As a fundraising or marketing professional, you likely rely on your digital communication channels to stay in touch with supporters and engage them in your activities. However, cutting through the clutter to make an impression is easier said than done.
That’s where calls to action (CTAs) come in. A CTA is a short statement that urges audience members to take a certain action. This might mean inspiring individuals to donate, volunteer, advocate, become a peer-to-peer fundraiser, or otherwise support your cause.
To secure support for your fundraising efforts, volunteer program, and other initiatives, your CTAs must be clear and compelling. Let’s review proven tips for creating more inspirational CTAs and transforming your supporters’ passion into action.
1. Strategically craft your CTA language.
Use CTAs to encourage supporters to take actions that align with your goals, such as donating, volunteering, or joining your grassroots advocacy campaign.
Once you determine these key conversion actions, write copy that drives your audience to take the next step. Use these tips to make your CTAs as actionable as possible:
- Be direct. Make the intended next action crystal-clear to your audience so they follow through. For instance, if you’re prompting supporters to sign up for a fundraising event, your button might simply say “RSVP Here.”
- Incorporate actionable language. Remember, your CTAs are meant to inspire supporters to take immediate action, and weak verbs won’t motivate them to get involved. Use strong, actionable verbs that don’t leave any room for interpretation. For example, a wildlife preservation organization might encourage donors to “Protect Endangered Species” by signing a petition.
- Stress urgency. Supporters are more likely to complete the prompted next action if they act immediately. Stress the urgency of your cause to motivate your audience to act now, not later. Let’s say you represent a political campaign — an urgent, direct appeal could read “Secure Your Impact Now by Voting Early.”
Over time, consider how you can refine your CTAs further to ensure your message gets across as directly as possible without compromising impact. You might ask supporters directly for their opinions on potential CTA language or use your digital marketing tools to conduct A/B tests.
2. Make your CTAs stand out on the page.
You need more than compelling language to create a truly eye-catching call to action. The visual presentation of your CTA contributes greatly to its conversion potential. In fact, making your digital donate button stand out can result in a 190% increase in donations. Here are a few ways to help your CTA buttons pop while providing a professional, streamlined digital experience:
- Use contrasting, eye-catching colors. Incorporate your organization’s or campaign’s brand colors into your CTA buttons. Use a combination of brand colors that offer sufficient contrast so supporters can easily interpret the text.
- Leverage white space strategically. Be sure to surround your CTA buttons with plenty of white space so your button doesn’t get lost on a cluttered page.
- Add hover animations. For instance, your CTA button might fade into another appealing color or an arrow might pop up when a mouse hovers over it. These on-site changes catch the audience’s attention and encourage click-throughs.
Regardless of how you visually brand your CTAs, accessibility should be a top priority. Review the WCAG standards to ensure your digital buttons and CTA content are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. This ensures people of all abilities can interact with your content and get inspired to take action.
3. Place your CTAs in strategic locations.
Now that you know how to create a compelling call to action, consider where to place this content. Ideally, you should use CTAs across various digital platforms and channels to provide supporters with numerous opportunities to connect with your organization. A few key places to consider include:
Your Website
Nonprofit web design agencies encourage you to place your donation button CTA at the top of your website in the menu or header area. This ensures anyone who visits your website knows what actions are most important to your organization, no matter what page they’re on.
Supplement your header CTA button with text and banner CTAs throughout your blog posts or informational pages. Create these CTAs by placing a link over a line of text or an image that tells readers to click to reach a certain page.
Emails
Your emails offer multiple valuable opportunities to use CTAs, the first of which is the subject line. As the first element of your email the reader encounters, the subject line must personally address the recipient by name while incorporating the aspects of effective CTAs discussed earlier. For example, an environmentally-focused nonprofit might send an email with the subject line “[supporter name], act now to save local forests.”
Then, within the email itself, incorporate CTA buttons and in-text links to encourage supporters to visit important pages on your website, leveraging white space and bright colors to set them apart from the email’s other content.
Social Media
Use social media CTAs to encourage followers to visit your website. For instance, you can place a link to your website in your account’s bio or post banner CTAs on your feed, providing additional context and nonprofit storytelling elements in the caption.
Place CTAs naturally throughout your digital content, and avoid overusing them. Too many links or buttons can look cluttered and confuse your audience. Make sure you only use a few strategically-placed CTAs to keep your audience’s attention on the most important activities.
4. Optimize your landing pages.
Another important aspect of your CTAs is what lies on the other side of the link—your landing page. By offering useful, well-designed landing pages, you encourage visitors to stay on your website longer and follow through with their intended action. When you meet and exceed supporters’ expectations, you can increase their satisfaction and improve their experience of connecting with you online.
For instance, if your “Donate Now” button sends users to a third-party donation website, visitors might feel more hesitant to donate because they don’t recognize the page. Instead, the button should send visitors to a streamlined, internal fundraising landing page that aligns with your organization’s branding and tone.
Your landing pages should also offer simple forms that supporters can fill out in just a few clicks. Let’s say a political website uses a CTA to direct supporters to the campaign’s volunteer registration page. The form on this page should only ask for necessary information like names, addresses, shift preferences, skills, and phone numbers.
To maintain these landing pages, consistently audit and update them to align with web design best practices. Fix errors as quickly as possible to continue providing a quality online experience for your site visitors.
5. Use A/B testing to assess your CTAs.
A/B testing is the process of designing two different versions of a CTA and determining which more effectively drives conversions. You can use A/B testing to determine the best placement, color choices, and font size for your CTAs to see which approach drives the most conversions.
For instance, let’s say you’re creating a CTA button for your website’s homepage that guides visitors to sign up for your email newsletter. You can create one version of the button that says “Be In-the-Know with Our Newsletter” and another that says “Stay Connected with Our Newsletter.” Test out both buttons and monitor their click-through and conversion rates to determine which version of the button resonates more with your audience.
For A/B testing to benefit your nonprofit, you need a reliable way to collect and report data. Ensure your nonprofit’s CRM or marketing platform is equipped to track performance metrics relevant to your goals.
Your CTAs give supporters an immediate, convenient way to engage with your cause. With powerful, inspiring CTAs, you can harness the power of your passionate supporters to help make a difference for your mission.
About the Author
Craig Grella is a Content Marketer at Salsa Labs, the premier software for growth-focused nonprofits that combines CRM and engagement software with embedded best practices, machine learning, and world-class education and support. In his role, he serves thousands of nonprofits and advocacy organizations across the U.S.
Craig focuses on digital strategy using email marketing, online advertising campaigns, SMS campaigns, CRM management, reporting/analytics for KPIs, and more. He’s also the founder of Think Big Campaigns, a full-service consulting firm that specializes in political consulting, digital organizing, and issue advocacy.
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