These tips will not only improve the vague landscape of a CTA but will encourage all users to simply "do something" on your website. Following a goal-oriented CTA design will help your team understand the consumer's behavior and create an effective strategy. It's time to take action!

In a nutshell, a call-to-action solicits an action from the website viewer.  This could be anything from booking a flight to signing up for a newsletter. Here are some different types:

• Book now

• Download
• Donate
• Add to Cart
• Free-Trial
• Sign-up
• Learn More

MAXG looked at 618 different CTAs. This data set is full of years and years worth of information shown below.

Wondering which CTA performed best?

"Interestingly enough, our link CTAs converted at a much higher rate, 7.72%, but then failed to deliver the submission, turning only 26.8% of the visitors to the landing page into new leads. Our button CTAs converted at 2.65% and only turned those clicks into leads 16.9% of the time; they were by far the worst-performing type for us.

Our image CTAs (graphically designed images used as CTA links) converted at a 2.96% rate, very close to our average, but drove the highest conversion, at a staggering 56.6%." - MAXG

Understanding which features flow organically on your landing page can be crucial because it usually ties together the main theme of the website. If you are in a hotel, booking a room would be the point of visiting. Luckily, there are some ways to put you ahead of the game.

1. Be Obvious with Color

We want our call-to-action button to be obvious and stick out, however, we do not want it to look gaudy or amateur. Color and size need to be in harmony for this to happen. If you are dealing with a larger button or an icon, the color would look best schemed with the website as a whole. If it is smaller, a more vibrant color could draw attention to it. It's all about balance! 

You can also use color to prioritize. If you have two CTAs, one offering more information and one asking to donate, you may highlight the donation button in a brighter color. This also works well if you make the more important button slightly larger. Looking to learn more about color, size, and priority? Click here.

Creating contrast between colors can draw plenty of attention to your website's CTA. This will make it impossible to miss while still coming off as sleek and professional.

Typically, the button will be the only thing in focus and highlighted while the remaining background will be slightly faded or blurred. Read more about contrasting and other techniques here.

2. Space It Out

Position and white space are important factors to get the conversation on your CTA rolling. Let's go over some of the basics.

Position: Call-to-action buttons do great when they are placed above the fold. If you are not a graphic designer, or even if you are, you can figure out the fold on your website here. Most of you may not remember, but this refers back to something called a newspaper. The most important photos were placed above the fold.

Long layout landing pages with multiple CTA placements can generate up to 220% more leads than landing pages with CTA only above-the-fold (wordstream)

Multiple CTAs: This statistic encourages making a landing page with multiple CTA placements. In contrast, one CTA landing page cannot properly describe the offer in-depth or add any personalization. Having a more spread out and detailed page with 1-3 CTAs is conversion-focused. Who knows, this tip might surprise you during your A/B testing!

White space: This is the empty space around the graphic. You do not want to overcrowd the CTA. Give it enough room to get the point across, stand out, and persuade a click. Read more about position and white space here.

3. Icons and Text

We just explained how crucial white space was but sometimes you do need an image or some text to draw attention to your CTA. This will be more paramount when the CTA doesn't flow naturally within your page. 

Before we move on, keep your language as simple and to the point as possible. Most buttons have a few words instructing the viewer such as "click here", "book now", "download free", and etc. You can also convey your meaning with an icon. You can have a computer if it is a download or a plane for booking a flight.

With that in mind, people are more likely to look at text before a button. You do not want to overcrowd the CTA, but including a few bullet points as an explanation may help out. HubSpot pulled up this great eye-tracking study to explain it further.

4. Testing

The tips above can definitely put you on the right track, but nothing helps are much as an actual test in the market.  Testing is key to understanding your specific audience's buying pattern and behavior. Every service/product buying process looks different, especially for different industries. Check out how VWO prioritizes CTA testing:

If the above is too complicated, check out this tool to create an A/B test to see which design works best for you.

5. Upfront Privacy Policy

Privacy is a huge factor in determining if users will trust your website. Especially strangers! By placing your privacy policy below your CTA button, you can immediately let users know that their information is safe and if they can opt-out at any time. This improves the credibility of your offer for consumers.

Credibility is huge, especially on Google. Having your privacy policy available can potentially boost your SEO but not necessarily your rankings. If Google ever decides to do a manual review, you can thank yourself later for adding this small aspect. 

Remember having a link or statement about privacy policies shouldn't distract your audience enough to where it negatively impacts performance. Keep it clean, simple, and within your design strategy.  

https://www.codecademy.com/

6. Sense of Urgency