How to Design Catchy and Engaging CTA Buttons

Imagine spending countless hours crafting a marketing plan only to find potential customers leaving your site without clicking on your CTA button.

You've done everything you can to make your CTA copy action-oriented and personalized, but still, it's not enough.

That begs the question: could the design of your CTA button be the problem?

In this article, we’ll explore some best practices to help you create compelling CTA buttons that inspire action from your audience along with some of the best call-to-action examples to help spark ideas as you create your own.

• What is a CTA Button?
• Why are CTA buttons important?
• Best CTA practices to follow
• Designing effective call-to-action buttons

What is a CTA button?

A call-to-action (CTA) button is a visual element that entices visitors to take a specific action, such as signing up for a webinar, joining an email list, proceeding to checkout, or following a social media page.

CTA buttons are crucial to the success of your marketing campaign because they take prospects to the last step on their buyer’s journey: conversion.

While every buyer's journey is unique, CTA buttons are the signposts that guide your audience toward their interests as potential customers.

Why are CTA buttons important?

CTA buttons play a critical role in marketing campaigns for two reasons:

• CTA buttons are easy to spot.
• They compel visitors to take action.

When people visit your website, landing page, or any marketing collateral, they’ll read the copy and look at the visuals — what's the one step you want them to take next? Whatever your answer is, it should be a specific action that helps you achieve a business goal.

Whether you want them to sign up button for your newsletter, book a free demo, or make a purchase, using a hyperlink or plain text won't get the job done.

People don’t read webpages word for word. They skim. And they will leave quickly if they don't find what they're looking for.

But CTA buttons? People can’t help pushing clickable buttons. It’s science.

Most importantly, CTA buttons represent change. And as marketers, business owners, or designers, it's part of our job to create an experience that encourages people to make a change “in a way that leaves them better than we found them,” to quote the author and marketing strategist Seth Godin.

Best CTA practices to follow

When designing a CTA button, there are certain guidelines to follow to be as eye-catching and engaging as possible. Here are some best practices to keep in mind.

1. Emphasize contrast

When you’re designing CTA buttons, emphasizing contrast is important because it helps your buttons stand out from the rest of your website design and content. If your readers won’t notice your button, they won’t click it.

Use contrasting colors, shapes, sizes, and fonts that are different from your background and other elements on your page. That naturally draws your visitors’ attention to your buttons and increases conversions as a result.

Take this CTA button from Huemor, for example.

As you’ll notice, the webpage uses bold colors, text, and art. However, the CTA button still stands out because its pink color creates a stark contrast with the light green background.

2. Use negative space

Creating negative space (also called white space) around your CTA buttons is important because it helps you:

• Make your buttons more visible and attractive. Negative space creates a contrast between your buttons and the rest of your page elements, making the buttons stand out and catch your visitors’ eyes.
• Reduce clutter and distraction. Negative space helps you avoid overcrowding your page with too many elements, which would confuse and overwhelm your visitors. By creating some breathing room around your buttons, you make them more focused and clear.
• Improve readability and usability. Negative space improves the legibility of your button text and the “clickability” of your button’s shape. In other words, by providing ample space around the letters and the button, you make sure your visitors can easily read and click on your buttons.

PayPal, for example, does an excellent job of using negative space on its signup page; its CTA button stands out.

3. Make your CTA text easy to read

Users are more likely to skim over text instead of reading every word. If your CTA copy isn’t eye-catching and legible, visitors are likely to miss it and go somewhere else.

Make sure your CTA copy conveys a clear and compelling message. You don’t want your CTA copy to be too small, too fancy, or too complex. If you want the words of your CTA copy to sink in, create a visual hierarchy by learning how to choose the best website fonts.

Canva uses this approach well on its homepage.

Notice how the CTA button uses a font that’s easy to read. Canva also uses a visual hierarchy through varying colors and sizes with other text elements on the page.

4. Use vibrant colors

Everyone has their favorite color, but it’s best to use vibrant colors for your CTA buttons. Why? Because they’re more noticeable and appealing than dull or pale colors. Vibrant colors also help create the necessary contrast to make your CTA button stand out.

Choosing a more vibrant color can also help the copy on your CTA button convey a sense of urgency that draws in users.

A button color A/B test using the same landing page by HubSpot showed just as much, where a red CTA received 21% more clicks than a green one.

That’s not to say green can’t be a vibrant color. But as shown below, there were more green-colored elements throughout the page, making the red stand out more.

Another example of bright colors and contrast are the CTA buttons on Wix’s website.

As you can see, the CTA button's turquoise color and white text help it stick out against the page’s purple backdrop.

5. Use size differences to create more contrast

Using size is an effective way to create a visual hierarchy on the webpage.

Make your CTA button more prominent than other elements on your page. The trick is to use a bigger (or smaller for softer CTAs) button to convey a stark contrast to the rest of the page’s visual elements. That breaks any monotony, which draws attention.

That said, be careful not to make your button too big that it becomes obnoxious or too small that it becomes hard to see or click. Always remember that the goal is making the CTA button the page's focal point.

On Readwise's homepage, the CTA button differs in size from the header and subheader, so it stands out.

6. Use fewer words

When it comes to text in CTA buttons, “less is more” is the rule of thumb. There’s a reason the words “Just Do It” are iconic. They aren't just simple, powerful, and memorable; they have a visual impact that conveys confidence and authority.

Besides, making users read a lot of text only adds to their cognitive load as they interact with your webpage. Remember, you have your website visitors’ attention only for a limited time. Don’t ramble on; use action phrases like “buy now,” “book now,” or “shop now.”

Lyft has a couple of great CTA button examples. The start contast in color helps to distinguish the two actions, but they also made the copy work really well in both cases with two distinct actions "apply" and "sign up".

7. Mind your CTA button placement

Placement affects how visible and accessible your CTA button is. If the Brafton case study is any indication, placing your CTA button in a prominent and logical position can increase your blog’s revenue by 83%.

Putting your CTA button above the fold (immediately visible without scrolling) is generally considered the best practice.

Placement also affects how appealing and persuasive your CTA button is. If you place it at the right time and place, your call to action will be more persuasive.

Therefore, make sure you have provided enough information and value to your visitors. Then, place your CTA button where the user is most likely to be interested in your offer.

Notice how you naturally read Eyebuydirect’s value proposition before it serves you its “Show Now” CTA button below.

8. Stay consistent with your brand

Consistent brand design creates a coherent and recognizable identity for your business.

By using consistent colors, shapes, fonts, and copy for your CTA buttons, you reinforce your brand message and values across significant touchpoints in the customer journey. Honestly, what better time to do this than when a user is taking the next step in your relationship?

Sometimes it’s perfectly fine to deviate from your branding elements when designing CTA buttons; it depends on your goals and context. The best way to learn is to test different variations and measure their performance.

Here's a convincing CTA button example to learn from. HubSpot’s orange CTA button matches the company’s orange logo and secondary CTA strikes a fine balance between consistency and deviation.

Designing effective call-to-action buttons

Your website’s click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates will dramatically improve once you have CTA buttons that stand out, look good, and are placed strategically. If you're at a loss on how to craft effective CTA buttons, use this practical guide as a starting point — and the CTA button examples as a source of inspiration.

However, keep in mind that these CTA button best practices are not independent of each other. Each principle is dependent on the other principles, so consider how they interact and work together.

Most importantly, you need to consider the purpose of your CTA button; how does it align with your goals and with your audience's needs? Spend some time analyzing who your users are and what they expect, then you can ensure your call to action design can help you get results.