The Solution to the Call to Action Debate

How to create irresistible CTAs that serve both the writer and reader

Since starting my writing journey on Medium, I have been jostled by the debate of including calls to action (CTA). Each part of the debate serves either the writer or the reader and disadvantages the other party.

If you look at publication guidelines, you will see different requirements. Some allow CTAs at the end of your story, while others do not. Some will allow you to link within the text and others do not.

These different guidelines come from whether the publication prioritizes its audience or writers. However, there is a simple solution that serves both the writer and the reader in a CTA.

The CTA Debate

Before we enter the solution, let's quickly recap the debate on each side for having or not having CTAs.

For call-to-actions

Even on Medium, writers do not make much money for their content. Outside of viral stories, the majority of our stories only make us less than a dollar. If you assume it takes only an hour to write an article, then often we make less than $1/hour.

Now, as content creators, we take on the risk of not receiving a regular paycheck, but we tend to subsidy this by offering something of value in exchange for money. To be able to do this well, most creators prefer to inform our audience of our products through email, which means that we need to have access to email lists in order to really make a full-time living.

Our content can help us grow our email list if we let those reading our content know how to be added to our email list. This is the basis of many CTAs, where they tell you where and how to join their email list. Therefore, encouraging writers to include CTAs will help them to grow their business and be paid properly for their efforts.

Against call-to-actions

Now, the argument on Medium is that your readers pay $5/month to read your stories. Therefore, they should not have an interrupted reading experience or have to deal with ads during their reading.

Most CTAs are unwanted, generic, and interrupt the reader's experience. Whether it is asking a reader to clap for your story, follow you, or join your newsletter, as the reader, it feels like you are being asked to do something more when you are already paying to read their stories.

The Solution

The solution to the CTA debate is to produce a wanted, beneficial, relevant opportunity for readers to join your email list in a way that serves them and doesn’t interrupt their experience.

Seem impossible? It’s not.

The solution is very simple but requires a bit more work from the writers.

Instead of asking a reader to do something, in your story, inform them that you have an additional resource related to what you are talking about in your story.

I do this all the time in my graduate school publication. For example — in my story explaining how I wrote 7 scientific papers in 4 years — I wrote, “If you want to follow along with this checklist, you can access the Scientific Research Paper Checklist!”.

This is not asking a reader to do something, it is informing them that there is an additional resource that can serve them better. If they go to the site, they will have to enter their email to access the checklist, which allows me to grow my list by adding value to the reader.

The best CTAs following this solution have the following characteristics:

• Leads to something free, but requires an email
• Is highly relevant to the story
• Gives value to the reader
• Appears within the story

Free lead magnet

Our goal with these CTAs is to help writers grow an email list to monetize their efforts while providing value to the reader. You should not be offering something that they have to pay for as that would be an ad. Instead, you should have a lead magnet that requires them to enter their email but provides something of real value to them.

Relevance

This is the biggest factor in a good CTA is relevance to what you are saying in your story.

As a reader, it interrupts my experience if you let me know about a free Medium writing course, while I am reading about how to set up a good morning routine. On the other hand, informing me of a 30-day guide on creating the best morning routine will actually entice me into signing up and not feel disruptive.

As a writer, if you do not have a lead magnet that is highly relevant to the story that you are writing, then you should either create one or not include a CTA.

Honestly, if you do not have a relevant lead magnet, the likelihood that you will gain email subscribers is fairly low anyway.

Serves your audience

The goal of your CTA should be to primarily serve your audience by providing additional resources. Therefore, what you share should actually give value to the reader of that piece. Your reader is reading your story to gain something or to fix a problem. If you can directly articulate how your lead magnet further helps them do that, then not only does it not interrupt their experience but serves them in their journey.

Appears within the story

If your CTA follows the above criteria, then it should be fairly easy to weave it inconspicuously into your story. It should not be tagged onto the end of your story as a fleeting thought.

Your CTA should also fit naturally into your story, not stick out like a billboard. Add the link to your story as you would link to any resource or source. This allows the reader to have a continuous reading experience.

Lastly, your CTA should be short. It should be one sentence or less and flow seamlessly through your story. You do not need to go into depth on what your lead magnet provides, you simply need to let your reader know about it and they can decide if it is right for them.

Conclusion

Ultimately, generic call-to-actions — such as asking someone to like, follow, or sign up for a newsletter — are solely focused on the writer’s needs, do not convert well, and interrupt the reader’s experience. However, deleting all CTAs, can actually hinder both the writer's growth and the value to the reader. Therefore, it is time to rethink CTAs to enhance both the writer’s and reader’s experience.

A great CTA should inform the reader about a valuable lead magnet that is highly relevant to the story. It should flow well with your story and be added to provide value to the reader. These results have led to much higher conversion rates for me, and do not decrease the reader’s experience.