Call To Action

Summary:

"Call to Action" sales/conversion pattern comes from pre-Internet age and basically part of the message (marketing or not) that calls the audience to take a specific action.

Name of the pattern:

Call to Action

When to use this pattern:

In every message (sales copy, sneeze page, review, video,…) was created to stimulate some action: click on a link, opt-in, order.

How to use this pattern:

Tell clearly and specifically your prospect, what he should do the next. Make it very clear and very specific.

"Click on the big orange button on the right to get your copy of the Super-Duper Report How to …" with a big red arrow is a good call to action.

"Order now!" is not bad either, but less efficient in many cases.

"Click here to pay me $999" is a call to action, but it sucks.

"Would you like to get your copy of Super-Duper Report How to …?" is NOT a call to action.

Sometimes sales letter may have secondary calls to action in the middle ("I've heard enough, give me my report NOW!") or at the beginning ("If you know why are you here, you can ORDER NOW.") of the message.

Attribution:

I did not had time to scroll through the books on Ancient History, but it's somewhere there for sure.

Related patterns:

None

Related anti-patterns:

None, or too many. As a rule of thumb, just don't make it "Gimme!"

Comments & details:

Making a good call to action is as much of an art as making a great headline. There is no way I can teach you creation of great calls to action in such a small article, that would require a few courses. If you really never heard of this pattern, or in a real need to improve how you use it, here are few resources, you may find useful. I would start from book, if you like to read. Internet Marketing products are more expensive, but they may be useful for those who strongly prefer audio/video media. In this case, you may want to start from this free video course on writing email promotions, but you will have to opt-in.