Blog Post | Feb 28, 2023
5 CTA Mistakes to Avoid
The goal of any email or direct mail campaign is to get your leads to act by calling, visiting a website or clicking through to a landing page. This requires including a strong “call-to-action” (CTA) within your copy or a button in your email. Review and avoid these five common CTA mistakes frequently made by integrated marketers. Improve your campaign success by following these tips.
You’ve done everything you know to do to make your website/email/direct mail campaign successful, but nobody is clicking, calling or filling out the form. Why isn’t it working?
You might have a CTA problem.
A CTA, or call-to-action, is a button, image or text that encourages customers to act, usually driving them to a landing page or web page. Some common CTAs used by integrated marketers are “click here,” “learn more” or “click to register.”
Landing pages and web visits are essential to your marketing efforts—and your clickthrough rate is a strong measure of campaign success. Without a strong CTA and the resulting clicks your campaign may be doomed to fail. Studies show that only 47% of businesses properly use CTAs in their content. Be one of the 53% who do!
Here are five examples of CTA mistakes to avoid so you can maximize your next marketing effort:
Now is the time for integrated marketers to see if they’re making any of these mistakes—and correct course where needed. We have the resources and experience to help you create campaigns that include carefully thought-out CTAs and monitor your lead activity for a great success story!
You might have a CTA problem.
A CTA, or call-to-action, is a button, image or text that encourages customers to act, usually driving them to a landing page or web page. Some common CTAs used by integrated marketers are “click here,” “learn more” or “click to register.”
Landing pages and web visits are essential to your marketing efforts—and your clickthrough rate is a strong measure of campaign success. Without a strong CTA and the resulting clicks your campaign may be doomed to fail. Studies show that only 47% of businesses properly use CTAs in their content. Be one of the 53% who do!
Here are five examples of CTA mistakes to avoid so you can maximize your next marketing effort:
- Overselling & Under-Delivering—Your CTA should guide prospect expectations. If you use elaborate language or imagery but your landing page is underwhelming, your customers will feel that you can’t deliver on your promises. You could easily lose their trust in one simple click. You are trying to convert leads into potential customers and that begins with giving you their contact information. If they don’t trust you, they will not part with that valuable information.
- Being Inconsistent—Your landing page messaging should match your CTA language. Don’t get accused of bait-and-switch tactics; make sure that if a visitor eagerly clicks your button or link that the landing page gives them exactly what they expect to see. Follow through on any promises made and ensure that the same look and feel is communicated by both pages.
- Not Giving Good Value—Making an offer is easy, but how do you make it valuable enough to compel the prospect to click on your CTA? You must clearly explain the ways in which your offer will help them or what they will get in exchange for their prized personal information. Popular items of value include free guides, eBooks, insights or techniques that will help enhance their success. Make sure your CTA effectively teases this offer to improve their business or make their jobs easier.
- Too Many Calls-to-Action—Don’t overwhelm your potential customers with too many CTAs and cause paralysis by analysis. Including multiple CTAs can be counterproductive, discouraging the visitor from taking any action. Create one, single path to action without any distractions to interfere with conversion.
- Burying Your CTA—If users cannot find your call to action, they can’t click it! Sometimes integrated marketers bury the CTA in text and graphics, only include a text link, don’t include it until the end of a long page or busy mailer, or position it out of the main sight lines for recipients. Low visibility equates to low activity. Change the way you include the CTA and watch your conversion rate climb—make it bigger, bolder, brighter or include multiple buttons.
Now is the time for integrated marketers to see if they’re making any of these mistakes—and correct course where needed. We have the resources and experience to help you create campaigns that include carefully thought-out CTAs and monitor your lead activity for a great success story!