There has been some research around whether using “buttons” on your website and in your email marketing campaigns as a call-to-action instead of words with links drives more clicks. It’s one of those things that every company really has to test for themselves.

For businesses that market to consumers, you’ll probably find buttons like “Sign Up Now” or “Buy Now.” If you’re marketing to businesses and you offer a white paper you might use the text “Download Now” or if you’ve got a tutorial for your viewers to watch it might be “View the Demo.” At any rate, an “actionable” word will usually work better than a passive one on your button. Instead of saying “Free Trial” you might try something like “Start Your Free Trial.” All of these things might seem subtle, but they also might get your readers doing what you want them to do.

In the end, it’s all pretty scientific, so as always we suggest you test both and see what works for your own audience!

Some great resources I found for creating buttons:

Best Practices for Using Buttons

35 Creative call to action buttons for inspiration

How to Make an Effective Call to Action Button

Are you seeing a better response with buttons?

© 2010 – 2012, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.