A call to action or CTA is a statement created to help encourage an immediate response from the person who is hearing or reading it. However, if you discover people visiting your page, prospects, or leads, aren’t taking the desired next step in the sales process, which may be to make a purchase or request more information, it may be because of your call to action (or the lack of a CTA).
Keep reading to learn more about calls to action, how they impact sales, and how they can benefit all types and sizes of businesses.
The Call to Action Defined
Calls to action are part of your marketing strategy. They are used to convince your target market to respond by taking the recommended action.
Usually, they are found at the end or throughout the sales pitch. The goal is to let people know the next step in the process if they are interested in what you offer.
It may seem obvious that you need to let people know the next step when trying to do business with you. However, the truth is, some business owners don’t create calls to action in their sales or marketing pitches.
There are two main reasons for this:
- They mistakenly believe a prospect knows what to do if they want to learn more or purchase something.
- They believe calls to action are annoying and will cause a customer to leave.
No matter the reason, if you don’t use calls to action in your marketing materials, you are likely losing prospects, and as a result, money.
Also, you can’t assume that someone knows what to do next. You get better results when you spell it out with a call to action.
How Does a Call to Action Work?
An obvious use for a call to action is encouraging someone to purchase with the classic – “Buy Now!” – CTA. However, the sales process isn’t the only time a CTA can be useful.
For example, if you have a higher-priced service or item, it can take more time and effort to convince someone to buy. Using CTAs as a type of road map to a sale can be beneficial. An example would be if you said, “call now to get a free estimate.”
You can use calls to action for all types of marketing purposes. For example, to get more people to sign up for an email list, increase your social media following, and more.
Benefits of Using Calls to Action
Calls to action are an important element of any effective marketing strategy. They can be used to help guide prospects to taking the desired action.
When you have calls to action on every page of your website (when relevant), you can use them to move a prospect further through the sales funnel while improving their overall user experience by being direct and letting them know what step you want them to take next.
Be sure to create compelling CTAs, as this is going to produce the best results.
By, Peter Roesler, President of Small Business SEO. 25+ years in marketing! Yippee.
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