Your Standard Call to Action Just Isn’t Cutting It

Ok…

You’ve written a near perfect piece of copy.

You’ve NAILED those pain points.

You’ve painted the picture of a MIND-BLOWING transformation.

And your audience is just on the verge of filling up their online shopping cart to the brim…until they see something that subconsciously hits the pause button.

Even if they don’t know why their interest is starting to wane, they feel some hesitation before taking that final step to purchasing.

And the reason is a less-than-compelling call to action.

Yep. That “BUY NOW” or “ADD TO CART” call to action just isn’t inspiring them to go through with the purchase.

Even though it might seem totally trivial, it’s not. Your call to action is the final piece of copy that closes the deal. And if it’s not capturing your audience one final time, you’ve lost the conversion.

Let’s talk about why BUY NOW just isn’t doing it for your audience, and what you should use instead.

Why “BUY NOW” is Dead, Dead, Dead

Let’s pay our final respects to the BUY NOW button and his friends “Add to cart” and “learn more.” And then let’s bury them and move on with our lives.

BUY NOW and other boring calls to action are dead. And life is for the living.

But before we talk about what to use instead, let’s talk about WHY “buy now” has no place in good copy.

“BUY NOW” is Lazy 

If you’ve spent hours upon hours perfecting a piece of copy, why would you wreck it with a boring call to action? Calls to action are just that–a call for action. And yours needs be action packed if you want to leave a lasting impression on the audience.

Imagine reading a page of exceptionally good copy, just to find “buy now” at the end. You can do better than that!

It Sounds TOO MUCH Like Marketing

Great copywriting solves a problem for the audience, not just sells them the solution. And you want to write copy that shows that you completely understand your audience’s problem. To do that, you need to speak to them in their own language, and recognize that there’s another human being on the other side of that order number.

“BUY NOW” sounds more like marketing and less like you really care about your audience.

It Halts the Excitement

Imagine you’re running a race. At the beginning of the race, as soon as that gun goes off, there are people cheering. And then towards the middle of the race, same thing. The energy from the crowd is keeping you hyped up.

Now, imagine you’re coming to that last hundred yards, and the finish line is just…empty. No shouting crowd, no energy. It’s kind of anticlimactic, right at the point where it’s supposed to be the most exciting.

That’s what a BUY NOW button does to your copy.

What to Use in Place of “BUY NOW”

When writing your CTAs, give your audience something to say “yes!” to with an “Agreement CTA” to or to play to the brain’s pleasure center with a “Reward System CTA.”

The Agreement CTA leaves your audience answering YES! to your calls to action, which translate (in consumer speak) to YES! I need this and I am buying it

The Reward System CTA activates the part of your audience that is looking for gratification and instant action, effectively striking while the iron is hot.

For example, look at the table below:

Agreement CTA	Reward System CTA
Do You Want These Results? →	Gain Instant Access →
Are You Ready For Your Uplevel? →	Claim Your Success →
Sound Familiar? Let’s Go! →	Take Control of ___ →

Either the Agreement CTA or the Reward System CTA will garner you more click-throughs than a simple “Buy Now” button.

Ditch “BUY NOW.” You Can Do Better

So, copywriters, if you find yourself about to hit that SEND button and turn your work into your client with BUY NOW or even ADD TO CART calls to action––don’t! 

You can do better than “BUY NOW.” Your clients deserve it and their customers want it.

I want to know: what are your favorite power-packed calls to action? Let me know in the comments!

See ya next time!

-Liz