Button Copy

You need to make your reader truly want, or even need, to click on the button on your website, landing page, or email. Your offer and audience targeting are responsible for (let’s say) 95% of that work.

But the copy, placement, and design of your button can, in those last moments, undo all the work you’ve put in up to that point, souring readers on the idea of moving forward.

Headline > Subhead > Body > CTA > Button (> Micro)

So, if your headline grabs attention, your subhead qualifies the reader, your body copy convinces and compels, and your CTA copy fires them up, getting them ready for action, then your button copy is their chance to finally DO something, to finally join in (while the microcopy assuages any last fears or doubts they may have about your offer).

This is their turn to act on the feelings they’ve been feeling (thanks to your awesome words).

But how they feel when they press it comes down (at least to some extent) to your button copy. Does pressing/clicking/tapping feel like their logical next step? Have you made it an (almost) foregone conclusion? Is it a “hell yeah!” for them? Or more of an “I guess I’ll do this” type of vibe? Did you ask too soon? (Or too late?) Did they see the button? (Or notice that it was a button?)

Make it fun, not something done with a heavy heart

One exceedingly wise piece of advice I’ve heard on this is to do whatever you can to make it seem fun, and not seem like work, to press that button.

When you use button copy like “Learn More,” “Submit,” “Sign Up Now,” you’re unconsciously signaling that effort is (or will soon be) required of your reader. And let’s be real: they don’t want to do work! They’re already doing you a solid by reading your words, the least you can do is make it easy on them to act on what you’ve been saying 🙂

On the other hand, using phrases like “I’m In,” “That’s What I Want,” “Sounds Fun,” make your button copy sound more like an affirmation of interest. A Call to Adventure, rather than a Call to Action. (sorry)

Now, of course, it must be said that you can’t just make an action fun by using fun button copy. If you’re talking about opening an account with a bank or updating your will, you might have to dial it back a bit— “Yes please,” or “Get My Account Started” might suit the situation a bit better. But they’re still more fun (and less work-like) than the very common “Apply Now.”

Read the room, ask when it makes sense to ask

When you ask your readers to act matters almost as much as how you ask them. If you jump the gun, putting a button in the hero section at the top of a page that will mostly be visited by people who don’t know you, you probably won’t get many clicks. And even if you’ve got another button further down the page (where it makes more sense), you might have turned people off the idea of clicking by asking too soon.

In all cases – whether it’s an email, your homepage, or a targeted landing page – you have to give your readers enough context to realize what they’ll gain by clicking through.

It could be that your offer is screamingly obvious (“I’m giving away a free sandwich to the first fifteen people who click this button!”), and you don’t need to say much to get across what’s in it for them. But odds are unless you’re deep in a scene in NYC or LA, you’re not giving away sandwiches on the internet.

(Full disclosure, I have no idea if anyone, anywhere, is giving away sandwiches in real-time on the internet…for all I know, it’s totally a thing and they’re doing it everywhere. Apologies if I’m out of touch and enjoy your free sandwich.)

In most projects that I’ve been a part of, there’s a matching of awareness that needs to take place first. Meeting the reader where they are, empathizing with their pains and problems, aspiring alongside them for a better future where those pains are a thing of the past and all of their desires and dreams have come true. Roy Furr (possibly quoting somebody else?) has called this “saving them from hell and bringing them to heaven” (or something very similar).

That takes time.

And until you’ve taken the time to do this, at the right pace, leaving no obvious stone unturned, it’s too early to ask them to act, to click. 

The more complex your offer (or the problem it solves) the longer this will take. And that’s ok. Sometimes you know that a certain group of readers (who are maybe more aware) will be ready after you’ve touched on a couple of main points, whereas another group will need to hear ALL that you have to say. 

In this case (and you see this often) you can stagger two (or more) buttons down the page, ideally including some version of a statement like, “Is this all you needed to hear? Click here.” And then you can change the copy around the next button, and the next, to match each to the presumed level of awareness and desire of the corresponding group of readers.

Another tactic that has a similar idea behind it is that of the “sticky” navigation bar. A top-of-page bar (containing your primary button) that follows the reader down the page as they scroll, always there for when they’ve read enough and are ready to act. It takes some more technological know-how, but I believe it’s fairly easy to get set up (ask your developer…or the internet, generally).

And then there’s the design side of buttonology…

Make sure it’s obvious, and that it looks like a button 

There’s talk about the color of the button – as in, which color will work best – but from everything I’ve heard from Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), UX, and psychology experts, that’s mostly just noise.

The things that actually matter, design-wise, are that it stands out (from the rest of the page, from the other colors on the page) and that it looks like a button (not a ghost button that’s all outline with no fill, not a clever “on brand” take on a button that requires you to recognize it as such).

How I write button copy

When it comes down to writing button copy (and I usually do leave it until quite late in the process) I follow a short mental checklist:

• Does this button placement logically follow – and not interrupt – the copy directly above it on the page or in the email?
• Does the button copy match both the flow of copy leading to it and the action which will be initiated by clicking it?
• Does the button copy use the correct voice (“I/Me/My/etc”)?
• Is there a more fun or interesting way to say it?

Another thing I’m mindful of when writing button copy is which objections might be rising in the mind of my reader as they hover over the button, trying to make the call. (We talk about this more in the Microcopy article.) Are they wondering about some aspect of what “they’re signing up for” when they click? What might be holding them back and how could I put that fear to rest for them?

Something that I often use in a button-focused section of a webpage is a kind of call-and-response technique. I do this by writing a subhead or section header that asks a question (“Want to find out how to become a super sourdough baker?”) and following that with a button that answers it (“Yes please!” or “Yes, make me a better baker” or “Show me how”).

You see this tactic being used more often in pop-up opt-in boxes, but I like how it works as a satisfying end to a lengthy and informative bit of body copy. It brings the reader back to the reason they are on the page in the first place and puts it to them plainly.

What makes successful button copy

Successful button copy, then, is simply button copy that increases the likelihood that a reader will click through to the next step, to “convert”, as it were.

There are so many different variables that can affect this, and I’d argue that the button copy is usually not going to be the true determining factor. However, it can certainly push a few people who are feeling hesitant, or on the fence, over to your side, by making that click feel important, empowering, and easy.

One last thought from me on the topic: your button copy is the logical end of the current stream of copy on your page or in your email. It needs to be a satisfying, almost cathartic, kind of action to take. It should feel, at once, like the end of an investigation and the beginning of a new adventure.

Got thoughts on these thoughts? Let’s connect! Send me a message here.