The “click here” call to action has been widespread in both email and online text from HTML’s early origins. Indeed, the phrase “click here” has lost its meaning in more ways than one.

That is precisely the issue with utilizing it as a call to action in email marketing.

What exactly is a CTA in email?

We can’t be faulted for overusing the phrase “click here.” At first look, it seems to be a clear call to action, a straightforward request for your subscriber to do a certain action.

As marketers, we’re just asking our readers to help us achieve our campaign’s objectives.

If you’re trying to make your text as short and snappy as possible, you’ve undoubtedly realized that “click here” are two words you can nearly always eliminate.

Email samples of a call to action

Here are three examples of powerful CTAs that work:

The Sour Southerner

The calls to action in the publication’s email campaigns are usually noticeable. In this case, they utilized the phrase “Island life.” “Sorry, no margaritas.” “Shop BS: It’s healthy for the soul,” and so on. To add clarity, they could even include the fast prelude “Read on:” similar to how they include “Shop BS:” in the second link.

Warby Parker

Warby Parker’s email calls to action are both convincing and instructive. “Blog it up” matches the company’s informal and humorous branding that consumers know and appreciate, but it does not lose clarity in the process.

Uprising of Artifacts

In this email, Artifact Uprising employs one powerful call to action to get their readers to convert, which in this case means completing a survey. The CTA is brief, to the point, and to the point.

Conclusion

None of the above is “breaking” news: For more than a decade, people have been urging people to remove “click here” links. The 2002 article “Why ‘Click here’ is terrible linking practice” compiled several excellent arguments for avoiding such use.

That was written over two decades ago, and five years before the iPhone transformed the way many of us browse emails. Nonetheless, “click here” remains a standard in email copy.

So, are you going to call a client out the next time you see them urging subscribers to click here or there?