Call To Action (CTA): Definition, Types and How to Make It

CTA or call to action is a term in the world of marketing that is very well known because of its important role in increasing the conversion rate of a brand.

The important role of a call to action is to increase sales figures, provide special offers, increase the number of readers or downloaders of a content, to create a very large email list.

CTAs can increase potential customer conversions by up to 121%. Therefore, it is important to create CTA in order to increase the number of customers and the business will grow.

Then, what is the meaning of the call to action? The following is a more complete understanding of the meaning of CTA, its benefits, and examples. So, read through the following article!

What are CTA?

CTA is a strategy in digital marketing in the form of images, writing or speech that encourage customers and website visitors to take action.

Whether it's reading further articles, buying something, using the services offered, or maybe subscribing to a blog newsletter from the website. 

Usually CTA has a link that will direct visitors to the intended page. 

So that visitors can click on the link, its placement on the website must also be clear. 

Use colors that attract attention or are familiar to your visitors, so that the text is not clearly visible. 

Effective CTA Types

If you run a business, there are 3 types of CTAs that you can use in any content you create:

1. Interactive CTA

Interactive CTA is usually in the form of a short question, it can also be a closing statement of content that aims to invite the audience to communicate. Interactive CTA is very effective for getting feedback from research or survey content.

• “read more” button
  In some blogs and online media portals, the marketing team may not want to display all posts on the home page. They will try to captivate their audience by featuring the first few paragraphs of content followed by a “read more” or “read more” CTA.This also allows more content to be shown on the homepage feed.

2. Engagement CTA

Engagement CTA is a CTA that is useful for attracting engagement from the audience. Sentences such as "Like if you like", "Share if useful", "Save for later" can be used to influence the audience to provide feedback on content.

Of course without disturbing the contents of the message conveyed from your content. So there will be a share/like/save on your brand's social media account.

• submission forms
  Once visitors enter the landing page, they usually have to do two more things before they can be registered as leads, namely filling out the form and clicking the submit button.
  At this stage, the visitor is very close to becoming a lead. Therefore, businesses must make writing on CTA that is more interesting, specific, and in accordance with the marketing offers they will provide.

• Social sharing
  Social sharing is a type of CTA used to encourage audiences to share content with others. CTA social sharing is the simplest way for visitors, leads, and customers to engage and interact with brands. 

3. CTA Conversions

Whereas a Conversion CTA is a CTA made specifically to convert an audience.

The most widely used examples are Learn More which is useful to lure the audience to convert into visitors, and Shop Now which is useful to lure the audience to become customers.

• Lead generation
  CTAs are very important for generating leads from websites. Through CTAs, businesses try to convert visitors into leads. The CTA will be placed anywhere on the website that has a high percentage of new visitors.
  The most popular place to place this type of CTA is on the blog, either at the end of the post, sidebar, or floating banner in the corner of the page.
  For results to be on target, lead generation must attract attention and be able to effectively communicate the values to be conveyed. 

• Lead nurturing
  When someone is already a lead but is hesitant to spend some money on a product or service, this is where lead nurturing CTA comes into play. These CTAs attempt to entice leads with other types of offers, such as product demos, free trials, or other free offers.
  CTAs are usually displayed in places that many leads visit.

• Closing the sale
  After lead generation and lead nurturing are complete, businesses naturally want to go one step further to turn leads into customers. This type of CTA is sales focused, i.e. wanting to get the prospect to buy a product or service right away.

• Promotional events
  Event promotion is suitable for use when businesses hold events, both offline and online. The goal is clear, namely that the event is attended by many people. CTA event promotion helps increase awareness for the audience about the event or even helps drive ticket sales.
  This type of CTA can be placed in various places, depending on which audience segment you want to attend.

• Product or service discoveries
  When someone visits a website, trying to learn about the company, and looking for what it has to offer, the business wants the visitor to find out in the easiest way possible.
  In this case, the CTA does not need to be overdesigned. Simple text on a button can be helpful as long as the button stands out from the background.

Benefits of CTA

CTA stands for Call to Action. So, some of the benefits of Call to Action are as follows:

1. Increase Conversions

From just understanding CTA, you can probably already guess that the benefit of CTA is to increase conversions.

It is true. With text, images, or attention-grabbing buttons filled with specific invitations, users seem to be led to click on something in the CTA.

2. Simplify the Customer Journey

In digital marketing, another benefit of Call to Action CTA is to simplify the customer journey. This is because CTAs can minimize user confusion when they have accessed a page.

Without a meaningful CTA, potential customers can just run away because they don't know what to do next.

3. Reducing Bounce Rate

Still related to the benefits of the previous CTA. Call to Action is proven to reduce the bounce rate.

Because, the absence of CTA means it can make visitors leave the page without taking any action. The more users who run away, the higher the bounce rate on your website, right?

But of course, CTA Call to Action is not the only thing that can reduce the bounce rate. You can see more details in the article on how to lower the bounce rate.

Tips for Creating CTAs to Increase Conversions

The key to creating a CTA is choosing the right words. So that you know what needs to be done, let's learn the following tips for making CTA:

1.Place it in the Right Area

The location where the CTA is placed has a large influence on the traffic that CTA gets. For a website, CTA can be placed at the top, middle or bottom of the landing page.

Apart from that, you also have to be able to take advantage of the sidebar, the bottom area of blog content, or pop-up windows to be able to put interesting calls to action.

But for sure, you can freely try all of these placement options, then re-analyze which areas are the most able to get traffic through A/B Testing and web analytic tools.

2. Create an Attractive Design

Next, make sure that your CTA is supported by an attractive design that aligns with the appearance of your website or email. Then, also pay attention to the level of contrast between the CTA and your page. choose colors, text sizes, and fonts that are easy to read and familiar to your audience.

3. Select Appropriate Text

The choice of words will also determine the success rate of Anca's call to action. For that, use text that is easy to understand and clearly able to lead to the marketing target or offer you are making. Don't let your visitors feel cheated because they are directed to a page that doesn't match the text in your CTA.

Also, because CTAs aim to convince visitors to take certain actions, you should write them with clear and simple instructions.

• Mention Benefits for Readers – The writing on the Call to Action is indeed short. However, that doesn't mean you can't mention the benefits of the product for users.
• Start CTA Sentences with Commands – In order for visitors to do what you want them to do, the sentences must be clear.
• Make Limited Offers – In this day and age, consumers tend not to want to miss any offers. This condition is called FOMO Marketing or Fear of Missing Out.
• Use Answer Choices – The last tip for creating a CTA is to take advantage of two different answer options, so that users click on the one that fits your goals.