There are many critical components that define effective lead generation but perhaps the most important one of them is the language you choose to use in your calls-to-action that you need to optimize to improve their click-through rates. When it comes to crafting the message of your calls-to-action, the task can be both time-consuming and challenging but all in all, there are basically 10 things that you want to think about to make sure that you use compelling calls-to-action across the different pages of your website and through the various stages of your sales cycle.

1. Always convey value

Seasoned users of the Internet are very volatile people so when it comes to the language that you choose to use to write your calls-to-action, you don’t want Shakespeare. You want the message you craft to answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” Basically, here you need to think about the top two or three benefits of your offer, and try to list them in order of priority in your CTA. By doing this, you will also highlight the key point of your engagement and ensure there is an alignment between your ad and your offer. Whatever you do, never allow readers to question why they are bothering to pay attention to your offer.

2. Create a sense of urgency

Calls-to-action need to convey a sense of urgency and in order to effectively create urgency, as website owner, you need to answer your visitors’ question of “Why should I do this today?” In general, to create urgency, there are a number of things that you can choose to do. For instance, you can emphasize seasonality, special discounts, or even use adverbs like “now” and “today.” Unless you make your calls-to-action sound and feel urgent, chances are, your visitors will think that they can always come back to your website some other time and that would be that. They won’t ever come back because the Internet is such an unlimited vault of goodies.

3. Make your calls-to-action personal

The personalization of calls-to-action is tricky but by no means impossible. If you know where on your website the visitor currently is and what they are reading, you’re more or less familiar with their preferences and needs. For example, if they are on your About Us page, they are probably looking to discover more information about your company. So the call-to-action to use here should point the visitors in the right direction with a nice personal touch like “Like our culture? Become a part of it!”

4. Include testimonials in your calls-to-action

Testimonials are really effective when it comes to calls-to-action because they offer a third-party endorsement and motivate the visitors to take the next step forward by clicking through to your landing page. A customer quotation can often capture all the information a prospective customer needs to know. In the Internet marketing world of today, testimonials are most frequently used for products with longer sales cycles.

5. Include numbers in your calls-to-action

Another good practice when it comes to generating effective calls-to-action is to include numbers. Things is, when people are on the web, they are looking for specificity and in this context, data points can help you cut through the clutter of vague content online and convey a strong message. If the goal of your call-to-action is to grow your email database, you can invite people to subscribe by informing them of the number of recipients you currently have. If you are promoting an eBook or a whitepaper, you might want to mention its length. When it comes to Internet marketing, statistics can help you convey credibility presenting yourself as an industry expert.

6. Think about hinting at a bonus

Often the goal of a call-to-action is to keep visitors engaged on your website, jumping from one page to the next. You can accomplish this by introducing in your call-to-action bonus offers or opportunities to get more out of another campaign. For example, if a visitor just downloaded your newsletter, you can send them an email with a call-to-action that is introduced as a special bonus based on your visitor’s activity. An example of this would be a text along the lines of, “Thanks for downloading our eBook about optimizing calls-to-action. You can now have access to our additional resources on website optimization.”

7. Craft intelligent calls-to-action

If you are feeling especially creative with your calls-to-action, try to piggyback on their newsworthy content. Is there something in the news that could pertain to your industry or offers? To do this, start by setting up Google Alerts for some industry keywords related to your business. Each morning, visit Google News and search for news stories that are related to your expertise.

8. Be confident

Be confident when you promise your visitors to help them with their challenges. In your calls-to-action, be bold and firm when you present your offer, and relieve the reader’s risk of acceptance by standing behind what you say. In the cutthroat world of today, people don’t like spending money. People don’t want to spend money and the only shot you got at getting in the mind of a visitor to your website is your call-to-action.

9. Ask questions

Now this might come across as weird but another tactic in crafting your calls-to-action is to use a compelling question, followed by a short response. This is a good copywriting tip across different marketing aspects for instance emails, blog posts and landing pages. Questions serve to predict what visitors might be interested in and pique their interest even more.

10. Be subtle

Being smart and subtle can go a long way in helping you generate a high click-through rate on your call-to-action. People like to think that everything they do comes from some logical, un-manipulateable part of their own brain and through your call-to-action, you want to make them want to land on your landing page as if the idea was their own. To master the art of generating efficient calls-to-action, experiment with language that is less commanding and more thought-provoking.

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