Call to action
The one button or link you most want people to click on a screen, made to stand out from everything else.
Primary (CTA)
- Filled, high contrast
- One per screen
- "Create invoice"
Secondary
- Outline or plain link
- Can be several
- "Cancel", "Learn more"
What it is
A call to action (CTA) is the main thing a screen asks people to do: "Start free trial", "Book now", "Create project". It's usually a filled, high-contrast button, while secondary actions are quieter outlines or plain links.
One primary CTA per screen is the rule of thumb. When three buttons compete equally, people hesitate.
Good CTA labels say what happens: "Create invoice" beats "Submit".
How to ask for it
“Make the button more clickable.”
“Make "Start free trial" the only primary call to action on the page: a filled brand-color button, larger than the rest, above the fold. Turn "Contact sales" into a secondary outline button next to it.”
"More clickable" is vague; "call to action" defines the screen's main goal and the prompt sets how it out-ranks other actions.
You've seen this in
- M"Get started" on most SaaS home pages
- AAirbnb's "Reserve" button
- AAmazon's "Add to Cart"