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Have you been writing marketing copy? Are you getting little or no results–even though you can tell from analytics that your pages are being read?
Your headline is hot. Your writing rocks. Your topic fits–yet none of your readers ever *do* anything at all. Why not?
What could be wrong?
Let me tell you what’s wrong.
You didn’t actually tell the reader what to do and so they didn’t do anything. If your writing is meant to be persuasive, you need to include a call to action with the writing.
A call to action tells your reader what they should do next. It can be a sentence or two at the end of your copy that tells your readers what to do, or it can be an element on your page such as a button or link.
A call to action may include an incentive (for example, “subscribe now to get a free ebook“). It may also give the reader a choice of several actions.
Here are some characteristics of a good copywriting call to action:
- It is specific–It tells the reader exactly what you want them to do and how you want them to do it.
- It is relevant–It fits with the rest of the marketing copy and with the reader’s personal needs.
- It is performable–It includes links, phone numbers, and other information so that your reader can respond.
If the call to action is text, copywriters often set it apart from the rest of the copy by boxing it, making it a different color, or otherwise drawing attention to it.
Have you been leaving the call to action out of your marketing copy?
What strategies do you use to write effective calls to action? Share your ideas in the comments.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Krysha Thayer // Jan 22, 2012 at
Hi, Laura! I’ve just gotten the hang of (I hope!) the call to action part of persuasive writing and I really enjoy writing that way now. It’s a challenge but a fun one! I really love this post…
2 Carol Tice // Jan 27, 2012 at
I usually close each post with a question I’d like readers to answer in the comments, both on my own blog and the one I write for Entrepreneur. Seems to help empower people to feel OK about sharing their thoughts on the post.
3 Carol Tice // Jan 27, 2012 at
Oh yeah — beyond that, contests where you have to comment in the post are great. And there’s nothing like — “What are you working on now? Leave us a link to your site so we can take a look!” EVERYBODY wants to leave their link.
4 Laura Spencer // Jan 27, 2012 at
Thanks Krysha! I’m glad you liked the post.
Carol, I think that an invitation to comment is definitely a call to action. You’re right about contests and invitations to leave links too. They are both very popular. 🙂
5 Samantha Gluck // Jan 30, 2012 at
When writing marketing copy for a client, I often call the reader to action two or three times within the body of the sales copy. I save the final call to action (often the third one) for the end. This past November, I wrote sales copy for a client whose first hardcover book came out in December 2011. I set the calls to action embedded in the body of the text apart by using a larger size with bolding. I even used bold on the link text. At the end of the pitch, we included a “Buy Now” button with an incentive, informing the reader that the first 45 purchasers would receive a personalized, autographed copy of the book — they could keep this for themselves, or give it as a gift.
The campaign was quite successful and now we’re creating copy to promote and sell her 12-segment webinar sessions for troubled families.
My biggest problem, though, is engagement on my websites. I don’t usually call readers to action anymore because it doesn’t make much difference when it comes to sharing. Sometimes I have lots of commenters and others, none. There’s no rhyme or reason.
6 Laura Spencer // Jan 31, 2012 at
Samantha,
Great description of the successful use of a call to action in marketing copy. Thanks for that. 🙂
I understand what you’re saying when it comes to using a call to action in blog poosts and I half agree. I do think that people are less likely to comment on posts than in the past, but I also think that including a call to action is one of several things that can help with that.
However, to really spark a conversation on a blog post I think that you have to do several other things as well. I think that you need to leave room for discussion–If you’re blogging about an undisputed fact you’re less likely to generate a discussion than if you’re sharing an opinion. I also think that you need to answer comments. I think readers find it frustrating (at least I know I do), when they comment and no one replies. Finally, I think that if you would like comments, you need to get into the habit of leaving comments yourself.
At least that’s my take on blog posts. 🙂 I hope you found it useful.
7 Samantha Gluck // Feb 1, 2012 at
I agree, Laura, that people are less likely to comment and that you need to leave something open to foster a discussion. Answering and replying to comments and questions is essential and a MUST to give readers a sense of engagement with you or with others who write on your website (as is the case with my website). Thanks for your response and all of your wonderful insight into this world of writing, Laura.
8 Laura Spencer // Feb 2, 2012 at
Thanks Samantha! I’m glad you enjoyed the post and happy to have you as a reader. 🙂