Feature
The Gist
- Calls-to-action evolution. CTAs have evolved beyond mere buttons.
- AI's influence. AI tools can optimize and personalize CTAs.
- Strategic complexity. Balancing CTAs within campaigns is an intricate process.
Marketers are flooded with ideas to market their products and services, but many online campaign features do need to be updated and refined. One of the most overlooked is the call-to-action message. Often the text on websites, apps and landing pages can be so extensive that the task of updating a call to action can seem overwhelming.
AI & Opportunities
However, thanks to the rise of AI there are opportunities to combine tasks and explore ways to update a call to action so that it's consistent across your digital media.
Why Calls to Action Are Always Ripe for Improvement
More Than Just a Button
Calls to action (CTAs) are prime candidates for enhancement. Historically, they were primarily designed to prompt customers to click a button. Yet, many discussions center solely on this button-clicking aspect, overlooking the myriad motivations and experiences of the user. Remember, the concept of a call to action hails from an era when people commonly used their desktop computers and laptops. Nowadays, with tablets, mobile phones and other programmable devices, CTAs can be much more than just a button. They can resonate with customers in various ways and serve as a potent branding tool for marketers.
Guiding Customers to Next Steps
A call-to-action guides customers on their next steps after engaging with content, whether on a website page or an email. It clarifies the outcome of clicking the confirmation button: Are they registering for a webinar, downloading an ebook or making a purchase? Without a good CTA, readers might not take any action.
Consider Click-Through Rates
Failure to optimize can result in a dismal click-through rate. Factors contributing to this include ineffective subject lines, a lack of personalization and an overload of emails. Additionally, marketing with ambiguous calls to action can also lead to low click-through rates.
Related Article: What’s Coming Next Decade for AI in Marketing?
How AI Can Enhance Calls to Action
Examine Customer Reactions
Start by examining your customers' reactions to your campaign materials to identify the terminology they frequently use when discussing your product, service or brand. This will highlight recurring phrases or concepts. These phrases and concepts can then be used to craft a call to action that resonates with and feels familiar to them.
Start With Email
Email texts exchanged between you and your clients are a useful starting place because some common words are used to describe customer challenges or the features customers appreciate most.
Gathering User Phrases
Other valuable resources for gathering customer-user phrases are the social media groups managed by your company. Building communities has become a major trend among marketers to better understand customer concerns and engage with them directly. Regularly browsing relevant Facebook groups, forums, Reddit threads, Quora discussions and similar platforms can uncover common customer terminologies. Any group where customers share their perspectives, challenges or recommendations offers invaluable insights into how they discuss and reference your offerings.
Related article: 5 Generative AI Apps Every Marketer Should Be Aware Of
Using AI to Integrate CTA Variations and Text
Combining Ideas & New Concepts
You can use prompts to combine ideas and foster new concepts. The key lies in utilizing these prompts to frame the context for the suggestions AI produces. Suppose you're hosting a webinar. You can harness AI to craft a call to action tailored for your intended audience. Here's a straightforward example Claude provided:
Meanwhile Bard provided a few examples in one take.
Establish Prompt Chains
You can establish a prompt chain to refine parts of your description. Another option is to incorporate text from the landing page, or even embed the page's link within a prompt. AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bard or Claude can provide you with various action word alternatives to complement your existing choices.
Crafting Your Text
The trick is to provide the words leading to the call to action. The text incorporates details that should imply what is promised when clicked. The end result is better phrasing that entices people into clicking on the button.
Related Article: Why Causal AI Is the New Marketer Must-Have for Deeper Insights
Create The Urgency To Buy
Be Brief
No matter how they are developed, a good CTA choice must be brief. You only have a few seconds for someone to take in a landing page and make a purchase decision so the brevity must convey the urgency and action wanted.
Effective CTAs
Examples of effective, brief CTAs include “Sign Up Now,” “Download Here” and “Shop Now.” Yet you can refine those suggestions with specific offers with a personal tone, such as “Start My Trial,” “Download Your Free eBook” and “Shop Our Fall Sale Now.”
Using Segmentation to Adjust the Message
Adjusting CTAs
With AI, you can further adjust call-to-action prompts to account for segmentation around your target audience. Doing so allows you to send higher quality marketing that better aligns to each customer and their activities. It increases the likelihood that they will respond to the call to action and click through to your website or landing page, reflecting high click-through rates in analytics reporting.
Segment Choices
For example, customers who have purchased from you in the past year are a terrific customer segment choice — developing a call to action using special offers or discounts related to their purchase history can create a special personalized customer experience for them.
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A Balancing Act
While a call to action may seem straightforward, balancing it with other campaign elements can become complex. With the correct strategy and tools, you can streamline this complexity, allowing you to concentrate on refining other campaign facets, such as crafting compelling email subject lines or A/B testing of the button colors.
