4 Best Practices for Writing Effective Email CTAs
Maximize the impact of your emails with these tips to get your reader to act now.
With every email you write, you want your reader to click, respond, and take action. That’s pretty obvious, right?
But your call to action (CTA) can say more than just:
“Click Here”
“Respond Now”
“Take Action” <<< I definitely don’t recommend this one. It’s a teeeensy bit too on the nose, friend… JK it’s a lot on the nose. Just don’t do it, please. Thank you, you’re amazing. Rant over.)
As a copywriter coach and copyeditor, emails are my favorite way to connect with my audience. You can get waaay more fun and creative in emails to showcase your beautiful personality. You can weave personality throughout the body of your email, but people forget you can add more personality in your CTAs, too – which typically occur at the end.
Just don’t forget the golden rule: more than anything, your CTA must be clear and concise.
It won’t do any good to add personality if your audience gets confused about what they’re supposed to do next.
I know, I know. That’s a lot to think about. So how do you add personality but also balance that with what you should (and can) do with a proper CTA?
Don’t worry, friend, we’ve got you.
4 Tips for Better Email CTAs
Here are the four things to keep in mind when you’re coming up with your next email CTA. 😊
Decrease the barriers.
If your reader has to think extra hard or really consider the CTA, that’s a barrier.
Decreasing the barriers means removing any opportunity to keep them from acting on your CTA.
One of my favorite CTAs is asking my readers to reply to my emails. BUT, it’s important to be specific. It takes a lot of effort to hit reply, formulate a thought, type out the response, read it over again to make sure it’s good to go, and then hit send.
But if you tell them to pick A or B or reply back with an emoji – it’s simple, fast, and doesn’t take much brain power.
If you want them to take the advice you’ve outlined in your email and put it into action, tell them how. It could look like this:
Take 5 minutes to reflect in your journal
Go to your favorite coffee shop and ask them about their fair trade coffee.
Reply back with a 👍 if you want to learn more about my new course. *wink wink*
Get creative and specific to make it as easy as possible for your reader to take the recommended action.
Hide a CTA in the P.S.
In most forms of copy, you want to avoid having multiple CTAs. But in email, you can have two CTAs – one before the sign-off and one in the P.S. (*gasp* But Carley, you’re only supposed to have one! I know, I’m soooo rebellious. 💅Let me explain.)
You can have an email all about blog tips and invite your reader to implement one or two of them. Then, in the P.S., you can let them know to reply back to you if they have any questions. This strategy gives them the opportunity to connect with you, building their relationship with you and your biz.
You can also have the same CTA in the P.S. as a gentle reminder to take action. Use the P.S. to highlight the most important details of your email and add a link to the same CTA. This helps your CTA stand out, especially if your reader just skimmed through your email or scrolled all the way to the bottom.
Pro Tip: If you’re sending newsletters, you can send the same P.S. with every email (most of the time). I looove to do this for my emails. I like to keep it consistent because it reminds my readers about my services. AND they know where they can go to quickly find the resources they’re looking for.
However, it’s not the best strategy to do this for every email. If your reader sees something consistently enough, they start tuning it out.
On that note…
3. Don’t always make it about the sale.
Outside of a sales sequence, you don’t always want to have a “Buy Now” button as your CTA. Emails are a great place to provide value, nurture your audience, and get them to trust you more.
If you’re sending out a nurture sequence – like welcome emails – do just that. Nurture your audience.
Encourage them to implement a tip you shared, reply to a simple question, or reflect on your email. Encourage them to act on something helpful to them.
Don’t make it about the sale every time, or they’ll tune out your emails. Spice up your CTAs so they don’t expect the same thing every time.
4 . Have your CTA support the reader.
Your emails should support the reader wherever they are.
If you have a welcome sequence that guides them through a sticky spot in their business, you wouldn’t tell them to check out this cool blog on email CTAs – that’s random, right?
Make your CTA relevant and helpful to the reader. Support them with the tools and resources you promised them. Meet them where they are and guide them with what they really need right now.
Bonus Tip: If you have a freebie or lead magnet offer...
Deliver that IMMEDIATELY!
Include the download link right at the top. Then, you can include another link at the end or in the P.S. This gives your reader the option to download it right away or read your email all the way through with a reminder to download it.
The main goal is to get them to download it ASAP. Besides, what better way to show off your expertise than to have them learn something from you?
There’s no need to add a bunch of extra fluff in that first email. Instead of trying to keep them captivated until the end of a packed email, deliver on your promise right away and give them what they came for. Keep it short and sweet. When you don’t, you lose that reader’s trust – and your chance to sell them anything in the future.
Nail your email CTAs every time
Email CTAs can be fun, creative, and full of personality. With every email, you get an opportunity to try different CTAs to see what your audience responds to best.
But rather than throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, there IS thought and psychology behind an effective email CTA. This is just one of the things we dive deep into in The Copy Anatomy Course.
This course digs deep into the strategy and high-level concepts of every copy decision you make. And when you build that foundation of knowledge in your copy, you’ll be able to confidently tackle any copy project that comes your way. If you’re looking for true confidence in your copywriting skills and want to ooze with authority and expertise, check out the course here.