Call to action: one ask per email, and a button that says what happens next
The ask in your email, usually a button. It only works if there's one of them, it says where the click goes, and the page behind it delivers.
- 024CTA (Call to Action)
- A prompt in an email that encourages the reader to take a specific action, such as "Shop Now" or "Learn More."
- Usually
- A button, backed up by a linked image and a text link
- Built as
- Live text in an HTML button, so it shows with images off
- Judge it by
- Clicks on that link, then orders from the page it opens
One email, one main ask
Most weak emails don't have a bad call to action. They have five. Shop the new range, read the blog, follow us, take the quiz, and a discount code at the bottom for luck. Every extra ask takes a bit of attention from the one you care about.
Pick the one thing this email is for and make that the button. Everything else can be a quieter text link further down, or wait for next week. A product grid's fine: every product links, but they all serve the same ask.
Button words that say where the click goes
| Instead of | Try | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Click here | See the new colours | It says what's behind the button |
| Shop now | Shop the summer range | It names where they'll land |
| Learn more | Read the care guide | It promises something specific |
| Buy now, in a cart email | Back to your basket | It matches what they were doing |
The button doesn't need to be clever. It needs to be true, short enough to read at a glance and big enough for a thumb.
Build the button so it survives images being switched off
A button made as a picture disappears when an inbox holds images back, and some do by default, Outlook among them. Build it as live text in a proper HTML button instead. It shows with images off, a screen reader can read it, and you can change the words without a designer.
Put the main button where a phone shows it without scrolling, and repeat it lower down in a long email. Link the hero image to the same place, because plenty of people tap the picture. One catch: Klaviyo's link report counts clicks by address, so if the picture and the button share one, you can't tell which got tapped. Give them slightly different links if you want to know.
The page behind the button keeps the promise, or breaks it
A click is a promise half kept. If the button says see the new colours and the link drops people on your homepage, you've handed them the searching. Plenty won't bother.
Send each button to the page its words describe: the product, the collection, the basket. Then judge it on what happens there, not on the click alone. That half of the job is conversion rate optimisation, and it's where a good email can still lose the sale.
Related terms
FAQs
How many calls to action should one email have?
One main one. You can repeat that same button two or three times in a long email, and add quieter text links for other things, but one ask should be obviously the point. If you can't say what the email is for in a sentence, your reader can't either.
Should a call to action be a button or a text link?
A button for the main ask, built as live text so it survives images being off. Text links for anything secondary. Link the main image to the same place as the button too, since plenty of people tap the picture first, and give the two slightly different links so you can see which one they used.
What colour should a call to action button be?
There's no magic colour, whatever the blog posts say. What matters is contrast: the button should be the thing that stands out from everything around it. Use a brand colour nothing else in the email is using, and test the words before you test the paint.
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