Any private school marketing message aims to get prospective students’ parents to commit to a tour, so you can show them how good your school is. But what happens when you get them to your school’s website? How do you get them to engage more and ultimately raise their hand for a tour? To do this, you need effective call-to-action items.
What is a Call to Action?
If you've been in private school marketing for any length of time, you're probably familiar with calls to action.
A call-to-action (CTA) is a marketing message that elicits an immediate response. A CTA is precisely what it sounds like, a request for someone to do something.
The most popular types of CTAs are phrases designed to entice someone to take action. A typical call to action might say "Sign Up for Free," "Download for Free," or anything similar.
Call to Action Testing
CTA testing is one of the most common methods of A/B Testing. Take a look at these stats on A/B Testing:
- About 60% of companies perform A/B tests on their landing pages. (Source: Invesp)
- A better UX design resulting from A/B Testing could increase conversion by 400%. (Source: Forrester Research; Alternate Source: UX Collective )
- One out of eight A/B tests drives significant change. (Source: Invesp)
According to VWO, 30% of marketers do A/B tests on their CTAs. Following that, 20% test headlines, 10% test website layout, and 8% test website copy.
This makes sense because even minor changes can result in significant changes in your conversion rates. It is very typical for a CTA to be underutilized because a strong CTA heavily depends on the context of the language on the page. When you optimize other aspects, your CTA may also need to be tweaked.
Call to Action Functions
A CTA provides four importation functions on your private school website or landing page.
- They help a visitor focus and provide context
- They help visitors quickly understand the benefits of the action you want them to take
- They can provide a way to measure performance
- They provide direction for your users on how to interact or engage with your page
20 Tips and Tricks to Create Better Calls-to-Action On Your Private School Website
Here are 20 tips and tricks to create effective calls-to-action for your private school’s website.
1. Start With a CTA Button
A CTA button’s style and size vary by layout, design, and target conversion. Parents are used to seeing CTA buttons and clicking them. If a prospective student’s parent sees a button on your site, they’ll know what to do.
2. Keep It Above the Fold
Keep your CTA button above the “fold” so parents don’t miss it.
3. Follow the Natural Flow of Vision
Westerners naturally read top-to-bottom and left-to-right. Remember this and place CTAs at the bottom or middle of the content. Users won’t backtrack to click a button, so don’t make them.
4. Keep Text Short and Sweet
Long CTA button text is ineffective; therefore, you need to keep the button text at 3-7 words.
5. Use Action-oriented Text
They are called calls to action for a reason, so use striking, actionable text to draw visitors in. Instead of bland words like submit, enter, and click here, use verbs like get, read, and try.
Here are some examples:
- Act now
- Add to your
- Book now
- Choose your
- Click for more
- Click here
- Contact us today
- Discover
- Don’t miss
- Don’t wait
- Download
- Fill out
- Find out
- Learn more
- Look at
- Order now
- Reserve your spot
- Respond by
- See more
- Sign up
- Subscribe
- Take a tour
- Try it out free
- Visit us at
6. Use Words That Elicit an Emotion
You want parents to react emotionally to your website, particularly your CTA. If your CTA is enthusiastic, your target audience, prospective students’ parents, will also be! Using an exclamation point will help to generate excitement because it will make your CTA stand out. At the same time, a thesaurus is always an excellent place to start when looking for emotion-laden words. CoSchedule has an excellent wrap-up of “500+ Power Words for Writing Emotional Headlines” that you can experiment with to elicit an emotional response.
7. Make Your Button Text Large and Legible
Your CTA text should be large enough to read but not obnoxious. Searchers dislike threateningly large lettering, consciously or subconsciously. Make sure your button text is big enough to stand out, but don’t go overboard.
8. Use Contrasting Colors So Your CTA Stands Out
Your CTA button’s color is crucial, so your CTA button color should be carefully considered. Green and orange buttons perform best but use contrasting colors that stand out on your site or landing page. Whites and grays are dull.
9. Consider Using a Graphic
Sometimes, a graphic such as an arrow can help influence your click-through rate. If you use one, ensure it does not confuse the viewer.
10. Use Lots of White Space
White space or negative space is the space on a page that isn’t occupied by any text or graphics. Your CTA buttons should always have a generous amount of white space around them. This helps call the users’ attention to the button and helps it stand out. Novices tend to fear white space, but professional graphic designers and web developers know how valuable white space is.
11. Give Parents a Reason to Take Action
Parents visiting your site subscribe to the station WIIFM or “What is in it for me.” Therefore, you have to answer that very question quickly and succinctly. For example, instead of saying “Call today,” try to be more specific, like “Call today to schedule a tour with our Admissions Coordinator.” Not only have you stated the action you want the visitor to take, but you have also given them a reason why they should take that action.
12. Keep It Personal
Use first-person speech patterns. For example, a study by Unbounce found that changing button text from the second person “Get your free download” to the first person “Get my free download” resulted in a 90% increase in clicks!
13. Take Advantage of FOMO
Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is a powerful marketing tactic because it is a highly effective motivator. When people believe they are about to miss out on an opportunity, they are more likely to click on your CTA button and take the desired action. Mentioning an event or enrollment period deadline helps to create FOMO. It’s difficult to resist a prompt like that, especially in a time-sensitive situation.
14. Bonus Button Text
It is sometimes beneficial to the visitor to include a short, extra line of information in your button wording.
You can also place that extra line beneath or adjacent to the button. These are referred to as “click triggers.” Here are some examples of click triggers:
- Testimonials
- Anxiety reducers
- Key benefits
- Data points
15. Give Fewer Choices
Social scientists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper experimented by setting up a tasting booth that allowed consumers to sample different jams. The first week they offered shoppers twenty-four different jams to taste. While many people tried them, only three percent purchased any. They repeated the experiment the next week but only offered six jams this time. Jam sales skyrocketed by 900%! This is referred to as the paralyzation of choice. In other words, when we are presented with too many, our brains have trouble making a buying decision, which drives down sales or clicks.
16. Know Your User Devices
Your CTA buttons need to be customized based on the device your prospective parents use to have the most impact. You can figure this out by looking at your Google Analytics.
Mobile devices have different user behavior than desktops, laptops, or tablets. Users searching for something on their mobile phones are more likely to take action, especially making a phone call.
If you know your prospective parents primarily use a mobile device, create more call-centric CTAs like “call now to get enrolled” or “call us today for more information.”
17. Get Creative
It’s critical to keep your CTAs up to date, just as you should with your private school content. However, the only way you will ever know how well a CTA functions is to run an A/B test. Try being creative if your CTA isn’t doing as well as you’d want. For instance:
- Highlight testimonials: “See how other parents have raved about our school.”
- Be specific about savings options and scholarship deadlines
- Make them use their imagination
- Show off your alumni
- Appeal to their sentimental side
- Provide instant gratification such as “Chat with one of our teachers to get your questions answered right now!”
18. Follow a Natural Hierarchy
Sometimes you’ll have other buttons on your website, like a parent portal or student sign-in button. These buttons should be less visually appealing than the primary CTA button. For example, you might choose a gray or monochromatic color scheme for secondary CTA buttons.
29. Have a CTA on every page
Every page of your school’s website should feature a CTA that directs parents to the next step. If you want visitors to join up for your newsletter, for example, make sure the sign-up page is visible on every page.
Calls to action that are clear, detailed, and create urgency are the most effective. Consider what makes your school unique and use that to develop an enticing offer. Your call to action will sell the value of your request once you have it.
20. Use Crappy Language
Using crappy language or going negative can be a little risqué, but it is also very successful at catching someone’s attention. This isn’t for everyone because it can be challenging to pull off, but using negative words can occasionally drive someone to improve something they are self-conscious about.
Final Thoughts
The goal of this post was to help you, the private school marketer or administrator, to better understand what a call to action is and how to create better calls to action for your school marketing campaigns. Now I encourage you to go out and evaluate your own Call To Action items and see if you can improve them.
If you are stumped and looking for a second opinion about your private school’s marketing efforts, reach out. I and all of us at Cube Creative Design would be happy to help you and your school!
