Use Call-To-Action words
Welcome to another educational post that will help you in creating the perfect project presentation. Today, we will talk about the psychology of call-to-action words and explain to you not only what they are but why are they very important in your projects. Are you ready to learn something new and become even better? Lets go!
CC0 image, Pixabay, author: SarahRichterArt
CTAs are very common in marketing and even if you have not heard of them, you have been seeing them all around the internet. Almost every web page has them. Those "buy now", "login here", "subscribe now" are Call-To-Action words that capture focus from the reader and direct him in a certain direction. Quality CTAs are beneficial in any presentation and that includes your campaign on Fundition too. Not any CTA will do, you want a strong one that will actually convince people to take action and donate to your project.
A call to action (abbreviated as CTA) is a marketing term used to prompt an immediate response or encourage a sale. In your case, you want to encourage people to donate to your project. It is always an IMPERATIVE VERB and while it can stand anywhere in your presentation, it needs to be visible and stand out from the rest of the text.
Do not be lazy
People usually spend a lot of time on design, fonts, images and they should but tend to be lazy about CTAs. They can sometimes be the difference between getting a donation and not getting it. The easiest way to go is to just use "donate" or "support", try to be more creative than that. CTAs can be phrases with more than just one word. Those phrases need to persuade your reader to leap into action and donate to your project. Below is an image of a good example of how a CTA should look.
CC0 image, Pixabay, author: 905513
It is not perfect but it is good. To make it even better, we would put a comma behind the word difference and an exclamation point at the end of the last word. Remember that every CTA needs to create a sense of urgency and it has two purposes:
1.To tell someone what they should do
2.To give them the motivation to do so
CTA needs to be large enough to stand out from other text but not appear overly aggressive. Use contrasting colors to attract more attention to it and consider images or vector art to gain more attention. Here is one of ours:
When creating your CTAs, make sure they are clear and concise. Your reader should clearly know what they mean and what he or she needs to do. Make them neither too short nor too long. The brevity and directness of a well-written CTA will put the focus on what is important and remove distractions. Do not ask questions, use imperatives and tell your readers what to do. Take a look at these examples:
2.Donate Now!
The second example will get you more donations than the first one, trust us, we know our psychology :) The second phrase is definitive and authoritative and it tells the reader exactly what to do while the first one is asking him a question and showing insecurity. That example to the right is also good, it uses the word help in a correct way by saying to the reader that he or she is needed. It is not only "help us" but "your help is needed" and there is a huge psychological difference there. The reader gets a feeling of responsibility when you are talking directly to him. Notice how there are no questions. There is only one RIGHT way to ask questions and that is by giving an immediate answer to them as a solution. Here is what we mean:
Do you believe children deserve a healthy life?
Donate now and help them have it!
That one can be considered a perfect CTA. It asks a question that will get an expected yes as an answer but also serves as problem statement while the second line is imperative that directly tells the reader what he should do after he responded to the first line.
The first thing we would like you to remember is that there is no "please" in a good campaign. You may think that it is a polite word and it is but it does not belong in the marketing world. Whenever you want to use the word please, replace it with the word now so your "please donate" that sounds like begging turns to donate now that is a proper call-to-action phrase.
People prefer to receive than to give
People prefer to receive than to give and no matter how hard you may think that some people are generous because of others, they are generous because of themselves, because it feels good. Everything that we do, we do because it feels good and that includes helping others. Always speak directly to your reader and put him, not your project, in the center of attention. Make a point that his donation will change things and him too.
Urge your reader to act. Tell them what to do. Try to give them a definite reason for immediate action, such as "You are needed" or "Your donation will change their life". Having a strong, intentional, well-crafted call to action will bring new life to your project and generate a huge positive effect.
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