CTA Rules of the Road

Once you’ve attracted potential customers to your Website, you’ve got to get them to take action. Netting lots of visitors might boost your ego, but once they’ve arrived, they have to find something of value. An effective Call-to-Action (CTA) on your site is an important tool in turning a visitor into a warm prospect. Follow these rules of the road, and you’ll be driving prospects into your marketing funnel in no time.

Every CTA must have an eye-catching headline. Without one, no one’s paying attention, and you’re more likely to experience a higher “bounce” rate (visitors leaving your site). Beneath the headline, spell out the benefits of your specific CTA’s deliverable. Finish with a direct appeal to your prospect to sign up using designated fields they must complete.

A good CTA is essential for lead generation and prospect database building. Every time someone “opts in” and sends you their contact information, you own it. As such, you don’t have to worry about breaking the CAN-SPAM law, which has been the prevailing law controlling email marketing since 2003.

Keep your CTAs simple! You can ask for more than the prospect’s name and their email address, but they may bounce, so stick to name and email only. You’ll want to have their name so you can personalize emails to them if you are actively engaged in outbound email marketing.

Offer something of value to the Website visitor, either something that will educate them, increase their productivity or help them become more effective in their jobs. For example, sending a tip sheet on healthy vending as a result of an effective CTA might make your prospect look good to their employer. You get the idea….

Examples of what you can use to deliver on a CTA include:

• “A report on…”
• “Free guide to…”
• “Case study on…”
• “Video depicting…”
• “Infographic 
• detailing…”
• “First-time purchase 
• discount on…”
• “Free demonstration of…”
• “10 Tips for…”
• “Ticket to a free event on…”

We’ve created a few CTAs and deliverables for your use here. They have been written in your “voice” for use with customers or prospects who visit your homepage. The option you choose should depend on the kinds of prospects you want to attract. For instance, if your company lacks micro market customers, you may opt for the video on micro markets. Or you might want to use all three, rotating them on your Website every three to four months.