A Call to Action (CTA) is a prompt or request designed to encourage a specific action from the audience, typically urging them to take steps like making a purchase, signing up, or contacting the company.
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Last Updated: February 18, 2026
One of the best investments a small business can make is in marketing. Strategic marketing converts people from interested consumers to customers. Moving interested consumers down the pipeline is crucial for the success of a business. Every avenue to create a customer relationship and encourage consumers to become purchasers is deserving of exploration. One of the most helpful things a business can do is encourage potential customers to buy using a prompt or a call to action.
The definition of a call to action is a directive to a business’s consumers to take initiative on a certain task. A call to action is typically used in marketing campaigns to improve a company’s conversion rates. Another name for a call to action is a CTA.
There are several different ways that a business can prompt potential customers or clients to engage with the business. Most people encounter examples of CTAs in everyday life, including:
A call to action can be in various formats. Sites may prompt visitors to click a button or hyperlink to proceed down the customer pipeline. Whatever the prompt, it’s considered a call to action.
Using a call to action benefits businesses in a major way. A potential customer may be excited to enter the next phase of working with a business but is left confused without the use of a call to action. A good call to action:
Failing to provide a call to action can cause a business to lose the benefit of marketing in general.
Whatever the prompt is for a business’s call to action, the business owner creating it should make sure that it connects with the company’s target market. A CTA isn’t helpful if it uses language the audience is unfamiliar with; ideally, a call to action is short, sweet, and to the point, quickly leading the customer to do exactly what the company intends.
A strong call to action uses action words and hyperlinks where necessary to encourage the reader to head to the right place to make a purchase or subscribe to marketing emails. One of the keys to maximizing the advantages of a call to action is to keep the platform user-friendly, meaning the reader only needs to make one click to reach the end goal of the CTA.
To recap: the definition of a call to action is a prompt commonly used in business to direct a reader or potential customer to do something specific. A good call to action pushes potential customers down the customer pipeline and converts them from leads to customers and sales.
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Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. For specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
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