Every time you put an ad in front of a potential customer, you want them to do something. The ultimate goal is to get them to buy your product or subscribe to your service, but even at the earlier stages, you might just want them to give you their email address, sign-up for a free trial or subscribe to a newsletter. A lot of work goes into moving people to take these different actions. However, whether they found your content in search results, email, Facebook ads or Google ads, you need to know how to get the message across. One of the best ways to do this is to have a good CTA. If you are looking for a call to action definition, it is a short instruction that is intended to provoke action. They can appear on web pages, in apps, in social media ads, in emails and more. They can appear as a CTA button or as a call to action phrase with a link. A good CTA not only inspires action, but it lets the viewer know what you want them to do.  Since a call to action is so important for so many different types of marketing efforts, you should put more than a little passing thought into finding the right one. In this post, we are going to look at a few call-to-action examples to show you what it looks like when it is done right.

State Farm

The CTA on this page from the insurance company State Farm is “Start a Quote”. It is an effective CTA because it makes it clear what the page wants the user to do and it stands out because it is a red button on a white background. The accompanying text also helps to push the reader closer to a click by adding language about saving time and money.

New Balance

The footwear company New Balance does a great job with this CTA. The text says “Explore” and it directs the user to a shopping page on the website. This is a smart ecommerce tactic because it is not as pushy as something like “Buy Now” but it moves the customer further down the funnel by taking them to a page that can expose them to products and sell them on the benefits of making a purchase.

Pizza Hut

This is a good example for Facebook ad campaigns. With a call to action of “See Menu”, Pizza Hut is letting customers know that they can check out the menu and order online. This could be a good CTA for any restaurant that is trying to sell food and get people to look at their offerings through Facebook ads.

WordPress

With “Start your site”, WordPress has a simple CTA, but they actually sell it with the accompanying text. The copy makes it clear that you can have a website ready in minutes, and they tell you that they have everything you need to get started. With good text surrounding the CTA, the button just makes it easy for visitors to know where they should click to get started with building their new website.

Magic Spoon

This is a call to action example for a website pop-up. With this, Magic Spoon is offering visitors the opportunity to win a free month of cereal. All the visitor has to do is enter their email address and click the button for “Enter the Contest”. With a simple pop-up like this, Magic Spoon can probably collect a lot of email addresses from visitors.

Rosetta Stone

If you have something to offer for free, you should highlight that in the CTA. That is why Rosetta Stone is using the CTA “Start 3-Day Free Trial”. People like getting things for free, and if a visitor is interested in the service but unsure about signing up for an account, offering the free trial can be a great way to move them closer to being a paying customer.

Spotify

In this Facebook ad, Spotify uses the CTA of “Listen Now”. This is an obvious CTA for a company like Spotify. It tells the user what they will get when they use the service and it is direct and to the point. If you are promoting a music service, a podcast or an audiobook, this could be an effective Facebook CTA. Those are just a few examples of effective CTAs and why they work. While it isn’t rocket science, it is something you need to think about. Create a good CTA, make sure it works with the rest of the content on the page and make sure it is easy to see. When it is done right, a good CTA can increase your conversion rate significantly.