How to write a converting CTA for your display ads?

You can have the best ad copy, stunning visuals, and beautiful storytelling aspect in your ad but without a good CTA, all of that effort goes to waste. So, here is our guide on how to write a CTA that absolutely dazzles your audience.

So without taking too much time, let us get down to the nitty-gritty details!

What is a Call-To-Action (CTA) and Why is it Important?

Have you ever looked at a display ad and seen the words “Book now!” or “Buy now!” on the ad? That is exactly what a CTA is—a carefully curated button that subtly nudges the reader toward the next step in the conversion process.

CTAs are instrumental in bringing the readers into the sales funnel and making new consumers aware of your brand. So, how to write a CTA?

Your CTA has to be engaging and hooking enough for readers to want to know more about your brand. For that, you need to understand what makes them click. 

But worry not, here we will give you 11 best tips to make a CTA that inspires people to buy. So read on.

Eleven Best Practices to Create a Converting CTA

1. Play with Visual Elements

When it comes to CTA, predictability, and good visibility are very important. With a few simple visual elements, you can easily draw attention to your CTA. Here are some principles to keep in mind when creating your CTA button:

• Use contrast colors to make the button stand out from the rest of the ad. But do not use a color that might make your whole design look bad. When in doubt, use the color wheel to identify colors that best suit your design.
• Make the CTA button look like a clickable button. This will prevent the CTA from merging with the rest of the design.
• Write a couple of lines on top or bottom of the CTA to help the reader understand what they will gain by clicking the button. This serves as an added incentive and makes people want to click.
• A/B tests your ads to make sure which format brings about the most conversions.
• We usually read from left to right and top to bottom. Therefore, mentioning the value proposition on the top and placing the CTA button on the bottom can be a great logic to make people convert. (Note: There are always exceptions to this rule, so figure out what gets your audience going)

2. Figure out your Audience Intent

Before asking how to write a good CTA, you should ask something else.

What is your audience’s end goal?

What is something that will help solve their immediate problem?

Knowing the answer to this question can play a pivotal role in creating the CTA for your display ad. 

For example, if your audience is looking to solve their pest problem, an ad talking about “How to Keep your House Pest Free?” with a CTA that asks them to “Download an ebook” might not make sense.

On the other hand, an ad about buying a repellant that destroys pests within a couple of days coupled with a CTA that says “Become Pest-free in 2 days” might intrigue them.

Therefore, you need to understand your audience in and out if you want to create a CTA that makes them convert.

3. Tell them the Next Step

Instead of using generic CTAs such as “Join now” or “Click here,” be upfront about what users receive when they interact with your CTA.

Telling them what they are getting themselves into can be a great motivator for people to interact. 

For example, instead of the CTA that says “Try now”, you can say “Try productivity app now”. This lets the user know what they are clicking and be aware of what they will receive out of this transaction.

4. Personalization is the Key

Like every other piece of content you produce, your ad needs to be personally relatable to your audience. However, it should not be hyper-personalized, making it clickable for only a minor portion of your target consumers.

The trick here is to strike a balance that appeals to a large group of people and still makes them feel related to it. This in turn makes them want to interact.

Statista has identified that 95% of marketers agreed that their personalization strategy has proven successful, which is all the more reason to give your users a personal touch.

To personalize your ads for maximum impact there are a few factors that need to be looked into deeply, such as:

• The stage in the buyer’s journey
• The potential diversity within your audience pool
• The end goal of your campaign

Dynamic ads are a great way to ensure that a diverse audience receives tailored messages that match their segment.

5. Use First-person Language

Writing CTAs that feel like a direct conversation is a great way to make people connect with the ad. And this in turn makes them want to interact with the ad.

For example, instead of using a generic CTA like “Learn more”, you could say something like “I want to learn more”. This is another layer of personalization that you can add to your ads.

6. See the Whole Picture

When using generic CTAs such as “Read more,” you are bound to get more clicks and engagement since they cater to a broad range of audiences. This is a definite sign of interest, but once visitors enter the website, are they converting?

Are they signing up for your newsletter? Or buying your product?

If it does not happen, then the ad has not been that effective for your strategy. Therefore, keep in mind to calculate the final metric rate such as sign-ups or purchases, and correlate it with the click rate of the ad to see how successful your ad was.

7. A CTA An Ad keeps the User Engaged

The majority of the people who take note of your display ad will see your CTA. Since, CTA is what stands out, with a beautiful design and intriguing wordings.

So, what if we add more CTAs? The more the merrier, right? Wrong!

When you include more than one CTA in your ad, you are making the user divide their attention between two areas, which confuses them and prevents them from interacting with your ad. So, stick to one CTA per ad.

8. Invoke Emotion

Like any good piece of content, sometimes even more than other content, CTAs need to invoke an emotion. Since they are a singular line of content that is going to stand between your target audience and your business, this emotion has to be strong enough for the user to want to interact with them.

For example, you could say, “Order now to get free shipping,” which might induce a sense of FOMO and make them want to make a purchase.

9. Simplicity is the way to go

Do you know what readers hate the most? Long, convoluted sign-up and purchase processes.

So the best way to make them want to buy or learn more about your business is to simplify the process. If they can get some value within a couple of clicks, then they are more willing to proceed with your CTA.

If your CTA conveys that the process behind that button is simple and won’t take much of their time, then it is a bonus.

For example, you can say, “Get my food delivered in 10 minutes,” a subtle hint at how simple and easy the process is.

10. Short and Sweet

This is a no-brainer. A block-long CTA is not a bright way to garner and retain the audience’s attention. So, stick with CTAs that are small enough to keep them engaged but long enough to convey the value they get out of interacting with the ad.

Go for impactful words that make people want to act. 

11. Flaunt your Success

Showing off your testimonials is a great way to gather social proof and make people believe in your product. Instead of tooting your own horn, when you display what other customers share about your product, the reader feels more inclined to believe it.

For example, you can say, “Join our 500+ happy customers” and voila, now your reader knows that your product is a guaranteed hit.

Five Examples of Well-Performing CTAs:

Okay, now you know how to write CTAs. Next, we will examine innovative CTAs already on the market and dissect how they differ from the rest.

1. Salesforce

“See why not” is not your regular run-of-the-mill CTA. It is innovative, easy to understand, and most importantly simple. The CTA keeps the intrigue in place and makes people want to click. After all, you want to know why your self-strategy is not cutting costs, right?

2. Walmart

This is another brilliant CTA example from Walmart. With a simple “Open Flyer” CTA they have managed to invoke FOMO and curiosity from their users. The clear value added that seeing this flyer will help you save money on your groceries is conveyed clearly which makes this a great CTA example.

3. General Motors

If you are a car enthusiast, you might have at least built and customized a car on these sites. And even if you are not a big fan, you will definitely feel the slightest bit curious to check it out once. Thus, you are bound to click on this CTA, which makes it irresistible. Dynamic elements also play a great role in making this overall ad very engaging.

4. Ford Motor Company

Offers are notorious for being present only for a limited period, this makes the CTA time-sensitive. When using CTAs like this, you inadvertently invoke a sense of FOMO in your readers, which makes them want to check out the product even if they are not in immediate need of it.

5. Adobe

The incentive is added straight into the CTA itself. They have taken a common issue professionals face and made it into their Unique selling point, which is detailed in the words above the CTA. Plus, they give an additional advantage in their CTA (a free version), which makes the offer much sweeter to the reader.

Conclusion

Writing a CTA is an art, and making that art irresistible is the way to get more people to click, convert, and become customers. When writing a CTA, remember the principles we detailed above, which will guarantee that you will create a CTA that delivers results. In addition to a great CTA, if you make a dynamic and enrapturing display ad, then you are sure to bag clients left and right.

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