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Measure and Optimize
Before optimizing your CTAs, it’s important to start collecting metrics to accurately measure how your current CTA is performing.
You can create a free account to start measuring views and clicks in minutes. Add a small tracking tag to your site to start tracking the number of users who see your CTA, along with the number of users that click it.
Tracking click through rate
To start tracking click through rates on your site, you’ll need to measure two important metrics:
- The number of impressions (number of times your CTA was shown)
- The number of times your CTA was clicked
Tracking these metrics allows you to calculate your click through rate (CTR).
Once you know your click through rate you can make changes and attempt to improve your CTR.
Using A/B tests to optimize click through rates on your CTA
You can use A/B tests to improve your CTR by testing different versions to find the optimal text or image to display on your site.
Simple ideas to improve the click-through rates on your CTAs:
1. Change the call to action placement
Changing the position of your CTA on the page could make a big difference to your CTR. Buttons positioned above the fold will perform better as these will be visible to the user as soon as the page loads.
It’s also worth considering different device types and ensuring your CTA is above the fold for both desktop and mobile users.
You could also try different locations for your CTA button, e.g. left, center or right aligned. Fixed CTAs that stay visible even when the user scrolls could also work for your site, either in a fixed header or fixed footer on the page.
2. Change the CTA style
Changing the colors or fonts used can have a big impact on your click through rate. Contrasting colors is a simple way to make your CTA stand out and increase the number of users clicking.
You could test two buttons with different background colors to see how this affects click through rates on your site.
3. Change the CTA content (Short vs. Long form CTRs)
Changing the call to action text could also have a big impact on your click through rate. Short phrases such as “Buy Now” or “Sign Up” could work well, but it’s important to test different variants to see which performs the best.
When selling a product, you could test different CTA text which includes the price and see how this performs, for example comparing “Buy Now” with “Buy Now for $19.99”.
It’s also important to measure conversion rates as you may find a higher click through rate doesn’t necessarily translate into higher sales.
How to run a simple A/B test to improve click-through rates on your CTA
Testing two different versions of a page
You can use Google Optimize to test two different versions of a page and see which one results in the highest sales. This may be beneficial when testing a redesign, or a page with significant changes.
Testing different variants of a single element on a page
You can create a free account to start measuring the performance of a single element on your page. Once you have an accurate measurement you can make changes to the specific element on the page to try and improve performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an A/B or split test?
An A/B test allows you to compare two different versions of a page (or element on a page) to see which one performs the best. You can compare the performance of 2 (or more) variants to see how this affects click through rates and conversions on your site.
There are many free and paid tools that can be used to measure and optimize your click through rates using different methods.
What is an impression?
An impression (or view) is recored when a call-to-action or ad is presented to a user. This may be tracked differently depending on the platform you use.
By creating a free account you can measure views on a specific element on your page by adding a small piece of tracking code to your site. Views will only be recorded for elements once they appear on screen. An element at the bottom of your page won’t be recorded as viewed until the users scrolls down and the object appears in the browser window. This allows for more accurate performance tracking.
What is a call to action?
A Call to Action (CTA) is a link, image or button that prompts users to take a specific action, for example a “Buy Now” button.
Call to action elements encourage users to take a specific action, like signing up to a newsletter or buying a product.
What is click-through rate (CTR)?
Click through rate (CTR) is the percentage of users who click on a link. For example, you show a link to 1,000 users and 10 users click on the link.
This gives you a click through rate of 10%. You can calculate this by dividing the number of clicks by the number of times the content was viewed.
What is a good click-through rate?
Click through rates can vary widely, so there isn’t really a ‘good’ click through rate. The higher the click through rate, the more relevant the link is to your users, however this doesn’t necessarily convert into higher sales.
Links with a lower click-through rate my have higher conversion rates in some cases, so it’s important to measure both to get an accurate view of your sites performance.