Tips 22-26: CTAs

Make your call to action seem like the easiest decision they've ever made

#22 FOMO

Create FOMO in CTAs by highlighting limited-time offers by using words like "going fast,” "last chance,” or "now.”

Add a countdown timer, release limited-edition type offers, or tell you audience there are “only 3 places left” to rally urgency.

This works so effectively because of the scarcity principle: The rarer or more difficult to obtain a product, offer, or piece of content is, the more valuable it becomes.

A 1975 study on the percieved value of an object made people choose between two jars of cookies. One jar had only two cookies in it, the other had many. When asked which one they preferred, the majority of subjects chose the jar with fewer cookies. Psychologically, people assume that if there is less of something, it must be in higher demand and is therefore of higher value.

#23 Exclusivity

Everyone wants to feel special. Construct CTAs that use this behavior to your advantage. By making something sound like it's not just for anyone, your readers will be more likely to join. Instead of "subscribe" or "buy,” try "Be the first to hear about it" or "Get it before anyone else.”

This is particularly effective for gated content where you can use CTAs like "Get this exclusive content" or "Unlock now" to capture information.

Ahrefs Insider is a peer-to-peer community where customers support each other.

Tinder and Bumble joined forces to host campus parties where users must download either campus app and create a profile to enter.

Many brands use exclusivity with invite only sign-ups, influencer early-adopter social proof, limited or waitlist access, and like Ahrefs, exclusive groups and memberships.

#24 Risk aversion

Humans naturally tend to avoid risk. Even if an offer seems completely risk-free to you, many people will need CTAs that actively downplay the risk of your offer.

You can do this by offering a free trial or a money-back guarantee which lowers their defenses enough for them to see the value in whatever you're selling.

Participants were offered a choice between two chocolates: a Hershey Kiss for 1 cent or a Lindt truffle for 15 cents. In the Zero as a special price: The true value of free products study, 73% chose the Lindt truffle because it's “superior.”

However, when both chocolates were made 1 cent cheaper for another group (making the Hershey Kiss free), 69% went for the free option, despite its lower quality.

Although the price and quality difference remained exactly the same, people chose the option with less risk.

#25 Freedom of choice

When you give people a way out and remind them that choice is in thier control, they're more likely to be persuaded by you.

If you frame copy with something like "It's up to you..." or "You can decide...", you reduce psychological reactance.

A feeling of freedom study asked people on the street to donate money. They found that just by including the phrase "but you are free to accept or refuse" they quadrupled the number of people who complied.

Give people more freedom to encourage a genuine desire to complete your call to action.

#26 Less is more

Limit your CTAs to just one. It's okay to follow up your initial CTA with a secondary one like "share on social" but your primary call to action should be the only natural next step on the page.

This way, you avoid giving your readers decision paralysis – the more options they have, the less likely they are to make a decision.

Psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper ran a study on consumers in a market. On day one, shoppers saw a display table with 24 varieties of gourmet jam. Those who sampled the spreads received a coupon for $1 off any jam.

The next day, shoppers saw a table with only six varieties of the jam. While the large display attracted more interest than the small one, those people were one-tenth as likely to buy as people who saw the small display.