Types of CTAs: graphic of a man holding a large megaphone

The 5 Types of CTAs to Boost Your Website Conversion Rate

ByGrowth Machine

Your marketing team puts a lot of resources into web pages, social media, events, and more. But you need more than a “build it and they will come” approach. You have to carefully craft your messaging to persuade your target audience to take action — and that’s where a call to action (CTA) comes in. 

A call to action should be so persuasive that it convinces people to take a desired action, whether that’s downloading a case study or buying your products. 

But not all CTAs are created equal. Some CTAs are better suited to different stages of the buyer journey. You’ll need to choose the right types of CTAs to drive conversions and grow your business. 

Let’s dig into what a CTA is, the different types of CTAs, and how your business can leverage them to earn more customers. 

What Is a CTA?

People spend time online for two reasons: information or entertainment. The right call to action prompts passive scrollers to stop scrolling and take action on your brand’s content, usually in the form of a CTA button or further engagement instruction. 

Without a CTA, all of the energy you put into your digital marketing would be for nothing. You need to make it very clear what your audience should do next, and CTAs do just that. 

For example, you might use CTAs like: 

  • “Sign Up For Our Newsletter”
  • “Buy Now”
  • “See How We Can Help”
  • “Download Our Free Guide”
  • “Sign Up For The Webinar”

If you’re putting in the effort to promote your brand, everything you create needs a CTA. CTAs shepherd people through your sales funnel, taking potential customers through an intentional pipeline that encourages them to engage with your brand.

The 5 Different Types of CTAs

Of course, you can’t use the same CTA for everything. A simple “Learn More” call to action button isn’t compelling enough to persuade potential customers to take the next step. 

You’ll need to use different types of CTAs depending on: 

  • Your customer persona
  • Where the customer is in your sales funnel
  • The content they’re consuming
  • What you want the person to do next

There are many types of CTAs out there, but these five are the most effective at boosting your marketing campaigns. 

1. Lead Generation

Thirty-five percent of marketers say that lead generation is their top priority over the next 12 months, so this is the most common type of CTA. 

If you want more customers (and we’re willing to bet that you do), you have to generate leads and warm them up until they’re ready to become new customers. 

The thing is, you shouldn’t hit leads with a hard sell out of the gates, so most lead generation CTAs tend to be low-stakes. This includes CTAs like: 

  • “Enroll in our free webinar”
  • “Download our recipe guide”
  • “Get $5 off your next order”

For this type of call to action, it’s a good idea to create lead magnets, which are pieces of content designed solely for gathering a lead’s contact information. Offer freebies like e-books, video guides, case studies, industry reports, or white papers to persuade people to convert. 

Use lead generation CTAs for folks at the top of your funnel. You should place these CTAs in prominent places on your website, like your: 

  • Sidebar: This displays the CTA on every page of your website, no matter where a lead goes. This gives you more airtime with new visitors, increasing the chances of conversion. 
  • Landing pages: Create a landing page to promote your lead magnet as a free download. A dedicated landing page can boost your conversion rates and help with attribution, so this is a win-win.
  • Content: Add a lead generation CTA to the bottom of your blogs to pull interested leads through the sales funnel. 

2. Content Marketing

You need to give customers something valuable to earn their trust. That isn’t an easy feat, but content marketing CTAs can help. 

This type of CTA helps you deepen relationships with customers while branding yourself as a trusted subject matter expert. If leads find your content helpful, it can position your company as a trustworthy provider, which will (hopefully) encourage purchases as they go through your sales funnel.

Try CTAs like: 

  • “Read more” 
  • “Watch now”
  • “Take the quiz” 

In terms of placement, it’s best to use content marketing CTAs on your blog page or social media. For example, try teasing your website’s latest post on LinkedIn with a content marketing CTA that encourages leads to visit your website.

3. Social Shares

Social share CTAs might sound more passive than other types of CTAs, but they’re an easy way to build brand awareness and trust. They help you engage with customers without asking them for anything other than a social media follow for the opportunity to continue serving them.

Social share CTAs encourage site visitors to either: 

  • Share your website content to their social feed
  • Follow your brand on social media

You can easily add social share buttons across your website that will allow one-click shares on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Display them as a sidebar on your website, on blogs as pull quotes, or in your website footer.

We love these types of CTAs because they increase your brand’s exposure. Even if a lead doesn’t end up being a customer, the exposure alone makes social share buttons worth your while.

4. Subscriptions

This type of CTA is a must-have if your business leverages email marketing. With a subscription CTA, you encourage leads to sign up for your email newsletter. 

But people aren’t going to subscribe to your list if you’re just going to spam them. Your emails have to primarily deliver value; you should only occasionally sprinkle in sales-y language. 

For this type of CTA, explain why subscribing to your email newsletter is a good idea. That might look like: 

  • “Don’t miss our new posts! Subscribe to our newsletter now.” 
  • “Sign up for our Insiders email list to get free digital downloads every month.” 
  • “Enter your email address to get monthly industry reports — for free.” 

Many brands promote their email newsletters with eye-catching popup CTAs. You shouldn’t overwhelm website visitors with popups, but with the right balance, you could see conversion rates as high as 42.35%.

If you aren’t sure whether popup CTAs are a good idea, try A/B testing. This will tell you whether your website visitors respond well to the subscription CTA popup or if you should take a different approach.

But don’t worry. If your audience isn’t a fan of popups, you can still promote your email list on your blog, sidebar, floating banners, or product pages. 

5. Purchases

The last type of CTA you need to use is the most direct, but it has the best chance of boosting your bottom line. Purchase CTAs like “Buy now” are ideal for the last stage of your sales funnel after leads have demonstrated interest in your brand or products. 

Common purchase CTAs include: 

  • “Add to cart” (for e-commerce sites)
  • “Enroll now”
  • “Get a quote”
  • “See pricing”

Since purchase CTAs are more of a hard sell, it’s best to place them on web pages where hot leads spend the most time. That’s usually your product pages or unique landing pages for nurtured leads. 

Use the Right Types of CTAs to Seal the Deal

CTAs are a powerful but often-overlooked part of marketing optimization. If you don’t want to come on too strong too soon, be sure to choose the best CTA for the job. Pick CTAs based on where leads are in the sales funnel. Otherwise, they might leave and never come back. 

To start writing more effective CTAs, choose from these five types of CTAs for inspiration:

  1. Lead generation
  2. Content marketing
  3. Social shares
  4. Subscriptions
  5. Purchases

But every business is different, so what works for another brand might not work for you. Get one-on-one advice for your brand: Growth Machine offers customized CTA help to SMBs that are ready to grow. Chat with us now to get personalized advice for your CTAs — and watch your sales grow.

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