Are you building an email strategy for the first time—or noticing that your email marketing campaigns aren’t performing? A good place to start is your call to action (CTA): the moment where your email speaks directly to the reader, asking them to take a specific action.
A 2025 analysis by email marketing platform Klaviyo found that about 38% of recipients open promotional emails, but only a small share—1.29% on average—actually click a link. Including a strong CTA in your emails is one of the first things you can do to increase user clicks, and ultimately, conversions.
Continue reading to discover how to craft a compelling call to action, with examples to help you create the ideal CTA for your audience.
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What is an email CTA?
A call to action, or CTA, is a word or phrase that encourages a reader to do something—a clear cue to take a specific action. CTAs are everywhere in your inbox: “Shop now,” “Learn more,” “Subscribe here,” “Get 20% off.” Email CTAs typically take the form of a clickable button or link that moves the reader to the next step—whether that’s a landing page for a product or campaign, a blog post on a specific topic, a social media profile, or other relevant content.
CTAs help connect your email marketing campaigns to your broader marketing ecosystem. An effective email call to action can increase click-throughs and site traffic, create urgency around products and promotions, improve your conversion rate to turn readers into shoppers, and give your email marketing strategy a higher return on investment.
Primary CTAs vs. secondary CTAs
“There’s this thought in the email marketing community: one email, one objective, one CTA,” Jacob Sappington, director of email strategy for ecommerce growth agency Homestead Studio, explains on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. Sometimes, though, a marketing email might contain more than one call to action—but the idea of keeping it focused still applies. That’s why it’s important to distinguish between primary and secondary CTAs.
Your primary CTA directs customers to the primary action you want them to take. If you’re including multiple CTAs, this one will be the most prominent. It typically appears before any other CTAs, and the button might be larger or more visually pronounced.
A secondary CTA offers an alternative action that might require less time or effort while still supporting the goals of the primary CTA. For example, a primary CTA might encourage customers to shop a sale, while a secondary CTA encourages them to follow the brand on socials to learn about upcoming sales and promotions.
This tactic helps capture readers who aren’t going to follow through on the primary ask, but might be willing to take a smaller step. It’s important that this secondary CTA complements the primary CTA, rather than competing with it, and follows a single line of thought—like sales and promotions in this example.
21 email CTA examples
Strong CTAs can help you make the most of your email campaigns. Use these compelling call-to-action examples—broken out into several common email categories—to inspire your own CTA ideas.
Sales and promotions
For sales-focused emails, clear CTAs that create a sense of urgency can help drive traffic and move product. Usually, they link to a product or inventory page, or to a landing page where the reader can unlock a specific offer.
Call to action examples:
Customer education
Customer education CTAs direct readers to resources like video tutorials or how-to blog posts. These resources may live on your site or be hosted elsewhere, like a video on your YouTube channel.
Call to action examples:
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Find out more
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Watch the video now
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Get the full story
Sign-ups and registration
For emails promoting a specific event, webinar, or specialized newsletter, use CTAs to create a sense of urgency, encouraging customers to take action sooner rather than later. You can follow a similar approach when asking readers to follow you on social media channels, emphasizing how it’ll help them stay in the loop.
Call to action examples:
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Secure your spot
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Follow for more
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Stay in the loop
Referral programs
When sending referral marketing emails, include a CTA inviting customers to participate in the program, whether that means signing up for the first time or re-engaging to refer more people. Here, CTA buttons can link to a page where they can learn more, generate a code, or input referee details.
Call to action examples:
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Refer a friend
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Get one, give one
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Want to spread the love?
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Share your discount code
Downloadable assets
CTAs for downloadable assets can link to landing pages where customers have to input more information. Alternatively, you can also create a CTA where clicking initiates the download automatically. In either case, the CTA should clearly indicate whether clicking will start a download automatically.
Call to action examples:
Customer feedback
If you’re sending an email asking existing customers to provide comments or responses, the CTA should make participation feel appealing and achievable. When asking for feedback, link to a survey or feedback form—or a page where the reader can sign up for a focus group or customer interview.
Call to action examples:
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Share your thoughts
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Leave a review
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How did we do?
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How to write an effective email CTA
When crafting a CTA for your next email campaign, keep these best practices in mind.
Be direct
An effective CTA uses simple, direct language. There should be no confusion about the desired action or what the reader can expect after clicking. Keep your CTA copy as short as possible without sacrificing clarity—three to five words at most. This prevents the CTA button from looking crowded and grabs your reader’s attention.
Direct doesn’t have to mean boring. For example, hat and apparel maker ’47 promotes its dog-themed collection with a simple CTA asking customers to “find their breed,” alongside images of their popular dog breed hats.
Source: ’47 via email
Stick to one cohesive thought
Keep your email and CTAs focused on one idea. “You shouldn’t go from ‘Shop this collection’ to ‘Check out our charity work’ to ‘Check out what our founder’s doing,’” Jacob says. “You should keep a cohesive thought.” This is particularly important when you have multiple CTAs in an email.
The example below from pet accessories brand Fresh Patch targets customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while. The first CTA speaks directly to that reader, suggesting they check out new products that they may not have seen before. The second one is more general but follows the same train of thought, simply encouraging customers to “Shop now.”
Source: Fresh Patch via email
Use action-oriented language
Calls to action often use imperative verbs—especially those that imply initiative on the part of the reader—such as get, start, try, take, and ask. In addition to using action words, you can also phrase your CTA as a question, which naturally prompts a response, or as a first-person request, like “Sign me up!” or “I’m in.”
This email from Dr. Idriss illustrates the use of imperative verbs. When introducing its new vanilla buttercream balm, the skin care brand urges them to try the new treat, recommending that they “Don’t Skip Dessert.”
Source: Dr. Idriss via email
Show what’s in it for them
Even a concise CTA can be more descriptive than a simple “.” Try to illustrate the benefit for your target audience, whether by including incentives (“Register for exclusive deals”) or leveraging social proof (“Join our thousands of fans”). It helps to be specific when highlighting benefits, says Adam Davis, former senior marketing manager at Magnolia Bakery, on an episode of Shopify Masters. “I have seen that opt-outs and unsubscribes really peak when there’s no key message. … When it’s not ‘Order ahead for a specific thing,’ and just, ‘We’re Magnolia Bakery, order our dessert.’”
This email from cookware brand Anyday uses a customer review as the basis for its CTA. The review header talks about the product being “life changing,” and the write-up explains exactly how and why it improves this customer’s life. The CTA echoes that language, asking customers to “Shop Life-Changing Dishes.”
Source: Anyday via email
Make the moment seem critical
Psychologically, people are more likely to take action when there’s a sense of urgency and scarcity. Use your CTA to make the action feel time-sensitive by emphasizing limited stock or an imminent deadline. Reinforcing timeliness elsewhere in the email—like with a pressing subject line or even animated countdown timers embedded into the email body—can further encourage immediate action.
Sunglass brand Crap Eyewear promotes its buy-one-get-one sale with a direct and colorful email advertising the promotion and a CTA that simply says “sitewide til sunday.” Unlike most CTAs, there are no action-oriented terms encouraging readers to buy; instead, the CTA simply reminds them that time is limited, keeping the ask implicit but obvious.
Source: Crap Eyewear via email
Catch the reader’s eye
Design-wise, your CTA should be easy to spot. Instead of just linking in the email copy, try creating a button or setting off the CTA text with design elements like lines, arrows, hover animations, or another visual effect. Color can help the CTA stand out from the background, and any overlaid text should contrast with the button color for easy reading. The CTA should be viewable and attractive no matter how a customer is reading your email, which means optimizing for mobile devices and popular email clients.
The CTA in this retargeting email from Revival Rugs is simple but unmissable. The brand has a muted aesthetic, using white, cream, and beige tones that allow its products to shine. In keeping with this theme, the CTA button is rust colored, subtler than a tangerine or neon orange, but still bold enough to stand out.
Source: Revival Rugs via email
Place your CTA with intention
CTAs are often placed near the top of an email so they’re easy to find. But sometimes, the subscriber needs more detail to prime them to engage. Laura Thompson, cofounder of the natural skin care brand Three Ships, explains on Shopify Masters that she’s found success with long-form emails in certain contexts. “Especially if it’s a major change,” she says, “or if we’re launching a new campaign that’s really emotional.” In cases like this, placing the CTA further down ensures the reader has all the information they need before being asked to act. “We won’t just do, ‘Our prices are going up. Shop now!’” Laura offers as an example. “It’ll be a longer-form email explaining what’s going on.”
For example, this email from Grind Coffee begins by offering three tips for a perfect espresso. Only after readers have read through the tips are they invited to click through to find what they need to buy to make the drink.
Source: Grind Coffee via email
How to test and optimize an email CTA
Data-driven decision-making is an important part of writing effective CTAs. Here are some steps you can take to measure your success and maximize conversions.
Track CTA performance with email analytics
Many software options allow you to measure and analyze important email engagement metrics like open rates, click-through rates, downloads, reader location, and whether they’re viewing the email on a desktop or mobile device. You can also add tracking tags to links to see when users arrive via email—plus details like what they clicked on within the email and what campaign the email is associated with.
Use split testing to optimize for engagement
Split testing, also known as A/B testing, lets you experiment with different design and copy choices to see what performs best. You can send emails with two different CTAs, then see which drives the desired action more effectively. These emails may use different versions of the CTA text (but with the same link), different CTA placement, or even different options for colors, fonts, and button shapes.
Get qualitative customer feedback
Numbers don’t always tell the whole story. Round out the quantitative data by soliciting comments or responses from existing customers via surveys, feedback forms, or even in-person or video focus groups. Hearing from customers directly is the best way to narrow in on specific questions and understand how they actually feel about your emails.
Email CTA FAQ
What is a CTA in an email?
CTA stands for “call to action,” a text prompt that encourages the reader to take a specific action. Brands usually have an outcome in mind when they send an email. The CTA clarifies the desired next steps and compels the reader to take action immediately. CTAs typically take the form of buttons or other clickable elements that link to a relevant page where the action can be completed.
What are the best practices for creating an email CTA?
A good CTA is direct and concise, uses action-oriented language, makes the value proposition clear to the reader of the email, creates a sense of urgency, and stands out visually.
How do I add a CTA in an email?
Once you’ve finalized the language for the CTA, you can create a button or another visual element with text, an option offered by many email marketing platforms. You can also simply link plain text—ideally, increasing the size or using eye-catching color to help it stand out. Decide what page you’d like the CTA to link to based on the goals of the email, and make sure to test the link before you send.
How many CTAs should be in an email?
Stick to one or two CTAs in an email to keep things on message and avoid clutter. When using multiple CTAs, you can either make the same ask in two different ways or add a secondary CTA—a separate but related ask that might require less time or effort, which can help capture readers unlikely to follow through with the primary CTA.
