It feels like all I've done the last few days is shovel snow and more snow and still more snow. ❄️

Fortunately, today's scoop has nothing to do with moving snow from point A to point B, and everything to do with your CTA buttons.

|   Inside Scoop

The Losing Test That Led to 4% More Leads

by Curt del Principe

Today, I’ve got a special treat for you, something most companies won’t share: a peek at one of our losses.

A “best practice” that failed so hard we had to pause part of the test early. And, if I can wax clickbait-y for a moment, it’s a tactic you may be using in your calls-to-action as we speak.

So come for the trainwreck, but stick around for the lesson, because what we learned led to 4% more leads from our CTAs.

And I’m going to show you how to recreate it. (The improvement, that is. Not the trainwreck.) 

The Best Practice That Wasn’t

I turn to AJ Beltis, principal marketing manager of conversion strategy, when I need absolute authority on two things: 1) pop-culture movie references, and 2) content conversion.

So when I read an internal brief where a supposed best practice caused a 14% loss in conversion rate, I ran to him like Luke flying back to Obi-Wan. 

It all started with a test of the wording on our CTA buttons. Long-time readers may remember that our anchor texts were once a grab-bag of different styles.

“It was up to the bloggers’ discretion because each of those CTAs was individually placed,” AJ explains. “So sometimes it was ‘Get the template,’ sometimes it was ‘Download now.’”

And because we test everything, when we set out to make our CTAs more consistent, we started by testing different language options.

We were so confident in the results that we put our money where our mouse was and slapped the test on 25 of our highest lead-driving blogs.

“We felt pretty comfortable with the risk because we weren’t removing anything or changing anything drastic,” AJ says. “So it was a reasonably safe way to test something.”

John Hammond felt the same way in Jurassic Park. 

This article was originally published in August 2024.

|   Open Tabs

💫  How conversion funnels create a better customer journey [+ tips to optimize yours] 

😬  10 challenges marketers face when implementing AI [new data + tips] 

📚  Marketing fundamentals that can help teams build their first marketing strategy  

|   ICYMI

Curt talked to Moni Oloyede, the founder of MO MarTech, who, and I quote, “loves to talk smack about marketing.”  👉🏾 Read “3 bitter truths all marketers need to hear right now” 

This week's email was brought to you by Laura M. Browning. Story by Curt del Principe.

Subscribe to our other newsletters
Business news, but not boring: The Hustle  |  Stay current on AI: Mindstream  | Sell better: The Science of Scaling

Follow Masters in Marketing on LinkedIn and Instagram

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.