Like any relationship, your organization’s connection with supporters is a two-way street. To a donor, this relationship is personal—whether it happens through emails, appeals, newsletters, events, volunteer shifts or anything else.
Just like a friend, it’s your organization’s job to provide reassurance that you’re in this together. And to remind your donors of their value and power. So, when it’s time to ask a reader to affirm their part in the relationship, it’s important be intentional about how you do it.
That’s where the call to action comes in.
What is a Call To Action?
A successful communication should make a reader want to do something. The call to action (CTA) explains what.
A CTA is, essentially, directions. It can be direct, telling the reader specifically what action to take, or indirect, suggesting action instead. Using the momentum of an appeal, a CTA shows the reader what the next step is.
Whether a designed button, hyperlinked text, a URL, or anything else, a CTA has one job: to get the reader to become more than just a reader.
The Best CTAs:
- Stand out on the page/webpage. Anyone skimming can easily tell what is being asked of them. In other words, it’s unmissable.
- Are repeated. The longer your appeal, the more the CTA should be repeated. In a print appeal, one on each page is the minimum. In digital, aim for even more.
- Build on momentum. The case you build in your appeal. The emotion you elicit through your design. It all works together to inspire your donor to follow through on a CTA.
- Provide clear directions. The CTA is not a list of all the ways a reader might get involved. It’s a single, doable request that a reader can complete now, before they’re even done reading.
Two Kinds of CTAs
The Direct Call To Action, also known as a “hard ask,” is short and to the point. Most often, when you are asking for gifts, requesting volunteer sign-ups or directing readers to a webpage, you are using a direct CTA.
The Indirect Call to Action, also known as a “soft ask,” is a CTA that focuses on longer-term action. Instead of asking a reader to act now, it asks a reader to stay connected. Soft asks can also refer to open-ended requests (like if you ask for a donation without specifying when or how much).
On CTA Wording
The language you use when you ask for something changes how your reader perceives your request. You can use this to draw attention, to frame your ask or to highlight specific values.
- Give – this might be the most common verb in fundraising, but it doesn’t have to be white noise. Giving and gifting invites personal connection, and confirms your reader’s selflessness. A gift implies friendship between two people.
- Contribute – here’s one that focuses more on connection, community and social proof over personal values. Contributions imply a larger pot, a bigger goal—something community-wide.
- Invest – a word that suggests long-term solutions. A donor might be reminded of the social/charitable “returns” on their gift too.
- Help – On its own, “help” is a soft ask, because it doesn’t specify how. But it speaks to being needed and can be paired with language more specific to your organization’s mission to become more direct.
Don’t underestimate the power of less common verbs or wording in a call to action, as long as the meaning remains clear and the message is short. (e.g., “speak up,” “act on your compassion,” “leverage your year-end generosity”)
Don’t forget: digitally, you can turn almost anything into an indirect call to action (not just verbs!) by using hyperlinks.
When to Use a CTA
- In high-vis areas. Like the front page of an appeal letter, in a P.S, or on your website’s main navigation bar.
- As a transition. A call-to-action button is a great way to break up chunks of content in an appeal where space might be limited for traditional transitions.
- In cultivation communications. Yes, really! We don’t mean asking for gifts—we mean inviting readers to strengthen their relationship to your organization and your work. You can build on cultivation momentum, too.
Following Through
What comes after the CTA is just as important as what came before it. It’s important to show the proof that what you’re asking a reader to do, will work. Proof comes in lots of forms: goals that have been met, neighbors whose lives are bettered, numbers that have gone up (or down) from last year.
When the proof aligns with the ask, you’re not just showing readers that they can make a difference: you’re also building key trust in the relationship and showing the credibility of your organization’s know-how.
Testing your Call To Action
Like everything in direct response fundraising, a CTA can (and should!) be tested.
- Where you think CTA language could be clearer (like this case study, with a treatment of a direct ask against a control with an indirect ask)
- When you have different giving groups, with different levels of giving (can you test a specific-amount hard ask against an open-ended soft ask?)
- If you want more insight into your language (would a CTA phrased as a question perform better than a CTA phrased as a statement?)
You can find even more testing insight through our Case Studies—including calls to action, data insights and more.
Drop us a comment to let us know your thoughts on Calls To Action!
