Call-to-Action button: clicks, clarity and typical conversion errors
How good CTA buttons are built, what brakes clicks and how you improve relevance, clarity and conversion.
The topic often decides whether content is only available or actually meets the search intention. Usually, the biggest lever lies in better tailoring, clearer utility and less in mere amount of text.
How good CTA buttons are built, what brakes clicks and how you improve relevance, clarity and conversion. This wiki page arranges the topic practically and shows, When priority arises, which mistakes are often and how you derive concrete measures from them.
Example: “Send” leaves the result open
At the end of an advisory form, only “Send”. A specific label such as “request advice” describes the action more precisely. Directly next to it is the information, what happens afterwards, such as a personal feedback – if this actually corresponds to the process.
Check the button with keyboard, on the smartphone and in the form's error state. More contrast alone does not fix an unclear benefit or blocked shipping. A better click-through rate is only helpful when suitable requests arrive.
Calls for action through the call-to-action button: Examples
- Leaving the e-mail address for further information, thus consenting to advertising (legally required)
- Purchase of products or services
- Download an e-book (paid or free for marketing purposes)
- Watching a video course
- Leaving a comment
- Registration for a webinar
- Share the content of the page
- Read more articles
- Become a follower on social media
- Donations for a non-profit project
- Securing a discount voucher
- Registration for an event
- Downloading software
- Registration for a trial version of software
- Approval to be called
Placement of a call-to-action button
A common recommendation is to place the CTA at the end of a text that has sufficiently informed the reader about what it is actually about. But that's not mandatory. It can also be placed further forward after introductory information or several times, but not too often – this would seem intrusive.
Call-to-action button: meaning
When users agree with an offer, they need a very simple way to respond to it. This is provided by the call-to-action button. In addition, every call to action has a certain psychological effect, as sellers know. It concludes the explanation of all the benefits for the user and motivates him to now provide his answer. This consists of clicking on the call-to-action button or leaving the website.
In marketing, the CTA also has the legal meaning that users must explicitly consent to the sending of advertising. This happens when they click on a call-to-action button that takes them to an input field for their contact information. This must contain a confirmation that the user has sent an advertisement or an advertising call. a) agrees and b) can revoke this consent at any time (so-called double opt-in). This legislation applies to private consumers.
In B2B traffic, it is allowed to send unsolicited advertising to a company if the sender can assume that the recipient may be interested in the services.
Optical design of call-to-action buttons
CTAs shall be visually accurately identifiable. This is not only important for marketing, but also has a legal meaning. It is not allowed to design a call-to-action button in such a way that the user does not recognize exactly what consequences the click has on it.