6 Proven CTA Tips That Will Make Your Clients Take Action

One of the primary objectives of any lashprenuer’s website is to convert visitors into subscribers and customers. Driving conversions to your site, however, is not possible without using strong and engaging calls-to-action (CTAs).

A CTA is the text or button that asks your website visitors to perform a certain action like signing up to your email list or buying a product. “Download Now”, “Book an Appointment”, “Claim Your Free Voucher” etc. are common (but very basic) examples of different calls to action.

A well-designed CTA can be the difference between an ineffective website and a high-converting site that turns cold traffic into hundreds of hot leads every month. Yet, contrary to popular belief, creating CTAs is not just about putting together fancy words with an eye-catching button; there’s a lot of science involved in the process.

To simplify the concept, Michael Agaard, a conversion expert at Unbounce, recommends asking yourself two questions whenever you're creating a CTA:

  • What is my prospect's motivation for clicking the CTA button?
  • What is my prospect going to get when he/she clicks the CTA button?

The answers to these questions should be the driving force behind all your CTAs. To simplify the process even further, here are a few research-backed tips that'll help you create engaging CTAs.

1. START EVERY CTA WITH A COMMANDING VERB

 

The purpose of a CTA is to make people take action, which is why the best CTAs are the ones that use strong verbs and action words.

Assertive copy changes your prospect’s mindset from a neutral/passive state to a positive state in which she’s ready to take action. This is also backed by a study by HelloBar, which shows that the best performing CTAs use words that enforce action in a clear and concise manner.

According to Peep Laja, a leading conversion optimization expert, effective calls-to-action comprise of 3-4 words at the most. Here are some of his most successful CTAs. Source: ConversionXL

You do, of course, need to modify some of these ideas for the lash industry. That said, most of them would work for you as they are. Using these words in your CTAs would remove the doubts in your prospect’s mind, break any mental barriers, and increase your conversion rates.

​2. Leverage FOMO to Create a Sense of Urgency

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a major motivating factor that drives users to take action online. Leveraging FOMO in your CTAs creates a sense of urgency in people because it makes them believe they might miss out on something everyone else is benefiting from.

Here’s a really good example of a CTA that uses FOMO:

Source: Adespresso

The best CTA buttons combine FOMO with words that trigger emotions and make people wonder. Use words like “Hurry,” “Fast,” “Soon,” “ASAP” etc. to create a sense of urgency. For example, a CTA like “Hurry! Get Your Lash Extensions for 50% Off!” will immediately get your visitors’ attention because they’ll fear missing out on the discount.

3. Keep CTAs Above the Fold

In web design terms, “above the fold” is the content a user can see on your site without needing to scroll down. Most experts say placing your primary CTA above the fold gives you a better chance of driving action from your visitors. A marketing and design study by Google also shows that above the fold ads and CTAs get 73 percent views as compared to below the fold content which gets 43 percent views.

4. Follow the Natural User Flow

What’s our typical decision-making process when we’re consuming sales and marketing material?

  • We learn about the problem
  • We learn how the product being pitched solves the problem
  • We learn about the product's features
  • We make the purchase decision

Your web page and CTA should always follow the natural user flow. A CTA that appears too early or too late on a webpage usually ends up being ignored by the user. Your users should never have to scroll back to click on a CTA. It should be placed exactly when a user is ready to make the decision.

In general, CTAs for free service trials and discounts work better earlier in the copy, while CTA for product sales usually get more clicks when placed later on a sales page.

 

5. Minimize Choices To Maximize Click-Through Rate

 
Studies show increasing the number of choices often leads to analysis paralysis in buyers. To put more simply, it means the more choices you give to your prospects, the more difficult it’ll become for them to make a decision. The adverse effects of giving more choices to your buyers are illustrated in the famous “jam study” :

 

As a lashprenuer, you should be mindful of the number of CTAs you’re using on a single page of your website. Every webpage on your site should ideally have a one (or three at max) CTA.

6. Add an Action Button to Your Instagram Profile

Instagram is undoubtedly the number one social media platform for lash artists and has the potential to drive hundreds of leads worth thousands of dollars to your business. Instagram has recently launched a new feature for its Business Accounts that allows users to add action buttons to their profiles. This seemingly small change can have a very positive impact on your sales numbers.

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide by Social Media Examiner on adding an action button to your Instagram profile.

In addition to the existing Call, Text, Directions, and Email buttons, you can choose from four new action buttons:

  • Book
  • Buy Tickets
  • Start Order
  • Reserve

The action button that appears on your account will directly tie into the app you select for the button integration. For example, if you choose OpenTable, you’ll automatically get the Reserve action button.

To add an action button to your Instagram account, you need to have an existing account set up with the specific third-party app with which you plan to integrate. To add an action button to your Instagram account, go to your profile and select Edit Profile. On the Edit Profile screen, scroll down and select Contact Options.

From the Contact Options screen, tap the Add an action button option.

From the Contact Options screen, tap the Add an action button option

Now select the third-party app you want to integrate with. You can currently choose from Acuity Scheduling, Atom Tickets, Booksy, ChowNow, EatStreet, Eventbrite, Fandango, Grubhub, MyTime, OpenTable, Reserve, Restorando, Resy, SevenRooms, StyleSeat, Tock, Vagaro, and Yelp.

Instagram plans to add more third-party apps to the list over time.

Next, enter the URL for the account or page you use on the third-party app that you want people to be directed to via the action button.

Finally, tap Submit and your button is activated on your profile.

If you want to remove an action button at any time, go to the Edit Profile option on your profile and navigate to the Contact Options screen again. Select the Action button you want to remove and tap the Remove Action Button option at the bottom of the screen to remove it.

Wrapping Up

This brings us to the end of our two-post series about the importance of CTAs and the best practices to create them. If you haven’t read the first post of this series, we highly recommend that you do.

As both articles show, CTAs are crucial for your website, landing pages, and social media posts, and have a direct impact on your sales numbers. Pay close attention to the tips shared in this post because they’ll help you create more effective CTAs that will drive higher conversions for your business.

Sydney Farrell
Content Creator | Extrovert | Amateur Chef | Weapon of choice: Glitter         

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