The concept is mind-blowing. The art direction will make one cry. The copy could sell a bootleg DVD to a Unifi user. But if you disregard what should be the superstar of any piece of communication, then even the greatest creative could become B-grade.
This critical ad element is called a Call-to-Action; and you’re losing potential customers if you don’t have a strong one.
The purpose of almost all marketing communications is to make people do something: call, SMS, walk-in, log-on, click or purchase. The thing is if you want someone to take a specific action, you actually have to ask them to take that specific action.
Yes, this belief is borne from my many years as a direct response copywriter. But here are recent researches on the matter to help illustrate why a strong call-to-act is important:
1. A research done by Marketing Sherpa to their e-newsletter readers show that a specific call-to-act increased response by over 8%.
Click-through Rates on different Call-to-acts:
“Click to Continue” = 8.35%
“Continue to Article” = 3.3%
“Read More” = -1.8%
2. A research done by University of Connecticut asked 2 groups of people to mail back a stack of 30 post cards, 1 each for 30 days.
– The first group was given the request while under hypnosis
– The second group were just asked nicely
The result? The second group mailed back more postcards, which goes to prove that people will usually do as they are asked; as long as you ask nicely of course.
And this is true across all media; be it print, TV, web, social, radio, BTL, POS and what-have-you. Clear, powerful calls-to-action can make or break a campaign.
Ask and you shall be given. Now share this post with a zillion people, please? Don’t make me hypnotize you!