When crafting a marketing campaign for your ecommerce business, your goal is to prompt potential customers to do something—whether that’s buying a product, signing up for a subscription service, or downloading an app. An effective way to encourage your audience to engage with your business is also relatively straightforward: write compelling calls to action.
Learn how a good call to action can enhance your digital marketing strategy.
What is a call to action (CTA)?
“Call to action” (CTA) is a marketing term that describes a text prompt encouraging readers to perform a desired action, like visiting a website, purchasing a product, or signing up for a newsletter. Calls to action come in various forms but are typically hyperlinks or call-to-action buttons that viewers can click to complete the action.
Creating effective CTAs can positively affect the success of your marketing strategies; from email marketing campaigns to blog content and website copy, a good CTA catches a reader’s attention and prompts them to engage with your brand.
Examples of effective CTAs
Here are a few popular and effective CTA examples to consider for your marketing materials:
Shop now
“Shop now” is useful for prompting readers to visit your ecommerce site after they’ve read a positive product review or testimonial on social media. This direct CTA can increase sales by making it easy for prospective customers to purchase your product when it’s linked directly to a product page. A common example would be including a Shop Now button in an email campaign that announces a new product line.
Claim offer
Another common CTA, “Claim offer” creates a sense of urgency for limited-time offers like flash sales and promotions like “Buy one, get one free.” This CTA can work well for text or email campaigns with time-sensitive offers.
Sign up
“Sign up” is a clear call to action for merchants who want to increase signups for their newsletters or subscription-based businesses like a software program with a monthly fee. You can expand this CTA with more specific additions like “Sign up with one click” or “Sign up for your free trial now.”
Download
A “Download” CTA can work well if your goal is to increase downloads of a resource that provides valuable information and helps build trust and awareness about your company. Link a download CTA to a free webinar, report, ebook, template, or podcast.
Add to cart
One of the most common CTAs in ecommerce, “Add to cart” encourages visitors to add a particular product to their shopping cart on your online store. A well-placed and well-designed Add to Cart button is an essential feature of ecommerce sites and lets online shoppers add items to their cart easily.
Share
Prompt readers to share your content via their social media platforms or provide feedback directly to your company. Encouraging customers to share positive feedback about your products or services can create valuable social proof—a psychological phenomenon characterized by the tendency to rely on the opinions of others when making decisions like purchasing a product.
Best practices for writing effective CTAs
- Set clear goals
- Research your audience
- Use action verbs
- Place your CTAs strategically
- Stay concise
- Use attention-grabbing design elements
- Focus on benefits
- Create a sense of urgency
- A/B test your CTAs
Here are some best practices for writing compelling CTAs that drive conversions:
Set clear goals
Before crafting a call to action, define specific goals. For example, if you want to increase the number of website visitors to your ecommerce store, a “Shop now” CTA that links to your website is more useful than a “Watch now” CTA that directs a visitor to your YouTube account.
Research your audience
Perform market research on your target audience to learn about their likes and dislikes when it comes to messaging. To get into the minds of existing and prospective customers, analyze your existing base’s purchase history and research what they tend to search for. For example, if visitors spend most of their time on your website’s “sale” section, you can add a more prominent CTA that says “50% off all sales items, shop now” on your homepage.
Use action verbs
An effective CTA uses action words like “buy,” “explore,” and “start” to attract a user’s attention and drive them toward a conversion. Use exciting words in the active tense that relate to an immediate action readers can take. For example, you could include CTA buttons featuring active text like “Join now for free” on advertisements created to promote a free trial for your subscription service.
Place your CTAs strategically
Consider placing your CTA at the top or bottom of an ad, landing page, blog post, or other digital marketing materials so it can stand out. If you’re using multiple calls to action that follow up the main CTA and secondary CTA button, use a graphic to differentiate from the rest of the text.
Stay concise
An effective call to action uses only the necessary words to communicate a clear prompt. Avoid long phrases that keep readers from quickly understanding and interacting with a CTA. If you need more information beyond short CTA copy, include supporting text before or after the prompt.
Use attention-grabbing design elements
Design elements like bold text and vibrant colors can create a stark contrast for a CTA button placed within a lot of white space. You can even include interactive elements on your buttons that change size or color when users hover over CTAs.
Focus on benefits
Write CTA copy that highlights how your potential customers can benefit from a product or service. Develop a clear value proposition on how your company helps your target audience and use that statement as a basis for calls to action. For example, if you’re selling a software product that automatically manages schedules, you could use CTAs like “Optimize your schedule now” or “Save time today.”
Create a sense of urgency
A well-crafted call to action uses urgency tactics to prompt an immediate response from readers. Use phrases like “now” or “limited-time offer” to foster a sense of urgency and a fear of missing out on a good deal or product.
A/B test your CTAs
Developing effective CTAs takes trial and error. A/B test two versions of a call to action and evaluate which is driving conversions better. For example, you could compare and contrast a clickable button versus a hyperlink text version of a CTA in a blog post to see which generates more clicks.
What is a call to action FAQ
What is a strong call to action?
A strong call to action uses action verbs and eye-catching design elements to draw the reader’s attention, highlight benefits, and inspire readers to do something like purchasing a product or signing up for a newsletter.
What is a call-to-action example?
“Add to cart” is a common call to action found on ecommerce sites that encourages online shoppers to add products to their shopping cart.
Why are CTAs important?
A well-written and well-designed call to action can reduce a prospective customer’s decision fatigue by giving them a clear next step toward a specific action you want them to take.
