The Makings of an Effective CTA

For insurance businesses, one of the most frustrating things is watching leads fail to convert. No matter how well-designed your site is, well-written your content is and carefully-targeted your social media sharing is, many visitors will not actively pursue your business for more information. This is where an effective insurance CTA, or website call-to-action, comes in.

What is a Call-to-Action (CTA)?

Calls to action, or CTAs, are the directives that let your visitors know what they should do now that they’ve watched your video or found their way to your landing page. They may seem like a small, insignificant detail, but the presence of a well-done CTA can have a great impact on your conversion rate. 83 to 93 percent of post leads come from the post’s anchor text and internal link CTAs, and emails that added just one CTA saw a 371 percent increase in clicks and a 1617 percent increase in sales. Insurance businesses are no different; you want that agent searching your MGA site and converting. 

Overall, an effective CTA will have the following characteristics:

1. It makes it clear what they’re committing to. No one will want to click on something or give out their information if they don’t know what it’s being used for and what they’ll be getting out of it. In one example, placing CTAs above the fold decreased conversions by 17 percent. Whether your goal is to send them more information about your business or sign them up for your whitepaper or webinar, that should be clearly communicated to your visitor.
2. It provides the next step. Your visitors cannot read your mind. Even if they are interested, they might not know the best way to go from being a one-time visitor to a potential client.
3. It’s interesting. From how it looks to what it offers and the language it uses to make the offer, a well-done CTA will appeal to your target audience and pique their interest.

Insurance CTAs – Visual Calls to Action

Clickable buttons are one popular form of insurance CTA strategies. Making them visually appealing and easy to use are the most important qualities here. Consider the size of the button, the size of its text, the color of the button compared to the text and background color, and where the button is placed. The button should be easy to navigate, easy to read, and naturally eye-catching.

Your CTA will also need to consider how your leads are viewing your content. Fifteen years ago, it was generally accepted that your visitors would be viewing your site from their desktop computer. Now, that’s far from the only way to reach your audience. In 2017, it was found that the majority of US browsers were browsing on mobile devices, with desktops having the third-highest frequency. If you fail to account for mobile or tablet visitors when designing your button, you are effectively eliminating a significant portion of your potential client base before they can even

Written Calls to Action

In addition to CTA buttons, many insurance businesses also make use of written CTAs in their blogs or articles (and buttons also will have some text). With written CTAs, there are two main factors that determine how effective it is:

• Where the CTA appears. As mentioned above, a CTA is most effective when the visitor knows who you are and what you’re offering, and knows what they’re agreeing to by clicking your button or providing their information. The most effective CTAs occur after the fold, once this information has been established. In addition, if you’re writing a blog post or other form of content, interrupting the content mid-paragraph with an out-of-nowhere CTA will be jarring for the reader. A CTA should fit naturally into the flow of the content, not interrupt it.
• How the CTA is written. CTAs tend to be brief, so what little text they have is absolutely crucial. Strong command verbs are both direct and informative, letting your audience know what to do and how. Certain words are also more likely to entice your audience, whether it’s a “free” service or an assertion that you will build them their “dream” website. Providing numbers is another motivator. Letting them know your pricing, discounts, or how much you will help them save will give them greater context and help them to visualize how your services can work for them.

As one final note, knowing your insurance audience is key when designing a CTA. If your business’s brand is more on the relaxed side and your audience tends to skew young and open-minded, a creative, casual or irreverent CTA can appeal to their personality and make you memorable. However, if you work in a traditional industry with more conservative clients, it would be better to keep it conventional.

About Agency Tsunami

Agency Tsunami is the digital marketing division of Neilson Marketing Services, who has provided the insurance distribution sector with innovative marketing and communication solutions for over twenty-five years. With our Agency Tsunami program, we have implemented an integrated marketing strategy that includes optimized, professional websites supported by high-quality SEO and Social Media for hundreds of insurance retailers and wholesalers. Our goal is to help your insurance business perform and generate new opportunities. Give us a call at (800) 736-9741 to learn more about how we can do that for you.