Both copy and content are ultimately a means to an end: to get the reader to take action.
Sometimes, as with upper funnel content marketing, this action isn't the biggest focus, but it's still a driving motivator behind marketing as a whole.
A strong call to action, or CTA, can make or break your marketing materials.
Whether it's a blog post, a sales letter, or an email offering a limited time discount, you need a clear, compelling CTA.
That's much easier said than done.
There are several common mistakes that can cause your CTA to fall flat instead of making a real impact on the reader.
Fortunately, they're actually pretty easy to fix.
Once you get a handle on the qualities that make a CTA great, you'll start seeing a definite uptick in your conversion rates.
In a recent blog post from Moz, Growth Marketing Manager Sean Martin explains the four most common problems with lackluster CTAs.
He was able to pinpoint them through a set of recent case studies he carried out, so these aren't just speculation — they're backed up by data and experimentation.
Most CTA issues fall under one of four categories:
1. Clarity
The main issue here is that the goal conversion of the page is unclear. This can be because you are using vague copy (like “click here”) on your buttons. Or it could come from your landing page lacking the necessary information to educate your user on their need for your service.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the landing page may look clean but it lacks any helpful information to educate the user on why they should convert. Especially for early-stage searchers, this page might as well be a black-hole of mystery and friction.
[image source: Moz]
Make sure that your landing page has any necessary information your user needs to be adequately informed on your product/service. Here are a few things to focus on:
- Time-saving value of your product
- Competitive pricing of your product/services
- The exact pain point your product/service solves
2. Timing
Here we saw that many landing pages were offering assets to the user that were not appropriate for where they were in the buyer's journey. For example, if a user hasn’t been given the right contextual information to understand their need for your service, offering a free trial in your CTA is a bit misplaced.
The same goes for offering digital assets with zero explanation of what they are:
[image source: Moz]
Make sure that your offer properly aligns with where your user is in the buyer’s journey.
- Top-funnel offers just ask for contact information
- Mid-funnel offers can push branded experiences like email subscription
- Bottom-funnel offers get to focus on scheduling meetings and calls
Lastly, whatever you offer, make sure you explain what they heck the user is downloading so they aren’t blindly clicking spam.
3. Friction
Whenever you're asking for contact information from a user, you need to walk a fine line between value and friction. The more information you ask for (name, email, business, competitors, etc.) the more friction you're going to force on your landing page.
[image source: Moz]
If your forms are asking for every bit of information your user could possibly supply, they're probably bouncing off en masse. Make sure what you ask for is equal to what you offer.
The majority of B2B search marketers report that the form field “sweet spot” for conversions is somewhere between 3–5. Any more than that and you start pushing users away.
4. Placement
This has been, and always will be, an issue for CTAs. Online readers aren't known for their attention spans — and you only have a few seconds to grab and hold their attention.
This means that your goal conversion (your CTA) should be highlighted and attention-grabbing. At the least, it should be visible immediately when you land on the page. You'd be surprised how many sites we still see with nearly invisible CTA buttons buried under a forest of irrelevant images:
[image source: Moz]
Pro tip? Make sure your buttons are easily found… that is, only if you want your users to click them.
These are just the common issues we ran into while studying an entire industry. While these prove that there are many common CTA issues that can be easily fixed, it doesn't prove how impactful fixing them can be.
To see just how powerful optimizing your CTAs can be, keep reading.
You can check out the full article over at Moz, where you'll find three detailed case studies that illustrate the power of a great CTA.
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