frequently used to advertise a sale, promotion, or some other announcement. Common Goals for CTAs CTAs can be tailored to achieve various business objectives, including: Lead Generation: Getting visitors to provide their contact information (name, email address, etc.) in exchange for receiving a valuable resource (an eBook, a subscription to a newsletter, etc.) helps to create a list of contacts consisting of potential future customers. Sales: Getting users to actually buy something is the ultimate goal for e-commerce sites. Calls to action like ‘Add to Cart’ or ‘Shop Now’ are meant to convert site visitors into shoppers. Subscriptions: If your site is content-based, you want site visitors to subscribe to your updates, newsletters, or premium content. CTAs such as ‘Subscribe Now’ help with that. Event Registrations: Sites that sell tickets to events will feature CTAs like ‘Register Here’ to promote webinars, conferences, classes, and other paid or free training opportunities. Designing Effective CTAs There’s more to the art of creating effective CTAs than just choosing the right words. By paying attention to the visual elements, copywriting, and persuasion techniques that go into creating great CTAs, you’ll soon be designing buttons that get noticed and clicked. Visual Design Principles The visual delivery of a CTA is critical to ensure it stands out and gets clicks. Key principles to consider include: Colour Contrast: The colour of your CTA needs to contrast with your background to make it stand out. For instance, a bright orange button on a white background is more noticeable than a button that matches the site's colour scheme. Size and Shape: The bigger the CTA, the better, but not so big that it overwhelms the page. Rounded corners are more appealing, as are circular or oval-shaped buttons. Placement on the Page: The location of your CTA affects its effectiveness. Place your CTA where your user’s eye naturally goes, whether it’s above the fold, at the end of blog posts, in the middle of content, etc., ensuring it will be seen and acted upon. Writing Good Copy When it comes to the copy of your CTA, it needs to be clean, direct, and engaging. Here’s how to do it: Strong, Action-Oriented Language: Choose strong, action-oriented verbs that tell users exactly what they need to do. Verbs like "get", "download", "start", and "join" are effective because they are direct and prompt immediate action. Keep it Short And Simple: Avoid confusion or doubts. CTA copy should be easy to understand, and users should never have to wonder what they’ll get from clicking the link. Prompting Urgency: Use phrases like ‘Limited Time Offer’, ‘Act Now’, ‘Only a Few Left’ to create a sense of urgency. Personalisation: Use the second person in CTAs to make them feel more relevant to the user. Including ‘You’ or ‘Your’ can personalise the CTA. Persuasive Elements Persuasive elements can improve the performance of your CTAs: Social Proof: Include testimonials, reviews, or user counts near your CTA to show interested customers that others have benefited from your product or service, such as ‘Join over 10,000 satisfied customers’. Trust Signals: Trust badges, security icons, and money-back guarantees can ease anxieties and put people at ease. Placing them next to your CTA can assure users that their data and transactions are safe. Visual Clues: An arrow, icon, or image pointing to the CTA helps users locate it more easily and draws their eye to where you want them to click. Become an expert at WordPress by taking WordPress for Beginners Course→ Placement and Timing of CTAs Where and when you place a Call to Action (CTA) will have a tremendous effect on whether users engage with it. Strategic Placement on Web Pages The placement of your CTA on the page matters a lot. It has to be where the user will subconsciously notice it and click. Above the Fold: Content above the fold, meaning the part of the webpage that is visible without scrolling, should include your CTAs. This is an especially effective way to make key actions, such as ‘Sign Up’ or ‘Get Started’, highly visible and actionable. At the End of Blog Posts: When a user has read a blog post, they are likely to be interested in more content or services related to what they just read. You can take advantage of this by placing CTAs at the end of posts, such as ‘Read More’ or ‘Download Guide’. Embedding CTAs within Content: Embedding CTAs within content can help users stay focused without interrupting the reading flow. ‘Learn More’ or ‘See Examples’ are examples of suitable, contextual inline CTA prompts. Pop-ups and Slide-ins: Pop-ups and slide-ins are dynamic and can capture a user’s attention without requiring them to scroll or navigate away from the current view. They should be used with restraint to avoid being annoying. Exit-intent pop-ups can capture users just before they leave with last-minute offers or subscription reminders. Contextual Relevance Aligning CTAs with user intent and the user’s journey stage increases their effectiveness. Aligning CTAs with User Intent: Align a CTA with what the user is likely trying to do. A ‘Buy Now’ button makes perfect sense on a product review page, while a ‘Learn More’ button might be more appropriate on an informational page. Matching CTAs to Buyers’ Stages: Tailor CTAs to fit the user’s position in the buyer’s journey. Visitors in the early stage are more likely to respond to ‘Discover Our Services’, while ready-to-buy users might need a ‘Purchase Now’ push. Timing Considerations Timing can be as critical as placement. Serving CTAs at the optimal time can increase conversion rates. Exit-Intent Pop-ups: These pop-ups appear when the user is about to leave the site. They can offer a discount, a free resource, or a newsletter subscription to retain the visitor. Delayed Pop-ups: Pop-ups that appear after a user has spent a designated period on the page catch the attention of those who have invested time in the content. Scroll-Triggered CTAs: These CTAs appear after the user has scrolled to a certain percentage of the page, ensuring engagement before prompting action. Testing and Optimising CTAs Consistent testing and optimisation are necessary to help you get the most out of your CTAs – this includes using A/B testing, examining metrics, and making data-led tweaks. Importance of A/B Testing A/B testing allows you to compare a CTA against different versions of itself to see which one performs better. What to Test: The colour, copy, and placement of your CTA are key components to test. For example, compare ‘Buy Now’ in red versus green, or ‘Join Free’ versus ‘Sign Up Now’. How to Set Up A/B Tests: Tools such as Google Optimize and Optimizely can help with this. Write down a hypothesis, create variants, and split traffic between them. Results: Evaluate the results of your A/B tests to see which version performs better. If unsure which variation is more successful, look at metrics such as clickthrough rate (CTR) and conversion rate. Using Analytics to Measure Performance Utilise analytics tools to track and measure the performance of your CTAs. Clickthrough Rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on the CTA out of those who see it. A higher CTR indicates better engagement. Conversion Rate: The percentage of users who click the CTA and then accomplish the desired action. This metric shows how well the CTA leads to the intended outcome. Heatmaps and User Behaviour Tracking: Using tools such as Hotjar or Crazy Egg, you can get heatmaps to see where users are clicking and video recordings of user sessions. This data helps optimise the placement of your CTAs. Iterative Improvement Continually refine your CTAs based on data and testing. Making Data-Driven Changes: Use the insights from A/B testing and analytics to make informed changes. For example, if green yields a better clickthrough rate than other colours, use it in all similar CTAs. Continuous Testing and Refinement: Optimisation is ongoing. Regularly test new variations and strategies to keep improving your CTAs’ performance. Integrating CTAs with Marketing Campaigns CTAs work best when they fit smoothly into your wider marketing strategy so that your tactics are consistent and work together. Aligning CTAs with Overall Marketing Strategy Your CTAs should reflect the goals and messaging of your broader marketing efforts. Campaign-specific CTAs: Use different CTAs for different campaigns; for example, a holiday promotion might use CTAs like ‘Shop Holiday Deals’ or ‘Get Your Gift Now’. Seasonal or Promotional CTAs: Adjust your CTAs to correspond to seasonal holidays or special promotions (e.g., ‘Summer Sale: Save 20%’). Consistency Across Channels Maintain a consistent CTA strategy across all marketing channels to reinforce your message. Email Marketing: Ensure that the actions you ask readers to take in your email CTAs are clear (e.g., ‘Download Now’ or ‘Sign Up Today’). Social Media: Utilise CTA buttons in your social media posts and ads, such as ‘Learn More’ (Facebook) and ‘Swipe Up’ (Instagram Stories), integrated into your social media copy. Paid Ads: Incorporate strong CTAs like ‘Book Now’ or ‘Claim Your Discount’ in your paid ads to drive clicks and conversions. Tracking and Measuring CTA Effectiveness Across Campaigns Use tracking tools to measure the performance of your CTAs across different marketing channels. UTM Parameters: Add UTM parameters to your URLs to track the efficacy of CTAs in driving traffic from your campaigns. This also helps identify the most effective sources and campaigns. Conversion Tracking: Use Google Analytics or other tools to track how often people convert (purchase, sign up, download, etc.) after clicking your CTAs. This information reveals which CTAs lead to the most conversions and ROI. Conclusion Now you know the value of optimising your CTAs to guide users’ actions and achieve conversions on your website. As user behaviour changes over time, you have to keep testing and optimising your CTAs. By placing your CTAs in the right spots, crafting the right copy, and integrating your CTAs into the rest of your marketing strategy, you can create a steady flow of users and achieve your business goals. Keep perfecting your technique to make the most of your CTAs. Want to become a WordPress Developer? Get our WordPress for Beginners Course→