December 18, 2019
In the world of direct marketing, action is everything.
If our first task as advertisers and marketers is to get people to think or feel something, a very close second has to be to get them to do something.
While there are no shortages of ways to elicit a thought or feeling, when it comes to taking action, we are often guilty of resorting to a handful of tried and true calls to action (CTAs): ‘learn more’ and ‘find out more’ being among the usual suspects.
So, if our third task as communicators is to keep things fresh and new, why not change things up and use (literally dozens of) other CTAs to drive our point home.
It will give audiences the final push they need to act beyond the email, banner, billboard, DM, social post, TV ad, radio spot, video and landing page.
Here are just a few action verbs you can use in your CTAs. Use them on a clickable button (3-4 words max), or start a sentence with them (at the end of a DM letter for example).
Tip 1:
Add ‘now’ or ‘today’ to most of these to create urgency (e.g. Act now, Sign up today, etc.)
Tip 2:
For reminders or time-sensitive offers, introduce your CTAs with an urgency message like ‘Don’t forget’, ‘Don’t miss out’ and ‘Hurry’.
Tip 3:
Change your CTA to something personal for even more impact (e.g. I’m in, Sign me up, Show me, Yes! I want to… etc.)
Tip 4:
Even changing your CTA from ‘Find out more’ to ‘Find out why’ or ‘Find out how’ can make a world of difference in giving your audience context as to what they’re going to see next.
Tip 5:
Not sure which CTA will be most effective? Simply follow the age-old rule of direct marketing: test, learn and test again.