The guideline
Write CTA labels around the outcome the click produces — "Start your free trial", "Download the report", "See your price" — never a generic verb describing the mechanism, such as "Submit", "Send", or "Click here". When the CTA sits on an offer (a discount, a free asset, a demo), name that specific offer in the label rather than a generic verb: "Download free report", not "Submit". Keep the label short enough to read as one visual chunk, and make sure it survives being read on its own, without the surrounding sentence, since that is how a scanning visitor actually encounters it.
Common failures
- CTA copy is generic ("Submit", "Send", "Click here") instead of action-oriented and benefit-linked.
Where it applies
Where
Disciplines
Devices
Why it matters, how to fix it, and the research behind it
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