Why CTAs Are So Important and How to Make One That Converts

‍Technique 1:  Free Trial

There are certain CTAs that you just can’t resist clicking - and the “free trial” CTA strategy is surely one of them. This technique performs especially well for B2B companies that sell software as a service (SaaS).

Don’t be hesitant to offer a free trial, a free tour, or a free ebook to your new visitors. Not only does this tactic act as a lead magnet, but it also guides your prospects through each stage of the buying process. 

If you try to persuade the visitors to purchase your service after their first encounter with your business, 84% of them will leave your website. But, if you offer them a free trial, you boost conversions by 358%. Now, that is the magic action button you should be focusing on.

Here’s a tip: Which trial period would work best for you: a 7-day or 14-day trial, for example? Well, it depends. The trial period depends on the essence of your business and how responsive your ideal customers are. So, instead of playing the guessing game - test it out and settle on the time period that works best for you and generates more conversions.

One way to test this out is through A/B testing and tracking actionable metrics.

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Technique 2:  Poke at the Problem, Then Present the Solution

A research study run by 1st Financial Training Services revealed that 96% of unsatisfied customers don’t complain – and 91% of those simply leave and never come back again.

Sometimes, all it takes to make a compelling call-to-action that persuades the customer to click - is a deeper understanding of your audience and their needs. Here’s a simple, yet powerful 3-step copywriting formula to help you out:

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1. Identify a problem
2. Agitate the problem
3. Offer a solution

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How can you use each of these elements to craft a call-to-action that gets your prospects to buy? Let’s take a look:

1. Identify the dominant problem: Your ability to identify your audience’s dominant pain points makes a big difference. When you understand what problems they’re experiencing, you’ll be able to provide the right solutions.

Tip: You can use Quora to help identify your target audience’s problems. Using this platform, you can easily search for any relevant questions surrounding your area of work. You can then leverage this information in your CTA - to draw them into your offer.

2. Agitate their problem: After you identify the dominant problem, you should agitate it: arouse interest or make your prospect anxious (or even fearful) about something. If you want your buyer to desire your solution, you need to remind them of the pain. So poke that wound. Show that it hurts. So, before revealing your solution, agitate the underlying problem:

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• Why is it important?
• What kind of impact does it make on their business?
• Why is it negatively affecting them?

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We’re biologically set up to avoid pain. So if you can trigger this feeling, your prospects will be more inclined to pursue your solution and click that precious CTA button.

If you don’t agitate the problem without evoking a sense of urgency, your leads will never even know that you have the answers. A Forrester study shows that 45% of U.S. consumers will leave a webpage if they see that their questions or problems aren’t adequately addressed.

3. Offer a solution: This is the final element of this guide - and it can make or break your call-to-action: you have to offer a solution to your clients’ challenges. It’s not enough to simply identify and agitate the problem – your job is to make the solution readily available to them.

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Technique 3: Use the Human Urge to Belong

Have you ever felt like you’ve missed out on an opportunity that could’ve changed your life/business? Humans have a natural urge to always belong: your buyer persona doesn’t want to miss out on the amazing things others are already experiencing. 

The urge to belong is a concept of social proof (Here’s a snippet from ConversionXL, to help you understand social proof better). Social proof is the easiest way to ease customers’ minds, eliminate their objections, and ultimately turn them into your buyers. Very sneaky.

Social proof is a concept that describes a person’s urge to take action based on what others have done. Simply put, it means “following the crowd” – doing the same thing other people did, because you don’t want to miss out.

Many brands use social proof in various ways. For instance, companies display the number of people who have joined their email lists or used their products on their landing page.

If you look at social proof examples, you’ll notice that most of them aren’t written on the call-to-action buttons. And, that’s appropriate, because the call-to-action itself should only contain carefully selected copy aimed at leading the customer to click the button.
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Final Thoughts

If you want to have a lead-generating B2B website, learning how to create effective CTAs is essential. An effective CTA will persuade your leads to click and submit their contact details in exchange for your offer. A stale CTA risks getting ignored or missed entirely. 

Building CTAs is a continuous process that calls for constant review - even great CTAs can become stale. Make sure to monitor views, click-through rates, and submissions carefully and try an alternative when performance seems to be lower than expected. CTAs are no easy task - but willingness to experiment and A/B testing should help you improve your CTA and lead generation results in no time.