It has eluded copywriters and digital marketers alike for years—the universal byline that drives higher Clicks, Click-Through Rates, and Conversions regardless of the product or service to which it is associated. Chances are that if you have been writing paid content long enough, the title above (hopefully) raised more than a few eyebrows as you have come to realize that there is not a specific Call To Action that is optimal for every ad or landing page that you create.

While the CTA that laid the golden egg is yet to be uncovered, there are still a few best practices to become familiarized with prior to launching a new Google campaign or creating a new landing page. Whether you are new to digital marketing or in need of inspiration, we have compiled a list of best practices to guide you through the CTA basics.

DO’s and Don’ts of CTAs in Paid Advertising

DO

Use Punctuation/Numbers: Exclamation points, dollar signs, and even commas have historically seen higher and more qualified user engagement. Pricing, discounts, promotions, and other financial benefits can also be used in campaigns that focused on generating more Clicks and Conversions. Be careful in prioritizing price over brand in Branded ads, however, as users will not typically be searching for prices when initially searching for a specific company.

Combine CTA’s & User Benefits: While “Download Now” is a popular CTA and an available preselect in Google display Responsive Ads, “Download Our Free Toolkit” provides a strong CTA with an added user benefit.

Front Load: With Headlines being the most prominent part of your Ads, it makes sense that the most useful position for your CTA to live is in the Headlines of your ad copy. Limited by characters? Create an A/B test in your headlines to determine which CTA works best for you!

DON’T

Underestimate Your Audience: While a higher-performing CTA like “Shop Now” works for users who are further down in the funnel, seeing a strong CTA on an initial home page can come across as spammy and could cause your ad to lose out to a competing ad with a softer Call-To-Action.

Overuse “Free”: Despite being the perennial heavyweight champ of the CTA world, using “Free” too often and too loosely can quickly align your messaging with the messaging of your competitors. For instance, “Schedule a Free Consultation” or “Use Our Free Mortgage Calculator” are services that have become industry norms and do not offer much-added benefit to the user.

Push Users’ Buttons: The CTA is great when guiding, not commanding users. A dropdown list of “Sign In With X” options that guide the user to their preferred social media source will create a smoother user experience than the traditional “Sign In” or “Sign In Today”.

Reconsidering Your Paid Search CTA Options

WordStream recently analyzed 612 of the best Google ads based on Average CTR, Conversion Rate, Cost Per Click, and Cost per Conversion. While the overall success of these ads was not entirely determined by their associated CTA, it is possible to gather a general idea of which CTA’s could improve the overall effectiveness of an ad.

Here is a visual laying out the efficacy of CTA’s based on performance:
 

(Source: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/06/06/best-ads)
Understandably, CTAs with a clear action item involving “Get” or “Buy” see higher CTR’s than ads that used softer CTA’s.

There’s No One Way CTA

It is important to note, however, that choosing CTAs solely based on one objective alone (such as Conversions) can be counterintuitive. Rather, each CTA needs to be aligned with the intent of the ad. For instance, if you are looking to get more traffic to your website or are focusing on brand awareness, softer CTA’s leading with “Learn” or “Discover” would be an ideal choice. Similarly, E-Commerce websites should lean more to actionable CTA’s such as “Shop Now”.

Step Up Your CTA Game

While recent analyses or paid ads have caused CTA best practices to emerge in paid advertising, the dynamic nature of digital advertising makes it difficult to generate a comprehensive, fool-proof list of CTAs that will or will not work based on your specific industry.

Take out the guesswork of choosing CTA’s by getting in touch with our full team of paid digital marketing experts at Ecreative. Schedule your free consultation today!