7 Tips to Get Your Customers to Act Now.

by Jessica Wynne, Communication Coordinator

With all the focus on creating quality content that engages readers, people wonder why content alone isn’t producing them the desired results. What’s lacking in these emails, blogs, and other social media updates is the deal closer that makes the sale, a call to action or CTA. I’ve outlined 7 tips to strengthen your CTAs and get readers to take that final important step.

1. Start with a clear strategy. Its best to design one CTA for each piece, whether it’s an email or social media update pick the CTA that you want to achieve the most. For example, telling your reader, “check out our website, like us on facebook, and twitter, then sign up for our monthly newsletter,” will most likely mean they do none of the above.

2. Size and color matter. Guide their eye to the CTA with text, color, bold, and increased size. Your readers aren’t dumb, but they are busy and you’re competing for their attention so make it easy for them and effective for you.

3. Make a clear path to your CTA. If you provide your reader with good content don’t be afraid to ask for a “like” in return. Don’t expect them to read your mind! Be clear, tell them what you want them to do and show them how to do it.

4. Call your reader to act throughout the email, social media update or website. CTAs are a great way to transition readers at the end of a piece. However clear, action-oriented writing throughout will make all the difference.

5. The more informational and action oriented your CTA is, the more impact it will have. “Click here” doesn’t tell your reader what they can expect and what they’re going to get out of it if they click. Be specific with your CTAs. Alternatives to saying “click here” that give your reader more information are, “make a donation,” “subscribe to the blog,” “sign up for the newsletter,” or simply “visit our website.”

6. Include a graphic or image to make your CTA pop! Caution, when including graphics in emails be sure to have your CTA somewhere other than the graphic as well, this way if the graphic doesn’t open in the email they still get the message.

7. Test your CTA placement on websites, and other materials. Don’t be afraid to adjust colors and location. There are numerous programs that allow you to set your CTA up one way and track the results so you can know for sure what layout and delivery will get the most clicks!