Does the Placement of Your Call-to-Action Matter?

In part 3 of my Design and Layout series, I’ll share my personal thoughts on where your call-to-action (CTA) should be placed within your email campaign. Let me preface my opinion with a statement. “Sometimes I don’t believe in best practices.”

There, I said it! Having created email campaigns for several years, for a wide range of clients, using various layouts, I can honestly say it does not matter. I know you will find A LOT of marketers who disagree with this statement, so perhaps I should clarify my opinion.

The placement of your call-to-action does matter. However, I do not believe a single ‘best practice’ recommendation can be made that works for everyone in every situation.

You can have great results with a call-to-action just about anywhere in your email. It can be above the fold, below the fold, as a huge button, as a text link, as an image, bright and bold, soft and subtle, within a caption to an image or video, and yes, even as an extra tiny link at the VERY end of your email. How do I know? Because I have firsthand experience with success for my clients for each of these scenarios.

I’m not one for a one-size fits all solution kind of person. As I clarified above, the placement of your CTA does matter, but what works for you may not work for the next person. The trick is finding what works best for YOU.

When considering the placement of your email call-to-action, all the following variables come into play:

1. Who is your audience and what are their expectations?
2. What style of email are you sending? A letter style email is very different from a sales flyer email which is very different from a monthly newsletter.
3. What is the visual style of your newsletter? Strong and bold, soft and frilly, or purely professional?
4. Are most of your readers on desktop or mobile? Let’s face it, ‘above the fold’ is a VERY different location on mobile than it is on desktop. And readers can scroll through a large portion of your email with a single swipe on mobile.
5. How LOYAL is your audience? One of my clients consistently performs well with an extra tiny text link at the very end of the newsletter. This client also has an indelibly loyal audience. And… the audience does not want to be distracted from his words until the very end.
6. Is your audience impatient and want to act immediately or do they prefer to learn from your wisdom and then select an option to learn more?
7. Does your audience react better to text links or to buttons?

The placement of the call-to-action in your email does matter. But best practices for you are just that, YOUR best practices.

So how do you determine the best type and placement for your call-to-action? As you can see, there are MANY variables to consider when determining the placement of your call-to-actions. The style of your email will likely determine the general placement, but beyond that, the final type and placement of your call-to-action is part science and part art.

The best way to determine the best placement for your CTA in your email is by testing different placements to see what resonates best with your audience! What you find works best becomes your best practice.

This is part 3 of a 5-part series on Email Marketing Design and Layout. The full series consists of the benefits of a mobile responsive email design, the use of interactive elements, placement of your call-to-action, incorporation of colors and use of images, gifs and animations.

About Simone G: Simone G is owner of The Small Biz Shop and has been offering email marketing services for over 10 years. She believes you can grow your business one conversation at a time through engaging email marketing. Her proven creative process helps her understand your business, your goals and your audience. She also provides online coaching courses and private training to help you be more successful with your email marketing. As a certified Constant Contact Solution Provider, she stays on top of new industry trends, helping you navigate through and benefit from the newest technologies in a personable and engaging way that leads to results.