Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Email CTA Buttons (And Probably Some Stuff You Don't)

A button in your email has a very specific goal: to get your reader to complete an action. What is an email good for if it doesn't call someone to act? For that reason, it could be argued to be the most important element of your entire email. You've spent hours stressing about copy and images and subject lines and send times and segments, but all of those things lead to this little boxy button. What color should it be? Where should it be placed? How big should it be? What words should you use? How many should you have?

Transcript

1. Everything you wanted to know about email CTAs (and probably some stuff you don’t.) reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
2. Brief History of the Bu<on “Bu<ons?! Bu<ons?! We don’t need no s@nking bu<ons!” reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
3. Brief History of the Bu<on Cavemen Bu<on reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
4. Brief History of the Bu<on Cavemen Bu<on Egyp@an Trapdoor Bu<on reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
5. Brief History of the Bu<on Cavemen Bu<on Primi@ve Doorbell Bu<on Egyp@an Trapdoor Bu<on reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
6. Brief History of the Bu<on Cavemen Bu<on Primi@ve Doorbell Bu<on Egyp@an Trapdoor Bu<on Smooth Jazz Bu<on reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
7. Brief History of the Bu<on Cavemen Bu<on Primi@ve Doorbell Bu<on ! Egyp@an Trapdoor Bu<on Smooth Jazz Bu<on F*** It! Nuclear Bu<on reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
8. Brief History of the Bu<on Cavemen Bu<on Primi@ve Doorbell Bu<on ! Egyp@an Trapdoor Bu<on Smooth Jazz Bu<on F*** It! Nuclear Bu<on Virtual Mac Bu<on reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
9. Then: 1984 reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
10. Now: OK 1984 2016 reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
11. Now: OK 1984 2016 (Now in Technicolor!) reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
12. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
13. What’s the most popular bu<on… reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
14. What’s the most popular bu<on… BUTTONS reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
15. What’s the most popular bu<on… BUTTONS BUTTONS reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
16. What’s the most popular… •  Size •  Color •  Shape •  Frequency •  Placement •  Character Length •  Wording Used •  Pizza Place @ 2:00 am reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
17. What’s the most popular… reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
18. What’s the most popular…
19. FINDINGS reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
20. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
21. SIZE reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
22. SIZE I like big bu<ons and I cannot lie. 20 px tall 150 px tall 50 px tall Scale reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
23. SIZE Distribu@on of Height in Pixels 20 26 32 38 44 50 56 62 68 74 80 86 92 98 104 110 116 This is a histogram. Not the ice castle from Frozen. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
24. SIZE 20 26 32 38 44 50 56 62 68 74 80 86 92 98 104 110 116 Average: 47.9 px Median: 50 px Distribu@on of Height in Pixels reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
25. SIZE 20 26 32 38 44 50 56 62 68 74 80 86 92 98 104 110 116 Average: 47.9 px Median: 50 px Min: 20 px Distribu@on of Height in Pixels reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
26. SIZE 20 26 32 38 44 50 56 62 68 74 80 86 92 98 104 110 116 Average: 47.9 px Median: 50 px Max: 115 px Distribu@on of Height in Pixels reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
27. SIZE I ATE MY VEGETABLES. 115 Pixels Tall reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
28. SIZE LAY OFF ME! I’M STARVING. Only 4% of brands used an edge-to-edge bu<on reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
29. SIZE …which is about 9 Twinkies wide reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
30. COLOR reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
31. COLOR reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
32. COLOR Distribu@on of CTA Bu<on Colors reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
33. COLOR Distribu@on of CTA Bu<on Colors Winner! reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
34. COLOR 48% of brands match their CTA Bu<on Color to their brand color. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
35. COLOR Only 2 hex color codes appeared mul@ple @mes in the data: #28AFFA #55ACEE reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
36. COLOR 30% of black brands used a black CTA bu<on. 10% of white brands used a white CTA bu<on. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
37. SHAPE reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
38. SHAPE SQUARE ROUNDED PILL reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
39. SHAPE SQUARE ROUNDED PILL 28% 54% 18% reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
40. SHAPE SQUARE ROUNDED PILL 28% 54% 18% Up 26% compared to the beginning of the year. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
41. FREQUENCY reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
42. FREQUENCY BUY NOW BUY NOW BUY NOW BUY NOW BUY IT ALL BUY A LOT BUY MORE BUY NOW BUY NOW LIKE THIS GOING ON IT KEEPS SERIOUSLY BUY IT ALL BUY A LOT BUY MORE BUY NOW
43. FREQUENCY Distribu@on of Frequency of CTA Bu<ons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
44. FREQUENCY Distribu@on of Frequency of CTA Bu<ons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Average: 2.1 bu<ons Median: 1 bu<on Max: 11 bu<ons reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
45. FREQUENCY Distribu@on of Frequency of CTA Bu<ons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 bu<on: 56% 2 bu<ons: 24% 3+ bu<ons: 20% reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
46. FREQUENCY Distribu@on of Frequency of CTA Bu<ons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 bu<on: 56% 2 bu<ons: 24% 3+ bu<ons: 20% 5+ bu<ons: 90% are retail reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
47. PLACEMENT reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
48. PLACEMENT t TOP MIDDLE BOTTOM reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
49. PLACEMENT t TOP MIDDLE BOTTOM 38% 35% 27% reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
50. CHARACTER LENGTH reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
51. CHARACTER LENGTH SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS OK reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
52. CHARACTER LENGTH 3 9 15 21 27 33 39 Distribu@on of Characters in CTA Bu<ons 45 51 57 63 69 75 reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
53. CHARACTER LENGTH 3 9 15 21 27 33 39 Distribu@on of Characters in CTA Bu<ons 45 51 57 63 69 75 Average: 14 characters Minimum: 3 le<ers (YES) Maximum: 66 characters reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
54. CHARACTER LENGTH 3 9 15 21 27 33 39 Distribu@on of Characters in CTA Bu<ons 45 51 57 63 69 75 Average: 14 characters Minimum: 3 le<ers (YES) Maximum: 66 characters Same Twinkie Diet? reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
55. WORDING USED reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
56. WORDING USED SNOOP BLESS MEDICATE PROPEL WRAP FREEZE *Some random verbs retrieved from a verb generator There are over 100,000 verbs in the English language. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
57. WORDING USED t TOP TEN EMAIL CTA VERBS reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
58. WORDING USED t TOP TEN EMAIL CTA VERBS 10. JOIN 9. FIND 8. SEE 7. START 6. VIEW 5. BOOK 4. READ reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
59. WORDING USED t TOP TEN EMAIL CTA VERBS 3. TAKE 2. SHOP 1. GET reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
60. WORDING USED t TOP TEN EMAIL CTA VERBS 3. TAKE 2. SHOP 1. GET Used more than 10% of the @me. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
61. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
62. SO, YOU ARE SAYING… reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
63. t GET THIS PIZZA 50px BLUE 14 CHARACTERS LONG ROUND TOP THIS:
64. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
65. t GET THIS PIZZA 50px BLUE 14 CHARACTERS LONG ROUND TOP THIS:
66. THE RIGHT BUTTON IS NOT WHAT IS POPULAR… reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
67. THE RIGHT BUTTON IS WHAT IS TESTED. reallygoodemail #LitmusLive
68. REALLYGOODEMAILS.COM/NEWSLETTER MORE STATS: reallygoodemail #LitmusLive