Is your CTA working for you?

Every now and then there's an email that just gets your attention, stands out from the crowd, and makes you click 'buy now' without even thinking about it.

Or, in this case, click 'insert coin'.

As a motorhead (a combination of petrolhead, dieselhead (diesel, stop sniggering), and batteryhead) I love Heel Tread socks. While others might favour shoes, or blazers, handbags or gadgets, I have an embarrassingly large collection of Heel Tread socks to showcase that anything automobile related is the heart and sole of my passion, and my sock drawer.

After all, who doesn't love an homage to the A Team van on their feet?

Since their launch, I've indulged in a [insert undisclosed sum] spending spree with them that now results in me having socks commemorating the General Lee, Steve McQueen's Bullitt Mustang, the Ford GT40, the Williams FW16, a Chequered Flag (I wear those on F1 Sundays...) and the Lotus 97T. I could go on. I won't. I might get in to trouble...

It's safe to say that if you've ever sat in an office with me you've likely noticed my socks. And the next time we're all allowed to sit in an office together again I won't mind if you decide to stare at my feet.

But I don't usually buy these socks because of great email content. I buy them because I get a weird sense of pleasure out of their playful nod to my favourite things: cars.

That was until this morning, when an email from Heel Tread arrived that understood exactly how to target its audience and play on nostalgia. And it had little to do with the content, or the product, and everything to do with the Call To Action, which stood out beyond the copy:

Yes. I clicked it too.

You can't help yourself, can you?

It got my attention so quickly that I'd clicked through from the email before I'd actually read the content, the image of a pair of socks harking back to my favourite video game from my childhood entering my subconscious by osmosis, and before I knew it I'd parted ways with ￡9.99.

And it was all because the CTA knew just what it needed to do: attract my attention and engage me. It understood its audience and it pulled me in hook line and sinker. If it had said 'buy now' I'd probably still be sitting here contemplating whether it'll be wise to wear a pair of multicoloured video game socks to my next meeting.

So, before you hit send on that email campaign, is that Call To Action really going to work for you? Is it relevant to your audience? Does it resonate with the content of your campaign? Is it really going to make me want to click it?

And I know it's easy to say. We've all been there and just put 'Sign Up Now' in our button text because our creative juices ran dry. But maybe now it's time to change. Be bold with your Call To Action and increase your conversion rate.

We know that the subject line is the first weapon in our armoury in a world of spray and pray emails, but take another look before you send out that campaign and really think: is that Call To Action going to engage my audience?

It did for me, and now I'm going to go and wait eagerly for the postman to deliver my Outrun socks. And while I'm waiting, I've found an arcade game to fill that nostalgic void too. I wonder if it'll arrive before the socks do? Actually, I wonder if it'll fit in the lounge? Or if anybody will notice...?