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Top Tips for Best Call to Action Button Design

Beefree team
Beefree team
Aug 17, 2020
Top Tips for Best Call to Action Button Design
Top Tips for Best Call to Action Button Design

Your call to action is probably the whole reason you send marketing emails: You want your readers to actually do something. Whether signing up for an event, downloading an ebook or purchasing a product, the action you have in mind is probably the driving force behind your whole email campaign. So it's critical that your CTA button really brings it home. Messing up your CTA is like putting a mouth-watering steak in front of readers but failing to give them a fork.How can you optimize your call to action button design and boost your conversions? Let's walk through some call to action examples so you can create your own stellar CTA.

Messing up your CTA is like putting a mouth-watering steak in front of readers but failing to give them a fork. So it's critical that your CTA button really brings it home.

Craft strong call to action button text

Good call to action button design will showcase the email's value proposition in a way that's clear, specific and concise — so readers understand exactly what they're getting by clicking. Here's a good example from Wilton Icing:

call to action button in email

The button makes it clear what will happen if you click — you'll be able to view a guide. The text on your CTA button shouldn't be too short or too long. Three to four words is a good rule of thumb. Think "Download your free ebook" instead of "Click to register for our special ebook deal today." Here's a good example from Lunya:

email call to action button text

Good CTAs are customized, unique, and they reflect the tone of the brand. "Click here," "Register," "Learn more" and "Sign up" are overused and generic; stay away from those if you can. Instead, use personal pronouns like “my” and “your” to set a friendly tone and make a CTA engaging and approachable. Charity:water, a nonprofit bringing clean drinking water to people in developing countries, uses a unique CTA that reflects their brand voice and mission:

Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 2.06.47 PM

Here are some others to try:

  • Reserve my spot
  • Redeem my coupon now
  • Get my free ticket
  • Pre-order yours
  • Claim your seat
  • Get the full scoop

Now that we’ve covered what your email marketing call to action should say, let’s talk about what it should look like.

Tips for call to action button design

Buttons come in all shapes and sizes — some more effective than others. Here's what you need to keep in mind when designing the perfect CTA button.

Remember to make it bulletproof

CTA buttons in email are generally designed one of two ways: with HTML code or with an image. Your buttons should always be written in HTML. Buttons written in HTML — also known as bulletproof buttons — will render across all inboxes, ensuring that all of your customers can see them. You can either make a standard CTA button bulletproof by adding a few lines of HTML code or check that the email editor that you’re using generates bulletproof buttons (and that those buttons are not simply images).The problem with image buttons is that you have much less control of how the image looks across devices (and if it will show up at all). For subscribers who have images disabled, your button won’t show up at all. And no button means no clicks.Here's the Wilton Icing email we looked at above, but with image-viewing disabled. Their bulletproof button still shows up:

cta button

In another email from Lord & Taylor, their "Shop shoes" and "Shop handbag" buttons look great with images on...

Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 3.14.14 PM

...but check out how those same buttons evaporate when we aren't viewing images:

Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 3.14.42 PM

Avoid this kind of situation by making sure your CTA buttons are completely bulletproof.

Pick your call to action button size

How big should your CTA button be? You might be tempted to go big to make it visible — but bigger isn’t always better. Readers shouldn't feel like you’re shoving a demand in their faces. Strike a balance by making your button wide if it’s not too tall, or by making it a little taller if it’s not too wide.Check out how REI’s CTA button appears in this email. It feels balanced, with the width of the image, the width of the text and the width of the button creating an inverted triangle effect.

call to action example ecommerce

Alternatively, this one from the Getty Museum is a bit over-the-top. The height of the button is in balance with the header (the word "SHOP" is quite tall), but having two lines of text for the button makes it unwieldy, and with a quick scan, it's hard to tell if the button is a button at all.

Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 3.29.23 PM

It's also important to remember that readers on mobile devices or tablets should be able to easily tap a button with a fingertip, so best practice is to allow ample white space around your button. Here's an example of effective use of whitespace in a message from Melissa & Doug:

mobile email call to action

Including whitespace makes it easy for people to tap.

Choose the best call to action button color

Color is a key way to make your button stand out. Most brands choose a button color that's on-brand and lines up with the design of the email. Often, the button echoes the header design in color (if not also in width or tone). Here's how Zoe’s Kitchen uses the same bright orange color of its logo for an email call to action button:

email branding

Other brands rely on a button's border for definition, like this example from Partake Cookies:

email call to action button example

Keep things simple with your color gradients. The best choice is often an on-brand background color or border that helps your CTA button stand out in a good way.

Decide on a shape

From a design perspective, rectangular elements generally connote a sense of traditionalism, practicality and balance. Circular elements can be perceived as soft and calming. Like color, the shape of your button should align with your brand style as well as the design of your email. An email with square and rectangular images or design elements would probably do better with a button that mirrors that style, like this example from The North Face:

email call to action example

And here's how Quip, a toothbrush company, softens the edges of its button to match the circles pictured in the product photo above:

email marketing call to action

These are a few call to action button best practices that can help your button be as effective as possible.

Consider your call to action button placement

Many of the emails in this post follow the best practice of communicating a clear, single message that leads to a clear, single call to action. Research has shown that placing a CTA button below the fold actually increases clicks by 304%! The important thing is to let readers know what they’re signing up for first — with great copy and visuals — and then invite them to act.We’re also seeing a lot of emails in our inbox with multiple CTA buttons. Many of these emails, like the example from Lucky Brand below, have their main CTA halfway through the email. Then they list several specific products, adding a separate CTA button for each one.

marketing email

If you’re sending browse or cart abandonment emails, it can be helpful to give customers a specific CTA button for each product they’ve previously considered.

Your call to action button design checklist 

There are as many button styles out there as there are emails. Take note of how the brands you admire are designing their CTAs and test the effectiveness of different button styles to see what works best with your audience. Remember these rules of thumb for your call to action button design:

  • Write action-oriented, compelling and unique copy for your button
  • Keep the copy direct and clear, making sure readers know exactly why they're clicking
  • Make sure your button is bulletproof (written in HTML so it always renders)
  • Check that your button "pops" (stands out visually)
  • Consider your visual brand identity and the style of your email when choosing a button's color and shape
  • Place your button in an easy-to-find spot that fits organically in the story of your email (probably below the fold)

Wrap-up: Create an email call to action with BEE 

If you build your CTA button in theBEE email editor, your button will always be bulletproof and totally customizable (color, shape, size, border, padding and more). Give the free BEE editor a try as you create strong call to action buttons for your brand!

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Design made easy:

According to HubSpot, well-designed emails can drive open rates as high as 30%. Maybe you’re following up with leads from a recent webinar or you want to reach potential clients after a product launch. But you're finding yourself stuck because crafting professional emails and landing pages that capture attention is no easy feat.

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Maybe you’re following up with leads from a recent webinar or you want to reach potential clients after a product launch. With Beefree’s templates, you can get those messages out quickly and make sure your brand stays top-of-mind for your audience.
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Increased engagement:

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1. Choose your template

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2. Personalize

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1. Export

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For user these spam filters help ensure a smooth email experience, free of spammy and fishy emails. However, as email marketers, these filters lead us to be overly cautious out of fear that our emails are not accidentally filtered out.

Whether you’re employing a lifecycle email marketing strategy or simply confirming an order, we’ve outlined the basics of how spam prevention works, why it matters, and how to avoid running afoul of some commonly used triggers.

Why you need to avoid email spam triggers

Whether you’re an ESG reporting software or a travel company email spam triggers can email marketing performance and in turn hurt your business. For one, there’s the obvious reason that if your emails get sent to the spam folder, they probably won’t be seen. That's time and effort wasted.

Beyond that, being sent to the spam folder too many times delegitimizes your email marketing, which damages what’s known as your sender reputation. When just starting out, this reputation is effectively neutral. But if it gets too low, it could damage your marketing performance and even result in being blocklisted.

How email spam filtering works

As mentioned above, spam filters are implemented as a form of quality assurance and protection for end-users. Here's how ESPs determine content to be spam:

  • Sender reputation analysis: ESPs check sender reputation based on authentication, user complaints, bounce rates and sending patterns. They’ll also check the reputations of your IP address and web domain.

  • Content analysis: Content filtering uses triggers like keywords, formatting and error detection to distinguish spam from legitimate email marketing.

  • Blacklists: Along with sender reputation metrics, ESPs also cross-reference email senders against any of several blacklist databases. Being on even one of these means you’ll struggle to climb out of the spam folder at all.

8 common email spam triggers and how to avoid them

Now let's get to the good stuff. Prevention is generally the best strategy when it comes to avoiding email spam triggers. Here are seven factors commonly used by ESPs to filter spam emails, and the simplest solutions for dealing with them.

1. Lack of authentication

Missing authentication is one of the first red flags an ESP will pick up on. Authentication shows you’ve taken certain steps to establish legitimacy. It’s also used to prevent fraudsters from impersonating your brand online. There are three commonly used forms of email authentication:

  • Sender Policy Framework (SPF): This means publishing a list of mail servers and IPs with permission to send messages using your domain. This is one reason it’s important to conduct email marketing through a branded business email, rather than a personal account.

  • Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM): A cryptographic signature which shows a message’s original content has not been altered during sending. Think of it like the tamper-proof seal on a bottle of milk.

  • Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC): A way for you to establish how you want receiving platforms to handle authentication failures related to your domain.

2. Shady linking practices

Link placement and presentation play an important role in email marketing. Aside from engaging recipients and securing click-throughs, using links appropriately helps avoid your emails looking like spam.

Questionable linking practices include:

  • Links to domains with poor reputations
  • Excessive numbers of in-email links
  • Compressed, modified or obscured links, particularly when generic link shorteners are used

Only link to your own authenticated domain. Also, use an unlimited bandwidth VPS to help ensure your website access speed is always stable and fast. This will give visitors the assurance that your site is legitimate.

Don’t forget to make the purpose of any in-email link absolutely clear.  

3. Content

Although the reason for an email landing in a spam folder is often related to authentication, reputation, or poor formatting, content can at times be the culprit. Here are elements that you should look at if you suspect that your content is why your emails are not reaching their recipients:

  • Typos
  • Irrelevant content that doesn’t foster positive engagement
  • Poorly translated text
  • Partner content with poor reputation
  • Possibly offensive content
  • URLs or images with poor reputation

Another thing to note is language detection filters. Various words, phrases and tone choices have strong associations with scam emails. This includes certain buzzwords, vague or exaggerated claims, or excessive sales jargon. However, this is only really an issue when you already have a bad reputation.

Nevertheless, let’s say you’re beginning to build your reputation back up and are conducting Black Friday email marketing. While it’s important to use engaging language and strong CTAs, you should avoid terms like:

  • Limited time only
  • 100% free
  • Make money from home
  • Avoid bankruptcy
  • You have won

4. Bounce rates

A ‘bounce’ is when an email doesn’t arrive in the recipient’s inbox. This could be due to it being sent to a fake email address, an out-of-date email that is no longer in use, a full inbox, etc.

When a sender frequently experiences high bounce rates for their emails, this damages their reputation with ESPs.

But how do you improve bounce rates and, therefore, your reputation? The best way is to have good segmentation practices to ensure the right content goes out to the right people. You should also keep your list clean by regularly evaluating it and removing hard-bounce email addresses as well as inactive subscribers.

Moreover, ensure you send relevant messages that your audience actually wants to receive. Of course, always be mindful of the rest of the triggers on this list to make sure you’re protecting your sender reputation.

5. Misleading email subjects

Even if you’re not trying to do anything malicious, misleading subject lines can trigger email spam filters. For example, an email might claim to promote educational B2B content about internal audit controls. Then, instead, link the user to a landing page to sell them a product.

Always set clear topic sentences as email subject lines. Try to summarize the content and intent of the email. If you’re sending a welcome email for customer retention or promoting, say, a product or sale, make it obvious before the recipient clicks on it.

6. Poorly written and formatted emails

Poor formatting and low-quality writing are other important email spam triggers. Common writing triggers include:

  • Overly vague language lacking personal detail
  • Typos and spelling errors
  • Being too brief

A marketing email can trigger spam filters if it lacks formatting of any kind, or if there are inconsistencies. It’s also suspicious when marketing emails lack branded color schemes, imagery or the correct logo design.
Avoiding these email triggers is simply a matter of emphasizing professional communication standards in email marketing.

7. Poor engagement

Low engagement manifests itself through a lack of interaction with your emails from the recipients—low open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, as well as low subscriber count are all indications. 

Consistently low engagement will likely result in your emails being filtered into spam. To combat this, you should strive to deliver good and captivating content tailored to your audience. More specifically, you can:

  • Use segmentation to personalize your emails and craft the most compelling content for each segment.
  • Put together attractive subject lines
  • Make use of solid and clear CTAs

8. Getting blacklisted

Improving your sender reputation, also means you don’t run the risk of being blacklisted. Blacklists are a useful prevention tool, but if you end up on one of these lists, your email marketing is more or less guaranteed to end up in spam folders.

Aim for prevention with email security and compliance training, and don’t send unsolicited marketing emails. You can also use a blacklist checking tool to make sure your sender emails haven’t been compromised.

Maintaining your sender reputation is essential

Email spam triggers aren’t all bad, they ensure that your well crafted messages aren’t drowned out and that users are able to easily see the emails they’re interested in. 

To reap these benefits, you need to keep an eye on these triggers and protect your sender reputation. Don’t worry, though. It’s easy to deliver marketing copy that avoids email spam triggers once you know what they’re looking for.

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