How to motivate your clients to take action!

Call-to-Action-post

With the amount of emails received daily by current and prospective clients, it is vital that marketers cut through the clutter. A powerful call to action is essential for online marketing!

 

You have to make it very clear to your customer what to do next. Below are 10 simple tips to help you motivate clients to take action:

 

1. Brief is best
Research proves the majority of us skim read, so make your call to action short and sweet. The reader should be able to immediately answer “How does it apply to me?” and clearly understand what action they should take. Some phrases often used include: ‘Register now’, ‘Download here‘, and ‘Continue with Facebook’. Keep it simple – the simplest call to actions are usually the most successful.

 

2. Make it personal and avoid jargon
We all like to be treated as individuals and to feel special. Personalising your call to action shows that you understand your client, their concerns, needs and frustrations. Think about the marketing communications that you receive and what makes you respond. But remember, keep to your firm’s brand, style and tone.

 

3. Create urgency
Using words such as ‘now’ and ‘today’ motivates the reader to click immediately.

 

4. Ensure the destination is relevant
The content of the email and the destination of the call to action link should have a clear connection. For example, when a reader clicks a ‘Subscribe to our blog’ button it shouldn’t direct them to the website’s homepage – it should immediately go to a simple sign-up form.

 

5. Consider appropriate placement
Call to action placement depends on the length of the email. If it is a short email, then high in the body of the email usually works well as it is in the reader’s key area of interest. Having a good amount of white space around it makes it stand out. With longer emails, it can be included in a few places, allowing the reader more opportunities to respond.

 

6. Think about how many to include
The amount of call to actions depends on the aim of your email. If you want clients to sign-up to a newsletter then one call to action should be adequate. However, if you want them to connect with a number of media forms, such as email, blog, Facebook and Twitter, then include different options for them to do this. If you use several call to actions, make it clear which is the most important one.

 

7. Make it look good
Make it stand out. It needs to look different to get attention and generate a response. Try different shapes, colours and fonts. Keep it fresh and bold. Multiple designs, colours and fonts can be unclear and misleading.

 

8. Ensure it is in a suitable format
Consider how clients will view the message. Depending on the device they are using will influence how the image will display. Design your call to action for your audience. The main features of a call to action are its visibility and functionality. It is wise to include a text link for clients using devices that have plain text only.

 

9. Variety is the spice of life
Avoid using the same call to action in every email – be creative! Try to use interesting and unique call to actions with a new angle on common phrases. Ask a question to get their attention. For example, ‘Do you know what makes your firm unique? Save your spot.’

 

10. Test the results
Ensure you track the results to discover which format gets the most click-throughs. One style doesn’t suit everyone, so experiment! When you try something different run a simple A/B test by changing one element and checking how it effects the results. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, go back to the ‘drawing board’ and alter something else.