15 Call to Action Examples From Real Brands (And Why They Work)

Call to action (CTA) examples are all over the web, present in every bit of marketing material you read. They’re those simple, often-overlooked phrases that gently encourage you to make a move. When you only have seconds to make an impression on your audience, there’s a lot riding on your CTAs, so you’d be wise to consider them carefully.

By closely studying effective CTAs, you can learn what makes a strong one, while also ensuring that your copy doesn’t sound too generic. When you understand the key components of a winning tagline, you’ll know how to adapt them to your own offers.

Best call to action examples from real brands in 2024

For each example, we’ll put the brand and the CTA in the title. Then, we’ll share our thoughts on why it works well.

1. Dropbox – Find your plan
2. Trello – Sign up–it’s free!
3. Drinkra – Try it now
4. Khan Academy – Learners, start here
5. Hostinger – Claim deal
6. Sentry – Try Sentry for free
7. BambooHR – Get my free demo
8. Gaia Herbs – Take the quiz
9. Forks Over Knives – Try our #1 rated meal planner for free!
10. Mailwarm – Reach Inbox
11. Citylife Chiang Mai – What are you looking for today?
12. Bitdefender – See solutions
13. Toys Я Us – Ways to shop
14. Codecademy – What do you want to learn about?
15. CXL – Send me case studies

1. Dropbox – Find your plan

The goal of any CTA is to inspire visitors to take action. The clearer that action is, the bigger your chances are of convincing users. If you check out the Dropbox home page, you can see that it opts for a very clear-cut CTA reading “Find your plan.”

When you offer services that come in multiple tiers, it’s your job to guide users towards the choice that suits them best. The beauty of this CTA is that Dropbox actually does help visitors make the right choice. Once you click on it, Dropbox takes you to their plans comparison page so that you can determine which plan is best for your needs.

In this example, the key words are “Find” and “your”. Together, they indicate that users can make a personal choice because they’ll be empowered with the information they need to do it.

2. Trello – Sign up–it’s free!

Sometimes, the most effective CTAs are the simplest ones. “Sign up” is one of the most common call to actions you’ll see while navigating the web. There’s a reason it’s so popular, though – because it works.

“Sign up” encourages visitors to carry out an action they’re well familiar with. Trello takes this classic CTA and enhances it by adding a simple “it’s free!” When most visitors consider signing up for a service, the price will be a deciding factor. Therefore, by reassuring them that they can sign up at no cost, you eliminate that fear.

This CTA works for any website or service that offers a free plan. Once you convert visitors into users (even if they’re not paying for the service) it becomes much easier to convince them to upgrade to a paid tier.

3. Drinkra – Try it now

Drinkra’s “above the foldThe above the fold area on a webpage refers to the portion of the page that is visible without scrolling when the page first loads.” area is very simplistic. This is effective because it makes the reader instantly focus on the CTA.

And if for some reason you’re not immediately sold on trying this Drinkra coconut water because you want to learn more about the company, then there’s a secondary CTA that invites you to learn their story.

Overall, the combination of the sharp color contrast between the white CTA button and the black background, along with the design simplicity, make this a great call to action example.

4. Khan Academy – Learners, start here

Khan Academy is one of the largest free online academies in the world. It offers art, math, and science courses across many levels. There are also a broad number of classes in additional subjects you can choose from. With so many options, it can be overwhelming for new users to take the leap.

“Learners, start here”, tells visitors they can begin their learning journeys with a single click. What’s more, the CTA identifies visitors as “learners”. This is much more personal and directed than “new users” or “guests”, and it tells them they’re welcome in the academy.

“Start here” is a classic call to action example, but when you combine it with this subtle personalization, it becomes much more effective. The brief messaging directly before the CTA also plays a big role in its success, as it empowers visitors by reinforcing that “you can learn anything” using the Khan Academy resources.

5. Hostinger – Claim deal

Hostinger’s CTA is surrounded by several well-known conversion elements. The first is scarcity. Specifically time scarcity.

They show you the special deal that they are offering you and then underneath the details and the price, you have the CTA itself, right next to a countdown timer. The countdown timer creates a sense of urgency in many people – especially if they are truly interested in a product or service – because there’s a risk that the price will go up once the timer hits zero.

The second conversion element is directly below the CTA and the timer, and that’s the money-back guarantee. While the timer nudges you to take advantage of the offer “before it’s too late,” the money-back guarantee is telling you “c’mon, what have you got to lose; you can get your money back if you don’t like it.” This is a very effective one-two punch that helps Hostinger convert curious visitors into paying customers.

6. Sentry – Try Sentry for free

Sentry employs some unique elements on their homepage that do an admirable job of getting visitors to click on their CTA.

The first is a very subtle animation that shows the word “breaks” literally breaking and becoming crooked. The second is a fusion of social proof (4 million developers) and self-deprecating humor (tolerated by). Both of these speak directly to Sentry’s target audience and do so in a lightly humorous, fun way. The subconscious message is: “We understand you. And because we understand you, we’ve been able to build a software that caters to your needs.”

Since this type of service typically has high costs, Sentry offsets any concerns their potential customers might have by highlighting that you can try their service for free. Moreover, they add a small bit of customization by using the language “Try Sentry for free” instead of simply saying “Try it for free”.

7. BambooHR – Get my free demo

When you’re dealing with expensive B2B services that don’t advertise a price tag, convincing users to sign up becomes a lot more difficult. Usually, companies are hesitant to buy software as a service (SaaS) that doesn’t come well recommended or doesn’t offer a free trial.

BambooHR is precisely that kind of software. It offers custom prices depending on your needs, so it’s essential that the business is upfront about offering a free demo. “Get My Free Demo” is about as crystal clear as it gets.

This CTA also doubles as a lead-collection element. By offering a free demo in exchange for customer emails, users leave the door open for you to contact them down the road. That means you can write to users who haven’t accessed their private demo, or let customers know you’re available to answer any questions they might have.

8. Gaia Herbs – Take the quiz

Gaia Herbs initially greets you with some of their product line when you land on the page, with an invitation to start shopping. But if that CTA doesn’t grab you, they have a powerful reinforcement shortly below that.

Basically they are assuming that if you scrolled below the products then you might not know exactly what you’re looking for. Not everyone’s an herbalist after all!

Perhaps you have an ailment or you just want to improve your performance in some area of physical health. Whatever it is, if you “take the quiz” as they prompt you to do, then you will be shown the herbal supplements that will fit your needs.

9. Forks Over Knives – Try our #1 Rated MEAL PLANNER for FREE!

This plant-based diet website has numerous CTAs layered across their homepage as you scroll your way down, but they also utilize a sticky header where they have a continuous CTA that follows you as you consume their content.

This example works well because they designed the content to convince you to follow their eating style. By having the CTA follow you, it’s saying “hey, whenever you’re ready, you can get started for free here.” The idea is that you might not be convinced right away, but perhaps after reading an article or two you will be. And when that moment comes, you’ll know exactly what to do.

The CTA itself leads to an optional quiz where they ask you questions about your eating goals, food allergies, etc. You can complete it or just skip straight to giving them your email in exchange for the planner.

10. Mailwarm – Reach Inbox

One great way to craft a powerful CTA is to use language that tells visitors precisely what they’ll be able to achieve if they click on the offer. That’s exactly what Mailwarm does here.

The service offers you help in increasing email deliverability rates. Naturally, its to-the-point CTA reads simply, “Reach Inbox”.

Users who try out this service know that getting their emails to show up in inboxes and not spam folders can make a huge difference for their business. By keeping the CTA brief, Mailwarm makes sure that visitors focus on the all-important end goal – reaching an inbox.

11. Citylife Chiang Mai – What are you looking for today?

As an online magazine, the goal of Citylife Chiang Mai is to get you to read one or more of their articles and then hopefully click on a banner ad so they can make a little money. Their homepage is designed to do just that and their main CTA is essentially a prompt to get you to use their site’s internal search engine.

There is also a row of buttons below the main CTA which serve as their own individual CTAs for different topic categories ranging from dining to sightseeing. These buttons also subtly help to reinforce the main CTA by subconsciously informing the reader that whatever they are looking for in Chiang Mai, they will find it here.

If you do use the search engine, the results are displayed in a tri-column blog feed and show you all available articles that feature what you searched for. It’s very well done.

12. Bitdefender – See solutions

Bitdefender has several CTA examples on their homepage, but the first set of three is presented to you right when you land. The amount of total text in this initial section is low, yet they manage to create a tight mini sales funnel out of it. Let’s break it down:

The very first statement proclaims that Bitdefender is a global leader in cybersecurity. If I’m looking for cybersecurity solutions, then that immediately piques my interest. However, maybe I’m not entirely convinced. That’s where the follow up sentence comes into play. In only one statement, Bitdefender informs me that they not only have millions of customers, but that they’ve been in business since 2001.

Now that my inner skeptic is reassured that Bitdefender can do the job – otherwise they wouldn’t be in business for over two decades – it’s time to find the solutions that apply to me. And what do you know, Bitdefender conveniently introduces a horizontal triple box CTA setup for that exact purpose. Whether I’m a regular Joe, a small business, or a large company, I know exactly where to go. Click!

13. Toys Я Us – Ways to shop

Toys Я Us takes a similar approach to Bitdefender above, in that they have multiple CTAs that are categorized according to their customer’s needs. Since many people shop for their kids (or other people’s kids) by their age, having the different age range categories makes it very easy and convenient for the buyer to narrow down their options.

If for some reason the child they are shopping for has a particular interest in a cartoon or movie character then they can narrow down their search that way, or they can choose to shop by brand.

While most funnels try to stay narrow in order to avoid decision paralysisDecision paralysis occurs when an excess of choices or overly complex CTAs prevent customers from making quick and confident decisions in a sales funnel. in their buyers, this CTA example shows that it’s possible to go wide, as long as you organize your CTAs in a methodical way. In other words, always keep the end user in mind. If it serves the end user in a better way and makes it easier for them to make a buying decision then it doesn’t matter if it goes “against the norm.”

14. Codecademy – What do you want to learn about?

Codecademy uses a variation on the quiz we saw in the Gaia Herbs CTA example. The difference is that they skip over the first step where you have to decide to take the quiz. Instead they present you with the first question so it feels like you’ve already begun. And when you can see that the entire quiz is only three questions long, your next thought – whether conscious or subconscious – is that you might as well finish. After all, it’s only three questions.

This CTA works well because it gets over the initial decision hurdle of the typical “take a quiz” call to action by immersing you into the quiz almost non-consensually. Here you are, just scrolling down the page, and next thing you know, you’re taking a quiz. If someone is strongly considering signing up for a class in one of the subject areas that Codecademy caters, then this is a great way to push them over the edge.

15. CXL – Send me case studies

CXL’s homepage has four main call to action examples with the one above being the fourth. It works because it offers the reader upfront value for free. All they need to do is put in their email address and they will get access to the promised case studies.

Besides leading with value, CXL also sprinkles in some social proof directly underneath the CTA button. If there are already 130,000 other people reading this then surely you don’t want to be left in the dark. Do you? Of course not.

If you have any kind of report, guide, or template, then you can set up a similar lead capture. It’s a simple formula: promise valuable information + add social proof element + deliver on what you promised.

Conclusion

The common thread among great call to actions is that they communicate a clear offer while also creating an emotional response. Just telling visitors to “Sign up” likely won’t be enough – you’ll be much more effective when you tap into users’ desires and fears. That way, you can inspire them to jump at your offers.

Do you know of any captivating call to action examples from your favorite brands? Share them with us in the comments section below!