How to Increase Engagement with Email Marketing CTAs

You’ve created a stunning email newsletter, complete with killer content, on-brand images, and a personalized opener. You hit send, and your perfect email gets delivered to thousands of inboxes. Except… people are opening your emails, but no one is clicking on them. If this scenario sounds familiar, it’s probably time for a crash course in email marketing CTAs.

If you want to increase customer engagement, you need to use a strong call to action. Without this, it’s likely that the beautiful email you worked so hard on won’t produce the best ROI.

In this article, we’ll look at how to increase customer engagement by optimizing your call to action button.

First of All, What Is a CTA and Why Are They So Important?

A call to action, or CTA, is the culmination of what you hope to achieve with each email you send out. In most emails, it’s an embedded button or hyperlinked text with an action, such as “click here,” “learn more,” or “shop now.”

In an email, all the content you include should naturally lead towards the CTA. Look at it from a reader’s perspective. If you’re sending out an email to let your customers know about new product arrivals on your website, adding a CTA like “read more” wouldn’t make much sense.

Whether you want a recipient to make a purchase, visit your website, or watch a video, your CTA is critical to the overall success of your campaign. Having a compelling CTA is just as important as creating original content or writing the perfect subject line.

How to Increase Customer Engagement Using the Best Email CTAs

There’s no exact science to creating the ideal email marketing CTA. However, expert email marketers have tried different tactics to see what sticks, and there are a few tips that seem to get results across the board.

Use the First Person

Studies have shown that using first-person pronouns can dramatically increase your click-through rate by up to 90%. For example, a call to action that says “repeat your order” is less effective than “repeat my order.”

These first-person CTAs give the reader a sense of control and make it feel more personalized. Here are some other examples:

• Claim my coupon
• Book my tickets
• I’m ready to sign up
• Update my wardrobe now
• Start my free trial

Make It an Action

It seems pretty obvious to make your call to action, well, an action, but a lot of email marketers tend to forget this when it comes to creating a campaign. When it comes to adding an action, a lot of marketers tend to go with generic copy: “Submit,” “Click here,” “Download.” Yes, these CTAs are straightforward, but they don’t inspire action.

Instead, try and be more specific with your actions.

• Let’s talk
• Watch right now
• Shop our new collection
• Get 25% off today
• Read the full story
• Hear his story
• Save me a spot

All these CTAs are action-based, yet they use more specific languages to pull a reader in and incite curiosity.

Create a Sense of Urgency

Don’t give your customers a reason to leave the email. By creating a sense of urgency, you instill the idea that action needs to be taken now or they will lose an opportunity for a purchase, good deal, or event.

Use words like “today,” “now,” or “only” to accomplish this. Take a look at these CTA examples:

• Take 50% off today
• Only 5 spots left – reserve now
• Book now for a discounted price
• Donate now
• Start your trial today

Use Approachable Language

You don’t want the user to feel stressed or forced into clicking your CTA. The language you use for your email marketing CTAs needs to be approachable and light so that recipients are compelled to click on them.

Think of the words you’d use in conversation. If you had to verbally deliver the same marketing pitch as what’s in your email, you wouldn’t likely use words like “enter” or “submit.” Use the same approach when creating actionable CTAs.

These CTAs use more natural and approachable verbs, like “get,” and “try:”

• Get free shipping
• Try it for free
• Get the course today
• Find out more
• Get results now

Design Matters

Word choice isn’t the only important factor when it comes to creating the best email CTAs. It’s also important to consider the overall design of your email and the CTA button.

Using bright colors that contrast with the background of your email content so that the button stands out. Size matters, too. You need to ensure that the button is noticeable enough within your email. You can also add some interactive elements to make it more appealing, like shading or making the button change colors when you move over it.

What Else to Consider For Your Email Marketing CTAs

Now that you have a better idea of how to word and design your call to action, there are a few other things to consider implementing as well.

A/B Testing

One of the best ways to see if these tips and tricks are effective is to conduct an A/B test with your emails. To run an A/B test, you need to create two nearly-identical copies of your email using different CTAs to see which one is more effective in getting clicks. Constant Contact has great A/B testing features that will help you learn more about what’s working and what’s not with your email marketing CTAs.

Use Multiple CTAs in One Email

One CTA is good. Two is better. Three… let’s not get crazy. The truth is there’s no magic number of email marketing CTAs to use. Obviously you don’t want to overload your email, but sometimes it’s logical to use more than one. If you send a longer email newsletter, then there might be different subjects or sections you are covering. It’s completely acceptable to create a CTA for each section.

Stay Above the Fold

This one ties in with the email design, but when adding your email marketing CTA, the recipient shouldn’t have to search for it. Placing it above the fold is critical to make sure your CTA is seen by the maximum amount of recipients. It’s helpful to use an email marketing software that offers well-designed email templates. SendinBlue has some fantastic responsive templates that are expertly designed with your CTAs in mind.

Final Thoughts

Creating the perfect email marketing CTA doesn’t have to be stressful. If you keep these suggestions in mind, you’ll find that over time, writing compelling CTAs that convert into clicks becomes second nature.

Now that you’re more informed on how to create the best email CTAs, it’s time to put that education into action. Use one of our highly recommend email marketing software to create a professional campaign that implements quality content, beautiful design, and CTAs that work.