Creating a successful call to action (CTA) is essential as it is what triggers the chain of events that leads to a sale, registration or website traffic.  A CTA is just as important as a subject line as it is what prompts the reader to act once the email has been opened.  If you take the time to carefully consider your own CTA, the outcome will be worth the extra effort.

1. Give a Reason to Click
As always, there has to be something in it for your readers.  Make sure that your CTA leads to something that is useful, desirable and worthwhile. Also, make it known that by clicking on the CTA your reader will be getting something in return, some info or an offer perhaps.  You want to entice the reader into responding to your CTA.

2. The CTA shouldn't be a Mystery
By simply saying "Click Here," you risk leaving your reader wondering what happens next.  You need to explain what the benefit is to completing the call to action.  If the CTA is vague, readers will be less likely to click.  Instead try phrases like "Click here to read the full story" or "Visit this page for more information on this offer."  All it requires is a simple one-liner that highlights what will happen after the click takes place.

3. Create a Sense of Urgency
CTA's should generate a “must respond now” outcome otherwise campaign responses will be lower.  If there's no reason to act now, readers are likely to put it off, which can lead to forgetting about it altogether.  If I get an email offering DVD box-sets on sale for the next 2 weeks, I may delay responding until a later date, maybe I don't have time to go through the shopping cart that day.  But if the CTA says a sale ends 6pm today, or there's limited stock, or only the first 100 customers to respond qualify, I'm sure to click straight away.

4. Don't be Tight with Your Links
You only want to have one main CTA, but that doesn't restrict you from linking to your CTA in multiple places.  Spread the link throughout your email so that the main CTA is not the only route to the desired landing page.  If your CTA takes your reader to the main sale item, put that same link in several other places.  Hopefully the CTA will grab your reader's attention, but if not, give them several other places to find the link.

5. Make the Call to Action Stand Out
Be sure to place your CTA at the top of your email, above the fold.  Your reader should be able to see it in their email preview screen, before they even open the email.  If you place it towards the middle or bottom of the email, it can get lost by other content.  Make your CTA very noticeable either by bolding it, putting it into a graphic or by adding an arrow or symbol.  It needs to be eye catching and obvious (without being too large and not in sync with the rest of the email).

6. Use a Unique Click Phrase
You can be more creative than simply saying "Click Here."  Your readers aren't dummies, so you don't have to simplify your CTA to the standard and overused "click here" phrase.  Because this phrase is often used, it doesn't stand out like it used to.  Try other action phrases like "Download Now" or "View More."

You can now enjoy a personal one-2-one training session and demonstration on Suite26 without even having to leave your desk, via a free online webinar.

If you need some help getting started or simply want to be guided through Suite26 step-by-step, just give us a call and we'll arrange a date and time to do it that's convenient for you. We can even do it there and then if you'd prefer.

How to book your free webinar demonstration:

1. Call 0845 313 0912 or email enquiries@26.co.uk and tell us when you'd like to do it
2. We'll email you an invite with clear instructions on how to join the webinar
3. Once you're in, just sit back, relax and let us do the rest. We'll show you how to make the most of Suite26 and improve your email marketing.

You'll learn how to:

• Create and send a personalised email campaign in minutes, including adding logos, images and links
• Import and edit your own customised email template
• Track, follow up and improve on your campaign performance
• Import your email lists into Suite26 with ease
• Set-up a subscribe form for your website to collect email addresses and build your database
• Create additional users and clients for your account
• And much more...

We've added a new feature into Suite26 today that allows you to import your e-mail campaign content directly from a URL.

Many of our customers have their e-mail campaigns designed by agencies which then host them online to view, whilst some customers design their campaigns in a program such as Dreamweaver and then host their on their own webspace for testing.

When you create a new campaign with Suite26 you simply need to enter the URL where your campaign is hosted when you reach stage 3 of the add wizard:

Suite26 will then go to that URL and get the HTML and CSS along with downloading the images into the File Manager.

After a few seconds you should automatically have your campaign content created and fully hosted within Suite26.   The import process will even automatically create the plain text version based on the text within your campaign.

All you need to do is check the content, make any final adjustments or changes and you are ready to send!