76 Email Call-to-Action Examples You Can’t Help But Click

1. Have a purpose

First things first. What’s your purpose for including a CTA text or CTA buttons in your email?

Are you merely trying to get users to visit your site, or do you want them to take some specific action on your site, like purchasing a product?

Whatever you want them to do, you need to make it clear and easy for them.

In today’s fast-paced environment, you can’t rely on people to figure out what they’re supposed to do or sort through a large inventory to find something. Typically, if there’s too much effort involved, they’ll simply move on.

Merely using a CTA is not enough. You have to think about what you’re trying to achieve with it, which means you have to know your audience.

2. Make it pop

You wouldn’t bury a tiny CTA button in the middle of a huge block of text in your email, right? That would be disastrous!

Your emails are competing for attention, and the last thing you want is for your message to get lost in all the noise.

That means you want to make your emails interesting. Forget boring text and bland images—your readers are going to skim right through it anyway!

Try using a contrasting color, negative space, and actionable text to make your CTA buttons pop and catch your readers’ attention as they’re skimming.

3. Be direct, be precise

It’s important that you keep your calls to action as direct as possible.

This is not the place for a clever pun or poetic language, and you definitely want to avoid CTAs that are too vague. 

Make your CTA an obvious button with compelling text that stands out and says what it needs to for someone to click through.

4. Don’t forget to KISS (Keep It Stupid Simple)

This goes hand in hand with the point above. If there’s one thing people on the internet hate, it’s a complicated, confusing CTA.

Do you think a garish 3D CTA button with a gazillion words on it and flashing neon animation will get more people to click? Not likely!

Keeping things super simple is a lot more effective than you might think. In an online environment where everyone’s screaming “look here!” your simple, direct CTA could be a true breath of fresh air with a great chance of boosting your click-through rate.

5. Stick to the point

When you have limited space to get your message across (like on a CTA button), it’s important that you get strategic.

Cut out as many unnecessary words as possible to make your button look less cluttered. 

Be concise and clear, and make sure the copy is descriptive enough for people to know what they’re going to get once they click on it. That’s key: tell them what to expect! 

6. Evoke emotions

Behind every action is an emotion.

The more effectively you can trigger the emotion you’re going for, the more likely your user will feel a sense of urgency to act on it.

People’s purchases are driven largely by their moods and emotions, both positive and negative. If you can figure out how to evoke them in your emails, you’ll be well on your way to increasing your click-through rates!

7. Put it in prominent places

This may come as a  surprise, but lots of rookie marketers write strong CTAs and then don’t place them correctly. 

A call-to-action button that’s too difficult to find or a hyperlink that’s tucked away in the middle of a long email isn’t going to get clicked, no matter how strong the copy.

Keep your primary CTA front and center where it will be easy for your readers to see.

8. Test colors

There are a lot of things you can do to increase click-through rates, and playing with colors is definitely one of them. Many studies have shown that different colors have different effects on readers. The color of a CTA button has been found to make a significant difference in performance.

For example, many marketers agree that a red email CTA can perform better than other colors because red is more noticeable and evokes excitement.

Make sure the color you pick for your email CTA buttons stands out, but remember not to go overboard — you also have to stay on brand!

9. Size matters

A compelling CTA should be large enough to be seen from the distance at which you want your readers to view it. Look at what your competitors are doing in their email campaigns.

When you see a call-to-action button being used, what size is it? Is it large enough to click on, both on desktop and mobile?

Ideally, you want the size of your button to be big enough that the average person can see it but not so big that it gets in the way and disrupts or annoys your readers.

10. Create urgency

Want to improve the results of your sales email? Add in an element of urgency and you might see a significant boost in your click-through rate.

One way of creating urgency in your campaigns is by using a countdown timer plugin or simply emphasizing words that boost urgency, such as, “Limited Time Offer,” “While Supplies Last,” “Two Days Only,” etc…