How to Make Your Readers Take Action
The competition in every business sector is getting bigger every minute. Nowadays, it is harder for companies to connect with their customers and gain their trust. With a minor inconvenience, you can lose a long-term customer.
Persuading the reader to take action might seem impossible if you don’t know how to do it. Since the word can be a powerful weapon, you can use multiple writing techniques to get your desired outcome.
Here are the ultimate ways to make your readers take action.
Simple Tips and Tricks to Make Your Readers Take Action
Everything revolves around taking action. In business, you should spend time and effort to convince your readers to buy that product or subscribe to your services.
Aside from the financial benefit, there are several other advantages of a good CTA. You will establish a good relationship with your audience by gaining their loyalty.
Furthermore, it can boost your blog’s growth and help you build an excellent content strategy.
Before we go above and beyond on how you can turn your readers into people of action, let us give you some simple tips and tricks about calls to action.
To stay organized, follow these steps.
- Set the goals for your CTAs and get to know your audience better.
- Make an outline of the article or the website you want to create.
- Write valuable, scannable, and easy-to-understand content.
- Use facts and explain counterarguments.
- Explain complex subjects straightforwardly and clearly.
- Break the content of your article into smaller, more understandable sections.
- Pair the needs of the audience with the type of CTA you will use.
- Make the CTAs as simple as possible.
- Monitor the responses of your readers. Evaluate your results. Make changes if necessary.
How to Write Powerful Calls to Action
Getting results from calls to action requires a lot of work. But once you get the hang of it, you will quickly create your content and draw people’s attention.
There are ten simple ways to ensure your call to action brings results.
Hook the reader
First impressions matter. Your introduction is your initial contact with your audience, and your job is to hook the reader. It is your time to shine and convince the readers your article, product, or service is worth their time.
You can stand out using interesting facts, catchy phrases, or intriguing questions. Don’t let your audience go to your competition because you have a sloppy intro or boring homepage.
Provide valuable information
One of the easiest ways to get someone to do something is to gain their trust. Provide your readers only with relevant information.
Your aim is to provide value to your audience, not useless words. The audience will take you seriously only if you are honest and transparent.
Write scannable content
UX Planet says visitors read only 20-28% of your post. The rest of the text is usually scanned.
You should focus on creating content that will help skimmers get the information they want only with scanning.
Hence, you should use catchy headings, subheadings, CTAs, and images.
Additionally, NIH Public Access shows that longer words are less likely to be skipped while reading. The study revealed that four to six-letter words are more frequently skipped than seven or eight-letter words.
Use active voice
Write in an active voice every time it makes sense. It will make your text more dynamic and powerful.
At the same time, the reader will quickly understand when he needs to take action, preventing confusion and misinterpretation.
Moreover, using active voice will clarify the sentence subject and achieve an objective narrative. The active voice will captivate your readers and keep them engaged.
Watch your language
Your tone is as important as the content you write. Pay attention to the way you are presenting your point. Think about how you want to sound to the reader. Do you want to sound authoritative or friendly?
To improve the quality of your article, you need to avoid technical jargon.
If you are an expert in the field, it doesn’t mean your readers are. Use simple words. Remember that metaphors and comparisons can help your reader relate to something unfamiliar.
Be aware that the written word can be easily misunderstood. Thus, you need to use short and clear sentences. A hard-to-read sentence can invoke different reactions from different readers.
Grab attention with rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions are the best mind-benders. Writing a good rhetorical question can draw your audience's attention. Since they are not meant to be answered, they will make your readers dig deeper into the topic.
By asking rhetorical questions, you will engage your readers and convert them from routine readers into critical thinkers.
Use tools to visualize your point
We are visual creatures. The same text is published as plain text, and text with a creative photo design can have different results.
Use different data visualization tools to prove your point. Tableau, Google Charts, Chartis, FusionCharts, and Infogram are some of the best data visualization tools.
Speak about counterarguments
Consider the questions you expect your opposition to ask. You can strengthen your claim by addressing the topic with conflicting points of view from yours.
Mentioning arguments that are opposed to yours will show maturity, and you can win the readers to your side.
Know your audience and show respect
Thinking about your perfect buyer persona is a must. Spend as much time as needed to define your target group.
Once you know your target audience, research their needs, interests, and background. Everything you do must go from there. You must tailor every call to action to their requirements.
Also, when you are writing, you should show respect. Don’t overestimate the capabilities of the readers.
Offer solution
If you want your readers to act, you must offer a concrete solution. You can’t just expect them to do something without telling them how. Explain why your solution is effective and how it will benefit the reader.
A call to action urges your readers to do something. It could be as simple as “click here” or “sign up now.” Not great, but better than nothing!
Make sure your call to action is clear and concise.
For readers to take immediate action, you can use different types of CTAs. You can read more about this in the next section.
Types of Call to Action
You might need to target all sorts of audiences. Thus, marketing has developed different types of calls to action (CTA). You can use the following types of CTAs:
Buttons
Buttons are one of the most common types of CTA. They are user-friendly and easily recognizable. You can utilize several practices to draw the reader's attention.
- Use buttons with text that is 20% larger than your logo.
- Place the button in prominent locations.
- Use contrasting colors.
- Add a second button with alternative action.
- Emphasize the sense of urgency.
Banners
Using banners on your website is an effective CTA. You can put them wherever you like. However, the most common banner locations are at the website's top, bottom, or sides.
If you choose to place a banner and call your visitors to take immediate action, use captivating text and intriguing design.
Contextual links
If you are writing an article, you can use clickable text, which will direct your reader to another page.
For example, if you are writing an informational article about your services, you can add links in the text for the reader to book an appointment, buy your product, or contact you.
Forms
We’ve all given our contact information, especially our email address, to get something for free. But nothing is free, isn’t it?
You can offer your site visitors something and turn them into leads when they fill out a submission form. It is a win-win situation.
Pop-ups and slide-Ins
While pop-ups and slide-ins can be annoying when you are browsing, there is no doubt they capture the user’s attention. They are effective CTAs with multiple purposes.
You can use pop-ups and slide-ins for special discounts, sign-up offers, and exit intent.
But there is a catch. Using too many pop-ups and slide-ins can have a negative impact on the user experience and drive them away from you.
Most Common CTAs Phrases
There are three categories of CTAs words/phrases. Simple one-word CTAs, CTAs with phrases, and CTAs that are used for balancing multiple buttons on one page.
How to make your readers take action with CTA words and phrases? The most common CTAs are your safety net.
- Sign-Up
- Apply Now
- Register
- Call Now
- Contact Us
- Subscribe
- Follow
- Share
- Download
- Click to learn more
- Read More
- Buy Now
The Importance of Call to Action
Most articles that require a call to action (CTA) are trying to attract and convert potential customers. As a business, you wouldn’t want to have people only visiting your site without taking action.
CTAs are one of the most important channels your readers use to engage deeper with your brand.
First, CTAs and sales funnels are inseparable. Most CTAs will navigate your potential client through becoming your customer. This brings us to our next point.
CTAs are as important for readers as they are for you. For instance, when someone is trying to buy something from you, they expect to see a button “Buy now” or “Last chance to get a discount”.
Lastly, CTAs are fundamental because they take your digital advertising to the next level. A wisely used CTA can help you seal the deal with a customer.
Psychology Behind Call to Action
The power of CTAs mainly relies on psychological principles. By understanding the psychology behind CTAs, you can achieve higher effectiveness.
Wondering how to make your readers take action according to psychology? In a nutshell, CTAs revolve around the following ideas.
- People shape expectations on three perceptual processes: selecting, inferring, and interpreting.
- CTAs stimulate our sense of curiosity.
- People are anticipatory creatures.
- The thought of reward makes people act faster.
How to Persuade Your Audience With Facts
Most people will only act if they are certain you are providing them with credible information. But how can you gain someone's trust through an article? Better yet, how can you make more than one person take action with the same text?
It’s not as hard as it seems.
Facts are the most powerful persuasive technique. Luckily, you have several types of facts, and each one can help you be reliable to the reader.
Statistics
It is easy to be persuasive when you show concrete numbers. Statistics have various respected methods for data gathering, making them reliable sources.
Here are some of the best statistics websites.
If you have trouble finding credible sources, use government, educational, and nonprofit organizations' websites. They are easily recognizable since their top-level domain is .gov, .mil, .edu, or .org.
Research studies
Communication Research shows that using statistics in your articles is more persuasive than storytelling.
Do you see what we did there? We used an authoritative research study to convince you that referencing statistical data can be an excellent tool for persuading.
Quantitative and qualitative research reports are equally important. Studies are excellent tools for illustrating and making your point more convincing.
Published documents
In an era where all kinds of misinformation can be found online, many rely only on good old hard-copy sources. Hence, referencing books, published articles, and reports will give you a head start if you are trying to get your reader to take action.
Personal experiences
Another powerful tool for driving a point home is personal experiences. It is not a coincidence that almost every business that offers its services online has a testimonials section.
Although personal experiences can be subjective, they can be used as evidence for the point you are trying to make.
For instance, if you provide outsourcing services to small to medium businesses, use customer reviews and testimonials to show your professionalism and dedication.
Examples
As we have done above, you should provide an example to help the reader understand your point. Since we all know that readers are more skeptical about online information, it is good to provide an example to inspire your audience to take action.
Let’s say you are trying to promote a product. Try bringing the product as close as possible to the potential customer. You will achieve that by doing the following things.
- Explain how the product works.
- Where can they use the product?
- Why should they buy your product?
- What makes your product better than your competition?
Interviews
Similarly to personal experiences, you can use longer interviews with experts or customers to prove your point. Don’t forget to use the credentials and qualifications of the person you are interviewing.
Conclusion
Now you know how to make your readers take action. Analyze your marketing and content plan and use the techniques which suit your goals.
No matter the call to action type you use, track the audience's response. What works for others might not work for you. Don’t be afraid to try different tactics if you see no results.
