Return on investment, sales, conversions, click-throughs – whatever the result might be, every piece of marketing needs to deliver, and you don’t want to leave it to chance. That’s why a strong call to action, or CTA, is vital.
Recent industry research* shows that on digital media the average click-through rate for a call-to-action button is 3.29%. The same applies to printed materials such as direct mail which is by far the most effective form of direct marketing with average response rates of 4.4% compared to email’s average response rate of 0.12%**. To capitalise on these high response rates you need an effective call to action.
Have a word with yourself!
Talking to yourself might be considered a sign of madness, but with CTAs you need to ask yourself lots of questions, the first of which is, ‘What is my marketing objective?’
Ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve. Do you want to drive traffic to your website, encourage trial or re-engage with lapsed customers? Once you’ve got the answers, you’ll be much clearer on what action you want to encourage and so what your call to action should be.
When BISON worked with luxury travel agent Your Travel Group we discovered during the discovery phase that as well as strengthening their brand identity they wanted to increase their website traffic and boost their social media following. As a result, when redesigning their digital assets, we added hyperlinks to Your Travel’s social media accounts and website. This activity was a strand of an overall brand refresh we delivered for Your Travel that saw their sales rise by 27% year on year.
And, talking of calls to action, when you get to the end of this post we’d really like you to read more success stories like these. Why? So that you can be inspired and hopefully begin to see how we could help your business to grow through improved branding and bespoke printed graphics. But before you go, there’s more…
Listen to your customers too
It’s vital that your call to action communicates value, and to know what your customers want you need to listen. It’s important to take into account the classic radio station WIFM … (what’s in it for me) but also giving the customer a clear and useful benefit builds trust. After all, why should a customer act if you haven’t told them what they’ll get for their trouble.
Listen to your customers and think what would be useful to them. You might be anticipating their needs, adding value or solving a very real problem, like time or money.
Talk to yourself again
Next time you need a CTA, ask the questions in this handy CTA checklist:
Design
Language
Location
AIDA
Remember too, that your call to action shouldn’t come out of the blue, your reader should sense it coming as the natural next step. You have taken them through the stages of:
Attention – perhaps an attention-grabbing headline
Interest – you’ve shown them how they might benefit
Desire – you’ve evoked emotional interest with storytelling, enticed with customer benefits and inspired with professional, aspirational photography
Action – the logical next step is that they act. And you make it easy for them by showing them how.
And that takes us to our call to action.
So, what’s next?
Why not take a look at more success stories to find out how we’ve helped local businesses take their brands to new heights?
Call Managing Director Mark Bidewell on 01622 677541
or email mark@madebybison.co.uk
Find out more at madebybison.wpengine.com
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