Your audience is a very picky bunch of people. And why not? They have to deal with their fair share of marketers trying to get them to purchase the same product that you’re selling. Choice often leads to discernment.

So what is a marketer like you to do? You have the content covered, but are still not maximising the potential of your call to action (CTA) – that’s if you’re using any at all. But what’s in a call to action that increases conversions for some and fails others? We’ve got the answers below.

CTAs and compelling copy

CTAs are dependent on content, especially copy and video. This copy needs to provide information on the product and its benefits, as well as what the customer stands to gain from purchasing it from you. A good example of this would be Crazy Egg’s CTA, which tries to entice customers to sign up for a heatmap service.

What’s very apparent about Crazy Eggs landing page is consistency. First the title asks the reader why they should give the service a try and follows up with compelling information, including the features, comprehensive guides and support available.

But what’s most enticing is that the service is offered for free in the first 30 days with no risk involved. Thereafter, the CTA (Show Me My Heatmap) gives the customer a more of a choice, unlike commands such as “Register Your Account Now”.

Keeping CTAs to a minimal

A call to action should always be dedicated to one service. When used on a landing page, it would ideally appear alone, as this keeps the customer’s attention on one product they will purchase. The opposite often leads to confusion, which makes it essential to keep CTAs to a minimal, including buttons and links. However, you can still have more than one and Treehouse perfectly shows us how.

Treehouse is a resource offering beginners with a course on how to code. Its landing page, unlike Crazy Egg’s, has very little copy but a strong image showing a small business owner at a coffee shop who is likely their target. It has two CTAs, one of which is for a free trial and the other for how it works.

Treehouse takes this approach because there is a lot of information on the inner workings of the service and it will not fit on one page. If it does, it would probably be too cumbersome and Treehouse might have potential consumers who are familiar with the service so don’t need to go through it all. This is obviously dedicated for consumers who aren’t too familiar with the service.

They’re easy to navigate

Even if they have it, consumers are reluctant to give up their time unless the offer is too great to refuse. This is why CTAs that make it easy for people to purchase or sign up for a service usually get a higher conversions. Take Pinterest for example.

Unlike the last two services, and even though it has two calls to action, Pinterest doesn’t have a long sign up form. Rather, the audience can use an existing Facebook account to sign up. This is convenience at its best, as Pinterest will pull the data its needs from one social network and probably ask a few questions once signed in.

While the strategy behind these calls to action have had a positive impact on conversions for the brands shown above, CTAs also depend on the industry you’re in and the atmosphere you’re trying to create. They should resonate with the target audience and provide compelling reasons as to why your service is worth it. Most important of all, you must test, test, test.