We often come across articles that talk about the importance of call to actions (CTAs), especially regarding your landing pages. The same attention, I believe, should be applied to your emailers.

Just like any CTA applied to any other marketing material, you want to use CTAs that your recipients can’t help but click. However, how is it different from any other CTA? Don’t we also have the same objective for all our other marketing efforts?

The most obvious difference is that you have even less room to work with. Every word and sentence in your email should seamlessly lead to the CTA, leaving you very little room to add more visuals or media to influence the reader. This is because you also have to follow best practices for your email—you can’t run on for too long or your email will be deleted. You can’t go too short either or you fail to inform your readers and your emailer fails to stand out from the clutter that is in your recipient’s inbox.

All things considered, here are some of my best tips for writing effective CTAs:

1. Start by establishing and defining the very purpose of your CTA

Ask yourself—what action do I want people to take after they read my email and how can I get them to take it?

Before you even start drafting your CTA, make sure to answer this question. This will allow you to not only map out a clear path toward your goal but also help visualize what action you want them to take. It also allows you to clearly identify the value of your offer and how it will be relevant to your audience.

2. Pay attention to your CTA copy

The way you phrase your CTA copy is ultimately going to be the deciding factor for your audience. How you word your CTA will either prompt them to bounce off the email or take your desired action.

As much as possible, try not to use the same CTA for all your emailers. Switch things up a bit and make sure to use words that incite emotion so that it inspires action. I always advise against using generic CTAs like “click here” or “download”. There’s always an option to personalize and customize it according to your content. Make sure you do.

3. Keep it brief

In relation to the previous point, the problem with attempting to personalize your CTAs is that you forget that CTAs are meant to be short. In an effort to keep it unique and relevant, you end up with text that’s longer. The problem is, longer CTA text can be confusing to your readers.

Therefore, always remember to find the right balance between customization and relevance while ensuring that it’s short and succinct.

Give these email CTA tips a try and let me know how well they work out for you. Of course, if you have more to add to this list, I’d love to hear all about it. Go ahead and start a discussion in the comment section below or get in touch with us so we can brainstorm more ways to boost your lead generation efforts.