Definition: A call to action is a statement that stimulates the customer to make a decision about a purchase. It is a way to trigger a response to a certain offer.
What Does Call to Action Mean?
A Call to Action is a marketing strategy that consists on an embedded stimulus inserted in a given sales proposal or advertisement. The purpose of this statement is to cause a reaction on the customer to buy, experience or engage in whatever is being offered by the vendor. Businesses frequently include calls to action on their sales material. Phrases such as “Buy now”, “Get yours now” or “First 10 callers get a special reward” are examples of call to action statements.
In what is known as “cold calls”, which is a systematic sales strategy where potential clients are contacted through a phone call, these calls to action are essential to close deals. Sales representatives are trained to lead the call towards a closure by using these statements. Not including a call to action on an advertisement or a sales call might reduce its chances to bring revenues since customers are not being prompted to make the purchase.
Example
A small store that sells home-made cookies in a shopping mall wants to drive more traffic to its establishment by placing attractive advertisements on the mall’s entrance. The store’s owner is currently reviewing some proposals drafted by a designer but he’s having a hard time figuring out what the text should say. He currently has 3 options: “Our cookies are the best in town”, “Come get the best cookies in town” and “The best cookies you’ve ever tasted are here”.
After reviewing each option carefully he saw that option 1 and 3 didn’t contain a call to action statement. Only option 2 had a call to action. Since he didn’t like that option either he drafted a final one mixing option 2 and 3. The final text was the following: “The best cookies in town are here, come get one now!”
