5 CTA Mistakes To Not Make This Holiday Season

What is a CTA?

A call-to-action (CTA) is an image or line of text that prompts your visitors, leads, and customers to take action. It is, quite literally, a "call" to take an "action." Examples of CTA's are “Click here”, "Download now", "Subscribe today." Something that redirects your visitor to a landing page of your choice.

What Are The Importance of CTA's and Landing Pages?

Well, to start, landing pages are CRITICAL to the success of inbound marketing. Especially once they're on brand, optimized and ready to be viewed by website visitors. But if you haven't mastered the art of having a killer CTA, you might be disappointed by your click through rates. You can have the most optimized landing page in the industry, but it truly won't do you any good if you don't have effective call-to-actions.

CTA's are the magic key to getting people to actually visit and use your landing pages, so it's important to make sure you're not making any common mistakes that could hurt your click-through rates.

Studies show that only 47% of businesses properly use CTAs in their online content, and that typical CTAs are not cutting it anymore. 

So, what’s a brand to do? How do you write an effective CTA? What should companies steer clear of when writing CTA's?

You're in luck, this blog post will act as your reference when you create a new CTA or upgrade an existing one.

Let's take a look at mistakes to not make in your CTA's this holiday season.

1. Overselling and Under Delivering

The language you use in your call-to-action sets certain expectations for your visitors. Sometimes, call-to-actions use grandiose language to capture a click, but then don't actually deliver on those promises. Let's take a look at one of Jebbit's CTA's for reference.

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This call-to-action is to get our audience to download the Zero-Party Data Playbook for Beauty & Cosmetic Marketers. As you can see, we listed out all of the elements this playbook holds once downloaded. If the visitor doesn't get what they are promised, not only will this grind their gears, but it will lose the audience's trust.

If a company cannot deliver their promise in their CTA, they need to remove it from the copy.

CTA's are designed to increase conversions by entrusting the company with valuable contact information from a potential customer, in return for content that is helpful and relevant. If your CTA doesn't match its promises, you're not only going to lose that conversion, but you might also damage your brand's reputation.

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2. Using Different Copy in Your CTA and Landing Page

Something that is just as bad as switching up the expectations in your CTA is having people think you did...but you didn't. Take a look at the language here:

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This example works because it's followed by a landing page that uses those exact same words and phrases. This allows the visitor to enjoy a consistent experience from CTA to landing page, and they know exactly what to expect once they click this call-to-action.

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3. Blending in and Not Standing Out

Make sure your CTA really stands out so visitors know where to click. With text CTAs, this means using a different color for hyperlinks so it's clear to readers that the text is clickable and an action can be taken. For visual CTAs, this means you should use a color that starkly contrasts the rest of your page. You want it to be immediately noticeable so visitors see it automatically and know what to do next.

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4. Not Offering Value

It's easy to narrow down your offer, you're promoting an ebook about SEO, a kit about mobile marketing, or a free trial of your software, but it's not easy to identify and convey the value of that offer. If you can't explain to a visitor how your offer will help them, they won't click through to redeem it.

When creating CTA copy, focus on how your offer will help the visitor and what they'll gain by taking you up on it. Instead of "Download our free eBook," try "Get more traffic with our free SEO eBook."

People are always looking for ways to improve their workflows and make their jobs easier. Keep that in mind when you're creating an offer and make sure your CTA teases how your solution will make the visitor's life better in some way, even if it's just a small way.

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5. Not Leveraging Numbers

Alleviate having wordy call-to-actions as much as possible. Using numbers is a great alternative rather than having a lengthy paragraph that customers will most likely lose interest in.

We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, so are data points. For example, using a sentence such as: "Join 30,000 others and subscribe now!" shows the power of social proof.

Or, a brand could use numbers to set certain expectations by using a sentence such as: "Click here to download our 5 Steps to Increase Consumer Engagement Rates ebook." This clearly reiterates what the ebook provides which is 5 valuable steps that will benefit your brand. You know exactly what to expect once you click on that CTA. Numbers make things digestible for people, and when used correctly in a CTA, can be extremely effective.

Start Creating Your Own CTA's!

With the traffic picking up on your site for the next couple of months due to the holiday season, now is your time to implement these tactics to your call-to-actions. By having well-thought out CTA's, you're one step ahead in having a successful holiday season.

Now you can see how making small shifts in your call-to-actions can have significant effectiveness on your brand. A few minor tweaks can go a long way! Take these examples and start creating CTA's that convert.

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CLICK HERE to talk with a Jebbit expert.

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