6 Effective CTA Techniques for your Email Marketing Campaigns

Call-to-action (CTA) buttons are common features of any marketing email. When piecing together content, it’s important to consider what will draw customers’ attention and engage with them. Effective CTA techniques come in handy.

The potential of an attention-grabbing CTA is endless. Common ways to make CTAs stand out include using colors, shapes, and text styles. It’s important to consider what your customers are interested in and what action you’d like them to take before crafting your CTA. Encouraging readers to click on a CTA and converting them into email subscribers or sales will separate you from the competition.

What is a CTA?

A call-to-action (CTA) is a button, link, or image that prompts the user to do something.

The CTA is a sentence or simple phrase that tells your reader what you want them to do. A few examples of calls-to-action in emails are “Subscribe Now,” “Purchase Now”  or “Learn More.”

People use calls-to-action in various marketing materials including emails, websites, social media, and more.  

The Importance of Focusing on CTAs

A study conducted by  Campaign Monitor found that creating a call-to-action could increase conversion rates. The results discovered that when you create clickable CTAs for users, they are 28% more likely to convert than if there were just text or links attached.

A subject line subtly guides a reader to take action, but a CTA is more direct. Its purpose is to drive conversions and increase lead generation. 

When used correctly, CTAs can be a powerful tool to redirect users and guide them toward the products or services they want.

To help increase the chance of having a response by utilizing an effective call-to-action in an email, we can urge the reader to take immediate action by making a purchase or signing up for something. It’s important to craft a relevant CTA that will encourage customers to take action. 

For example, in a study conducted by Brafton, orange, and red CTAs boost conversions by 32.5% and 21%, respectively. 

So this directly reflects the importance of the color aspect of a CTA is also crucial in triggering actions by your user.

How do CTAs Help Marketers?

CTAs are an important aspect of email marketing. They help generate more clicks and increase conversions for your company.

In sales and marketing, CTAs are used mostly in every promotional material, including emails, social media, web banners, and more. They are also commonly used in advertisements. They invite potential customers to take action by clicking on a link or button which takes them to a  website to purchase products or services. For example, a “Sign Up Now” message on a website sidebar is an example of a CTA. 

Personalized CTAs  Increase Conversions by 202%

Personalization has become an integral part of marketing. However, many marketers are still unaware of the value it can be in attracting leads or engaging customers. 

Hubspot conducted a study that focused on seeing if personalization with CTAs was as effective as it seemed. The team looked at three different CTA styles to see how each worked in driving sales. 

Basic CTA

This call-to-action appears the same regardless of who it’s seen by. The message, such as Get Your Free Quote Today,” doesn’t change based on age or gender, for example.

Multivariate CTA

Multivariate CTAs are similar to basic CTAs, except that two or more variations are tested against one another in the same email. The way traffic is split between the variants will help you decide which CTA converted better.

Smart CTA

A smart CTA is customized to the user. 

CTAs can adapt to an individual visitor based on their location, browser language, whether they’re already a customer or just visiting as research for becoming one later.

For this specific study, Hubspot analyzed and compared more than 330,000 CTAs over a six-month timeframe and concluded that personalized CTAs are, in fact, more effective – converting 202% more than basic CTAs. 

Techniques to Achieve More Conversions with CTAs

Create urgency

When a customer feels that they have to act quickly because the opportunity might not be available for long, it can create concern. . This is known as urgency, and marketers often use this psychological trigger to their advantage by creating scarcity with limited time offers or other similar actions.

Scarcity is a marketing strategy that works by emphasizing the limited availability of goods. It’s an effective way to motivate people into action because they don’t want to miss out on something special.

To make your CTAs more effective, create urgency to get users who are in the consideration phase to reach the purchasing or conversion stage. 

The more time your prospect has to think, the less likely they are to act. When you create a sense of urgency, it’s easier to convince them that your product is worth investing in right now.

Make it engaging

Call-to-action emails are more likely to be clicked if the reader is able to engage with them. 

The following ways show how to make your call-to-action emails more engaging:

• Use actionable language for CTAs that encourages readers to take immediate action. Consider giving something away after they click-through, such as a coupon or special offer. 

• Make the CTA into a GIF or clickable image to draw more attention to it. 

• One way to make a call-to-action stand out is by adding visual graphics like gifs, cue arrows, or creative direction towards the CTA. This can help people interact with it more and have an impact on their decision-making process. Add visual cues like arrows to drive attention toward the CTA. 

Make it stand out

The best CTA  is the one that stands out. 

The following 3 ways show how to make your call-to-action emails more attractive:

• Make the CTA relevant to the content at hand. 

• Ensure readers know exactly what they need to do next, and why it’s important for them to take action now. 

• Choose appropriate and engaging colors and typography to draw the reader toward the CTA. 

Less is more

Concise CTAs draw customer attention by being skimmable and quick to understand. 

We always recommend you keep your call-to-action short in order to balance the copy on your page. Two or three words are best so it doesn’t distract readers. 

Don’t overwhelm readers with too many CTAs – two or three is best to ensure readers are engaging with your message. 

Create a hierarchy

A hierarchy of attention is best for maximizing conversions. This strategy prioritizes attention over retention, to increase the likelihood that someone will take action. Lead with the most important and relevant information and visuals first that will then lead customers to your CTA. 

Add directional cues 

To grab your audience’s attention in the right direction, try using arrows or making an email climax with a CTA. You can also use imagery that draws their eyes towards it or animate elements so they move around and highlight where you want them to go.

Emails that were more directive, like “Click here to receive your coupon!”, achieved better conversion rates than those with a weaker tone like “Click here”.

Wrapping Up

Marketing emails are a great way to maintain contact with your customers and introduce them to new product lines. However, it’s important not only that you send the right email at the right time to the right audience, but also that use all of these techniques for CTA marketing in order get more clicks & conversions!

The end of any email is a great opportunity to create urgency in your readers and encourage them towards conversion. The best way you can do this is by creating a compelling offer that will push them in the right direction.

A great way to drive more sales for your company is through the use of a rock-solid call-to-action (CTA). It’s important not just what you say, but how and when as well.

This article covers several techniques for creating effective CTAs that will boost your email marketing metrics. Some strategies may be more suited to your industry or product offering, so experiment with them all but the A/B test as well!