Ten Tips for Creating Enticing Calls to Action
Repost: Original article by: actonsoftware

I read recently that the main point of multi-channel marketing is to stimulate interest that leads to a personalized email conversation with a prospect. That means that despite the attention you’re increasingly paying to social and other new tactics, your lead generation and sales success still very much depends on executing your email marketing campaigns with skill and creativity.

One of Act-On Software’s integrated partners is Litmus, a swell service that lets you preview your email messages on 30+ email clients and mobile devices. With Litmus, you’ll know exactly how your message is going to look to most receivers. This partner company recently published a infographic titled “Designing the Perfect Call to Action” which provides smart points about making your email call to action as strong and compelling as possible; we’re recapping the ten main tips here in case you missed it.

Ten Tips for Creating the Perfect Call to Action

1. Format: Your call to action (CTA) can be image- or text-based; do remember that buttons often out-perform text links. Make sure you’re linking to something that will fulfill the expectation the CTA sets—a landing page, a form, etc.
2. Language: Be clear and direct; let the reader know exactly why to click and what to expect. Use active verbs to add a sense of urgency.
3. Content: Make it engaging and encouraging. Your body text should support your CTA, and design elements should help focus attention toward the CTA.
4. Size: Because people have short attention spans and scan rather than read closely, make your CTA big enough to grab attention, without being overpowering. Text should be easily legible and complement the CTA.
5. Color: Use color to draw attention to your CTA, and make it different from the background. Keep your overall branding color palette in mind.
6. Placement: Put your CTA above the fold; don’t count on a busy reader scrolling to the bottom of your message.
7. Repetition: Repeating the suggestion to click strengthens your message. Sprinkle clickable elements throughout your message, and ensure that logos, headlines, images, and so on link to appropriate pages, to maximize conversion.
8. White space: Let your CTA have room to breathe; give it balanced negative space from other text and images, so it’s a focal point.
9. Icons and images: Incorporating visual clues can help a reader understand and take action. For example, a shopping cart icon is both recognizable and helpful.
10. Bulletproof buttons: Images get higher click rates, but image-blocking software may render your beautiful buttons unreadable. Use HTML text, background colors and background images to make a button that will remain visible even when images are disabled.

» Read the Original and Complete Article

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