A call to action can seem a little intimidating for subscriber reading a marketing email. Some boxes can come across as too demanding. A ‘Click Me’ is nothing more than an abrupt demand for action and lacks the subtle encouragement that should be our norm. We need to do better.
We don’t do ourselves any favours as we normally use the same CTAs across a whole campaign regardless of the way we have segmented our email marketing list. That’s not the way to do it. A CTA must be targeted at least as much as any other factors of the email, and some might think it should be near the top as if a subscriber doesn’t click through, the email has failed.
How can you target a simple functional box? After all, it’s only purpose is to go somewhere else. It’s a door. As we all know, there are doors and there are other doors; some are much more attractive, intriguing, exciting, comforting, and I could go on with lots more adjectives to describe doors, but my point is it should be the type of door/CTA that will emotionally convince your subscribers they need to 
click on it.
You know your subscribers, especially their trigger words, so divide your email marketing list accordingly. Get them to relate emotionally. One of the tricks that often has a positive effect is being subtle while at the same time displaying cleverness. What you are actually doing is showing the reader you know they are smart because of the way you worded the CTA. It’s a pat on the back.
The method runs an obvious risk as, if it’s too vague, and the subscriber misses the point initially, when it becomes rather obvious later they will probably resent you. Something similar goes with jokey CTAs. Sit in any comedy club and you will realise that often a third of the audience completely missed the joke, a third is in hysterics, and the final third is laughing purely because they think they should. And that’s with good comedians.
Experiment with puns. Don’t worry, I know lots of people don’t like them, so I won’t put a list of some here. However, a nice little joke based on ambiguity in the meaning of a trigger word can excite people.
Earlier, I criticised being abrupt but it can prove a useful tool if you can be sure it’ll be taken light-heartedly. Something along the lines of, ‘Stop procrastinating – I haven’t got all day’ can work. You have to be sure though. ‘What have you got to lose?’ appeals, as it is logical, although the price comes into the equation so ask, ‘Don’t you want to save £[be precise]’, especially if it reemphasises the hook.
It’s tempting to look to the product to provide a pointer as to how to term the CTA but it should be decided after you’ve segmented the email marketing list in the expectation that those subscribers will respond to the tone. The overriding precept is targeting.
