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How you can use dynamic, personalized CTAs in your marketing

Written by: Pamela Vaughan
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By now, you probably understand the importance of segmentation in marketing. Just consider the stats for segmentation in email alone. In a nutshell, better segmentation and personalization in your marketing leads to better results.

But segmentation doesn¡¯t have to be limited just to email marketing. Dynamic, or ¡°smart,¡± content helps marketers personalize website content and CTAs based on contact data in their CRM. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø uses contact records, lifecycle stage, and behavior data to show each visitor a more relevant CTA.

Consider this scenario for a moment: A visitor lands on your website and downloads your most popular ebook. Liking the content, they come back to see what else your company has to offer. Does it make any sense to show them a call-to-action for the same ebook they¡¯ve already read? Not at all. But with dynamic content, you can make it so that visitor automatically sees a brand new CTA when they return, targeted specifically to them based on what you already know about them. The result? A much more effective way to capture new leads and nurture existing ones into customers.

Sounds pretty magical, huh? Think you might want to start in your own marketing? Let¡¯s walk through exactly how dynamic CTAs work and how you can start incorporating them into your own marketing efforts.

Table of Contents

How Dynamic, Smart CTAs Work

If you¡¯re still a little hazy on the concept of ¡°dynamic content,¡± it¡¯s the term for aspects of a website or email that change based on a website visitor¡¯s profile data or history of interactions with a company. As a result, dynamic content creates an experience that is tailored specifically to the user. So when we say dynamic CTAs, or as we refer to them at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø we¡¯re simply applying the concept of dynamic content to the calls-to-action on your website or in your emails.

Think Amazon.com, for instance. When you visit that website, you see one set of purchase suggestions. Your friend, on the other hand, will see a completely different set of suggestions. It makes a lot of sense, right? You each have different identities, with your own preferences and needs. The website should adapt to match your browsing behavior, not the other way around.

Marketers need four core components to run dynamic CTAs effectively:

  • A centralized
  • A smart content generator
  • Web pages that support content variations
  • An email platform that uses the same contact data

Segmenting Your Smart CTA Targeting

To set up Smart CTAs, the first thing you need to do is set up your segmenting criteria. This criteria is what will trigger your smart content generator to display certain CTAs to different website visitors. The beauty is that there¡¯s really no shortage of ways you can segment your Smart CTAs. lets marketers segment dynamic CTAs by lifecycle stage or Smart List criteria. Marketers can use those rules to match each audience segment with a more relevant offer.

1. By lifecycle stage

A visitor¡¯s ¡°lifecycle stage¡± refers to how far along in their decision-making process they are with your company. Is this their first visit? Are they just doing research, or are they comparing your product/service to that of the competition? Have they been a customer for a while? The idea is, you should show your visitors different CTAs depending on their particular stage in the sales cycle.

For example, for a visitor you¡¯ve already identified as a marketing qualified lead, you might want to surface a more product-specific call-to-action such as a free trial offer. Whereas for a visitor you might classify as just a subscriber and not yet a lead, a CTA for a more educational, top-of-the-funnel offer such as an ebook that provides knowledge on an industry topic would probably be a better fit. (More on this in the next section).

At ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø we define our lifecycle stages as the following:

  • Subscriber
  • Lead
  • Marketing Qualified Lead
  • Sales Qualified Lead
  • Opportunity
  • Customer

2) By list criteria

Besides lifecycle stage, you can also choose to segment your Smart CTAs based on dynamic Smart Lists that can be set up using any piece of information (or combination of information) you have about that visitor in your contacts database, from profile information to website activity, and even visitors¡¯ engagement off your website, such as opens or clicks on your email messages or clicks on the content you share in social media.

For example, you can build Smart Lists and match them to related offers in a few practical ways:

  • Downloaded a specific ebook: Show a CTA for a related ebook or next-step resource on the same topic.
  • Belongs to a specific industry: Show a CTA for an offer tailored to that industry.
  • Engaged with similar content before: Show a CTA that builds on that demonstrated interest.

These are just a few starting points, but they show how dynamic CTAs can turn contact data into more relevant offers. Here are 30 ways to segment your contacts to get you started.

Aligning CTA Content With the Appropriate Segments

It¡¯s not just enough to create segments for your Smart CTAs. You¡¯ll also need to align the offers your calls-to-action are promoting with the individual segments you set up. After all, doing all that work to create specialized, targeted segments of your audience will be a royal waste of time unless you¡¯re triggering CTAs that cater to the interests and needs of each of those particular segments.

Start simple, then get more advanced

Before you start setting up a ton of detailed smart lists with very specific targeting criteria, make sure you conduct an audit of the offers you have at your disposal. When you¡¯re just getting started, you should aim only to create segments for which you have appropriate offers with which to target them. Because there are far fewer segmenting options when you target CTAs by lifecycle stages, I recommend getting started with Smart CTAs using that triggering method.

First, map each offer to the lifecycle stage it best supports. For example:

  • For a subscriber or new lead, use top-of-the-funnel offers like educational ebooks or webinars.
  • For a marketing qualified lead, use mid-funnel offers that help them evaluate solutions.
  • For a sales qualified lead, use bottom-of-the-funnel offers like a free trial or product demo.

This keeps your CTA aligned with what the visitor is most likely to need next.

Once you get comfortable using Smart CTAs by lifecycle stage, you can start creating more targeted marketing offers and implementing more advanced segmentation using dynamic lists. For example, you might create a specific ebook tailored just for contacts in one particular industry you target, which you can then display to a list of people who fit that industry criteria. Or maybe you create a free trial geared specifically toward contacts of a certain age group. And so on and so forth.

Choose your default CTA

Your smart content generator should also allow you to set a ¡°default¡± CTA. This is the CTA that will get shown to any visitor who doesn¡¯t satisfy the criteria of any specific segmentation you do. For example, if you set up a rule that triggers a specific CTA to show if a visitor has the lifecycle stage of ¡°lead¡± in your contacts database and you have no other rules set up, your default CTA will show to anyone who isn¡¯t a lead in your contacts database. Choose this CTA wisely. It should most likely be a call-to-action that you know performs well with a broad segment of your audience.

And remember: because you can only segment your Smart CTAs based on the information you¡¯ve already gathered about your contacts, your default CTA should probably be set as one of your top-of-the-funnel, awareness stage offers, since you¡¯ll have no information about brand new visitors to your site, and these are people who are most likely in the awareness stage.

Aligning Smart CTAs With the Right Channels

The next step is to map your CTAs to the individual channels and web pages you¡¯re using them with. Here are some alignment tips to take into consideration for implementing Smart CTAs on a channel-by-channel basis.

1. On your blog

When setting up Smart CTAs for your blog articles, it makes sense to set your default CTA as one of your top-performing, top-of-the-funnel offers that aligns with the content of that individual blog post. So if you typically blog about 6 different topics (for ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø¡¯s blog, for example, those categories might be SEO, blogging, social media, lead generation, lead management, and analytics), you could set up 6 different Smart CTA groups with the default CTAs for those groups set as an offer targeted at each of those 6 different topics.

2) On your various web pages

When aligning Smart CTAs to web pages, start by matching page intent to funnel stage. For example:

  • About Us page: Use an educational or trust-building CTA.
  • Pricing page: Use a product-focused CTA, such as a demo or free trial.
  • High-intent product pages: Use CTAs that help visitors take the next buying step.

Map your website pages to different stages of your sales cycle, and set your CTA rules to match that likely stage in the journey.

3) On your thank you pages

Thank-you pages are the pages visitors get redirected to after completing a form on your website, usually to redeem the offer they just converted on. Keep in mind that because this is the case, you¡¯ll have information about these users that you can use to your advantage in CTAs on your thank-you pages. Consider making the default CTA tailored to the subject of the original offer, and use your CTA segmentation to display CTAs that will move them further along in the sales cycle.

4) In your emails

lets marketers use dynamic CTAs in marketing emails as well as on web pages. The platform uses contact data to show each recipient the CTA variation that best fits their profile. So if you were, say, sending an email to a certain segment of your leads who have already downloaded 5 pieces of content and you know are engaged with your brand, you can send them all the same email asking them to sign up for a product demo, but displaying different, industry-specific demo CTAs depending on the profile information of each individual recipient. This saves you the time from creating and sending multiple emails, but still gives you the benefit of very targeted, segmented CTAs.

5) On other websites

Depending on the functionality of your smart content generator, you may be able to use Smart CTAs on other websites, too. In ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø for example, you could set up Smart CTAs using the information you have in your Contacts Database, and then embed those CTA groups on, say, a microsite you¡¯ve created. So if you¡¯re driving traffic to a microsite you¡¯ve created for a specific campaign, consider creating Smart CTA groups geared just toward the visitors of that website.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dynamic CTAs

What is a dynamic CTA?

A dynamic CTA is a call-to-action that changes based on what you know about a visitor, such as their lifecycle stage, list membership, or past interactions with your brand.

How are dynamic CTAs different from static CTAs?

Static CTAs show the same offer to every visitor, while dynamic CTAs tailor the offer to the person viewing it. That makes dynamic CTAs better suited to personalization and lead nurturing.

What criteria can you use to personalize dynamic CTAs?

You can personalize dynamic CTAs using criteria like lifecycle stage, smart list membership, profile details, website behavior, and email engagement.

Where can you use dynamic CTAs?

You can use dynamic CTAs on blog posts, web pages, thank-you pages, and in marketing emails. Some tools also let you embed them on campaign microsites or other websites.

Do dynamic CTAs work for anonymous website visitors?

Yes. When you do not have enough data to personalize the CTA, you can show a default CTA that is designed for a broad, top-of-the-funnel audience.

How do I measure whether my dynamic CTAs are working?

Measure dynamic CTA performance by tracking clicks, conversions, and conversion rates by audience segment or CTA variation. If your platform supports it, A/B testing helps you compare different offers, copy, or targeting rules.

What makes dynamic CTA copy more effective than ¡°Learn More¡±?

More effective CTA copy tells the visitor exactly what they will get and uses specific action language, such as ¡°Download the guide¡± or ¡°Start your free trial,¡± instead of generic text like ¡°Learn More.¡±

Designing Your Smart CTAs

Once you¡¯ve set up your segmentation rules, chosen your offer content, and aligned your Smart CTAs with their intended marketing asset, you¡¯ll still need to design your individual CTAs. You have a few options here: hire a designer, use a like ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø¡¯s, or take a stab at designing clickable CTAs in PowerPoint.

When you design each CTA variation, follow a few core :

  • Use compelling imagery to draw attention.
  • Show the value of the offer so visitors know why they should click.
  • Write actionable copy with clear verbs, such as ¡°Download now¡± or ¡°Start free.¡±
  • Match the language to the segment so the CTA feels relevant.
  • Fit the CTA to the placement by adjusting size, shape, and dimensions to the channel.

Good design makes each personalized CTA easier to understand and more likely to convert.

Once you start , you¡¯ll begin to reap the benefits of extreme personalization and segmentation.

Getting Started

Dynamic CTAs take the guesswork out of what to show your visitors next. When your calls-to-action adapt to what you already know about someone, every touchpoint becomes more relevant and more likely to convert.

Start with lifecycle stage segmentation and expand from there as your contact data grows. The more intentional you are about matching the right offer to the right person, the more strategic you become.

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