The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Irresistible Ecommerce CTAs

Call-to-actions (CTA) are the crucial touchpoints on your eCommerce website that act as interaction windows between you and your shoppers. How your CTA button is written, designed, and positioned has a lot to do with how your conversion works. In this expert-written blog, you will understand the basic components of successful CTAs and the best CTA practices to boost conversions with real-time examples.

What’s Inside This Blog?

All you need to know about crafting impactful CTAs for your eCommerce store is thoughtfully handpicked and compiled in this blog.

• 5 Key Attributes of CTAs
• 25 Compelling CTAs
• • Where to use them
  • Why they work
• Real-time Case Studies
• Ready Reckoner for E-commerce CTA

5 Key Attributes of CTAs

Call-to-action is not merely an action verb or an imperative sentence. It is the prompt you give your shoppers on what you want them to do next. The call to action button plays a critical role in converting your browsers into buyers, potential customers into repeat shoppers, and window shoppers into loyal customers. Here are the five key attributes of a winning CTA:

• Intuitive, simple & direct: The secret is in simplicity. Write action-oriented CTAs that are straightforward and self-explanatory yet compelling and irresistible.
• Trust: Instilling trust and credibility shortens the purchase curve. Use friendly and assuring words that make your shoppers feel secure.
• Urgency: Gently nudge your shoppers to make a purchase decision instantly using CTAs that create a sense of urgency.
• Flexibility: Choices are liberating. Your CTAs must offer flexible options that allow your shoppers to act freely based on their intent as well as convenience.
• Engagement-driven: The more your customers engage on your website, the more likely they are to make a purchase — sooner or later. Drive optimal engagement with exploratory CTAs.

25 Compelling CTAs That Drive Guaranteed Clicks

Listed below are popular and commonly used call-to-actions in the eCommerce world. These tried-and-tested CTAs foster engagement and accelerate the customer journey, transforming the mundane shopping experience into an immersive and dynamic one.

• Buy Now
• Add to Cart
• Buy Now & Save 20%
• Shop Now
• Shop All
• View All Categories
• See What’s New
• View Product
• Quick View
• Quick Buy
• View Catalog
• Explore Deals of The Day
• See All Deals
• Discover Offers
• Pay Securely
• Pay via Google Pay
• Pay With Apple Pay
• Save 20% / Save 50%
• Explore Under $99
• Buy Now Pay Later
• Pay Online Buy In-Store
• Shop Online
• Buy In One-Click
• Protected Purchase
• Explore All Products

Let’s delve into each of the above call-to-actions and the rationale behind their usage with real-time examples.

#1 Don’t Reinvent The Wheel. Trust in the Traditions

‘Buy Now’ and ‘Add to Cart’ are two widely used CTAs that have worked for millions of eCommerce stores. Adopting these traditional practices is a safe bet because they are tried and tested and convey the meaning in a simple and straightforward manner.

Buy Now

‘Buy Now’ is one of the most common CTAs easily used by millions of eCommerce stores. Using this conventional CTA has its own advantages. As shoppers are used to this call-to-action, its familiarity increases click-through rates and conversions.

Highlights

• The CTA is simple, direct, and intuitive, prompting immediate action from potential customers.
• The CTA resonates with the customers’ natural language, aligns with the industry standards, and increases the chances of making a purchase through psychological persuasion.
• Using a widely recognized CTA like “Buy Now” can enhance the credibility and professionalism of an eCommerce store.

Where to use?

• Product pages
• Shopping Carts

Add to Cart

The flip side is that the ‘Buy Now’ CTA limits the shopper from exploring more products. And that’s why the recommended practice is to use it alongside another CTA, ‘Add to Cart.’

• Providing shoppers both the options to buy now and add to cart vests them with the choice to act according to their intent.
• Shoppers who want to explore more products and continue their shopping click the ‘Add to Cart’ CTA. Those who land on your website with a narrowed and certain intent to purchase a particular item will hit the ‘Buy Now’ button.

Where to use?

• Product pages
• Standalone CTA
• Alongside ‘Buy Now’ Button.

#2 Drive Engagement with Exploratory CTAs

It is important that you write tailored CTAs on your website that are in line with the customer’s journey. The CTAs on product pages need to be goal-oriented, while the CTAs on the product discovery pages can be exploratory and engagement-driven.

Here are a few interesting CTAs that will lead your visitors to explore your brand, navigate across the website, discover products, and engage with various sections.

Shop Now / Shop All

These CTAs prompt your visitors to embark on their shopping journey and explore the website.

View Product

This CTA guides your customers to navigate across specific product pages and consume more information about their favorite products.

Quick View

This CTA is often used when you don’t want your shoppers to exit the current page and still have a quick overview of the product using an overlay pop-up or snippet preview.

Category-based CTAs

Product categories are important sections of eCommerce websites that help your shoppers understand your offerings better. Use exploratory and category-specific CTAs that instruct your shoppers to proceed exploring further with conviction. Here are some examples:

• Shop For Men, Shop For Women, Shop For Kids
• Explore Winter Collections
• Shop Best Sellers
• See All Products
• Gifts For Him, Gifts For Her
• See New Arrivals
• View All Categories
• Discover Party Collections

Offer-based CTAs

Discounts and offers are integral parts of eCommerce stores. Categorizing products based on offers and discounted prices will help enhance user engagement rates. Here are a few examples of deals and discount-based CTAs that will encourage your shoppers to discover more by incentivizing them with attractive deals.

• Save 20%, Save 50%
• Under $99, Under $199
• Explore Deals of The Day

Where to use?

• Home page
• Product Category Pages
• Special Deals & Sale Pages
• Menus & Mega Menus
• Product Collections & Curated Bundles

#3 Urgency, Flexibility, and Ease — Blend All Together.

In a world of short-lived attention spans and increasing digital distractions, your CTAs should impress your customers at first glance and softly influence them to take desired actions. Here are some examples of winning CTAs that are rich in flexibility and work for all industries and audiences.

Buy Now Pay Later

Offering easy payment and credit options increases the likelihood of your shoppers placing orders. ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ is the latest buzzword in the world of eCommerce that breathes so much flexibility, ease, and convenience.

Pay Online Buy In-Store

Your eCommerce store should make space for those who love in-person shopping, too. The POBIS (Pay Online Buy In-Store) CTA makes it easy for your shoppers to choose where to buy. Especially in the apparel, beauty, and furniture industries, shoppers expect human-powered interactions and in-person trials, which can be fulfilled by a flexible CTA like POBIS.

CTAs With Countdown

Subtle urgency works big time in eCommerce. Countdowns go a long way in fostering your shoppers to fasten their purchase decisions. Leading marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart allow you to offer timed deals with a live countdown as an underlying text to the CTA.

Buy in One-Click

The above makes the purchase process look like a breeze. The CTA’s emphasis on ‘ease’ attracts more clicks and encourages even window shoppers to consider buying.

Where to use?

• Shopping Cart Pages
• Payment Gateways
• Select Product Pages
• Overlay Pop-ups
• ‘One-page Checkout’ Pages

#4 Weave trust into your CTAs

Replacing the mundane ‘Checkout’ or ‘Place Order’ CTAs with ‘Pay Securely’ makes your shoppers feel safe and secure with your brand and place orders confidently. This step can prevent leakages in the bottom-most points of your conversion funnels, reducing cart abandonment rates.

Here are more insights on making your CTAs security-assuring and reliable:

Pay Securely

In the above CTA, ‘securely’ acts as a word of affirmation that reassures your shoppers that the money they are about to pay is safe. This CTA subtly yet impactfully plays a significant psychological role in boosting the end-touchpoint conversions.

CTAs With Trust Badges or Icons

Adding renowned badges, icons, or guarantees beneath the CTA is a tried-and-tested practice that evades ambiguity and amplifies conversions. Here are some examples of security boosters to use along with your CTA:

• Protected Purchase
• Guaranteed On-time Delivery
• Safe Shipping Promise

Globally-recognized Payment Partners

Leverage the trust, reputation, and legacy of your banking partners by incorporating their brand names into your CTAs on the payment pages. Here are a few examples:

• Pay with Google Pay
• Proceed with Apple Pay

Where to use?

• Shopping Cart Pages
• Payment Gateways
• Select Product Pages
• Overlay Pop-ups
• ‘One-page Checkout’ Pages

Your Ready Reckoner for Ecommerce CTA

TheCommerceShop is an award-winning eCommerce agency specializing in transforming eCommerce websites into reputed brands and skyrocketing their revenue growth. Get in touch with our CRO specialists for a free consultation.