When writing a great piece of email marketing, it’s easy to focus all of your energy on the design and body of the email. However, your CTA copy deserves that same amount of dedication because it serves as a bridge from your mailing list to the other parts of your business.
In some ways, your entire email campaign rests on the quality of your CTA. It’s the last stop in successfully garnering the reader’s attention and compelling them to engage with your email marketing campaign.
How you can write compelling CTA copy
Read on discover what you need to know about writing compelling CTA copy to ensure that your subscribers engage.
What is CTA Copy?
In essence, CTA (call to action) copy is simply a prompt for the reader to engage with the email for a specific purpose.
For example, CTA copy could be something as simple as “Visit our store today!” Alternatively, it could be as complicated as a limited-time offer that can only be accessed through a particular email.
How to measure compelling CTA copy
A few different features go into creating compelling CTA copy. Each of these pieces is vital, but only works if paired with the others. CTA is best measured through analytics, through which you can analyze how often the CTA is clicked and engaged with.
Following are some of the best practices for writing CTA copy that will entice your reader and create the best measurable results.
Ambiguity is a bad idea
It may be tempting to get creative with your CTA copy, but it’s not the place for ambiguity. When crafting effective CTA copy, make sure it’s straightforward and tells readers exactly what they can expect on the other side of the link.
Instead of writing, “Click here to get all sorts of wonderful stuff,” consider writing something along the lines of “Click here to learn more about our rewards program.”
Let the reader know the benefits
While you could write CTA copy that simply asks the reader to perform an action, it’s best to give the reader a reason to perform that action. Better yet, that reason should directly benefit the reader.
For instance, if you have an email that leads to a marketing course about email copy, you should have a CTA that specifically lays out what the reader will learn. “Take our class” sounds like work, but something like, “Learn how to write email copy that sells” sounds like it could come in handy.
Source: Really Good Emails
Don’t be pushy
CTA copy should be more like a nudge in the right direction, as opposed to a violent shove. Therefore, there are certain words that you should avoid so the reader doesn’t feel pressured, causing them to hesitate.
Examples of these kinds of words include “download,” “buy,” and “submit.” You want to write around these words, so instead of “Buy our new summer shirts,” consider writing “Explore our new summer shirts.”
Does it really matter?
After piquing your subscribers’ interests with your email’s design and body text, the CTA copy seals the deal.
Poor CTA copy will act as a brick wall for your subscribers to run into. If they don’t feel incentivized at the last moment to click a link and travel to your website, then all the effort you put into your email could be wasted.
A button-based CTA can increase click-through rates by 28%.
What now?
Once you’ve successfully figured out how to write compelling CTA copy, you should then learn the best practices for every other aspect of the email.
While a strong CTA can mean the difference between a conversion and a bounce, crafting a strong email design gets the reader to that point. And learning how to master deliverability is the only way to ensure that your emails get to the reader successfully.