A CTA (call to action) is a button or message that tells people what to do next. ‘Book a free consultation’, ‘Buy now’, ‘Get a quote in 24 hours’: these are all CTAs. Without one, even an interested customer will often simply leave, because nobody told them what the next step was.
What separates a good CTA from a weak one?
It’s specific and it offers value. ‘Send’ loses to ‘Get a free quote’, because the first describes the mechanics and the second describes the benefit. A good CTA also lowers the sense of risk: ‘free’, ‘no obligation’ and ‘within 24 hours’ make a big difference for service businesses. When we design websites, we make sure there is a single main CTA, visible without scrolling and repeated near the end of the page.
Where does a CTA matter most?
Anywhere one step ends and the next one should begin: in an ad, on a service page, under a blog article, in your Instagram bio. In campaigns, we test CTAs the same way we test ad creative (A/B testing): changing nothing but the button text can noticeably move your conversion rate, and the change itself costs nothing.
Related terms: CTR, conversion.
