“Learn More:” The Most Mundane of Digital CTAs

There’s a special kind of disappointment that comes from reading something genuinely good online and then arriving at a call-to-action (CTA) like “Learn More.”

Yaaaaaaaawn.

It’s not wrong. It’s just…blah.

As a content developer, I’m a word enthusiast. A sentence sculptor. I mold words into stories, meaning, and emotion. So when a CTA feels generic, flat, or vaguely apologetic, I notice.

Don’t tell me what to do. Tell me the benefit. What do I get out of this?

To get another perspective, I enlisted the help of the digital marketing team at Rock City Digital (RCD) to help uncover why boring CTAs don’t convert and how marketers can do better.

CTAs Are Older Than the Internet

CTAs did not begin as banners, buttons, pop-ups, or call-out boxes on a landing page. Long before websites existed, business owners painted short messages onto storefronts and market stalls to convince passersby to stop, look, and buy.

Early storefront signage functioned as the original CTA: direct, benefit-oriented, and impossible to misunderstand. (Retrieved from In the Vintage Kitchen)

The internet didn’t invent the call to action. Modern CTAs are descendants of old-school persuasion techniques designed to generate a sense of urgency, pique interest and curiosity, evoke emotion, and drive foot traffic.

Today, CTAs are one of the most important parts of a website.

According to Semrush: “Without a clear and compelling CTA, visitors may leave your site without taking any action, resulting in missed business opportunities.”

In other words, a poorly designed CTA can have a ripple effect on several other aspects of your website.

A Quick Aside

CTAs exist inside a digital ecosystem in which each element feeds off the others to create a cohesive brand story. The RCD team explains:

“The copy informs the visual hierarchy, the placement of the CTA signals urgency, and the surrounding context sets expectations.”

Be careful not to fall for the folklore.

There is no magical marketing wand we can wave where changing the wording of our CTAs will automatically double revenue overnight.

Yes, CTA wording matters. But, RCD says, there’s more to it than that:

“You will see articles online about a single word change driving great leads and clicks, but those numbers are usually either cherry-picked or the result of fixing a CTA that was genuinely broken to begin with.”

Sometimes the “magic CTA” was not magic at all. Sometimes the original version was just disconnected from the surrounding content.

A better CTA can absolutely improve conversions. But usually, it works best when the rest of the page is already doing its job. Strong CTAs are not about sounding clever for the sake of cleverness. They are about making language feel purposeful.

With that, let’s uncover more insights about strong CTAs.

Strong CTAs Pair Actions with Outcomes

A strong call to action connects readers from what they just read to what they’re about to do next. (Retrieved from Britannica.)

“To us here at RCD, a CTA isn’t really a button. It’s the bridge between what someone just read and what they’re being asked to do next.”

That helps explain why so many modern CTAs fail.

Too many marketers treat CTAs like decorative website furniture. You write the page, slap a link underneath it, and call it a day. But if a CTA is truly a bridge, then it has a much bigger responsibility. It has to emotionally and logically connect the reader’s current mindset to the next step you want them to take.

“Most weak CTAs are not actually weak CTAs. They are strong CTAs attached to the wrong context.”

“Start Your Free Trial” is not inherently bad copy. But if the content above it never establishes value, urgency, trust, or clarity, then the CTA feels premature. The setup matters.

Simple CTAs like “Learn More” and “Click Here” do not convert. Why?

“Because they’re describing an action you’re going to take instead of a possible outcome.”

Nobody actually wants to “submit.”

Nobody wakes up excited to “learn more.” People want answers, solutions, and results.

That’s why:

• “Compare Pricing Plans” performs better than “Learn More.”
• “Get the Guide” performs better than “Click Here.”
• “Build Your Portfolio” feels stronger than “Get Started.”

“By telling the reader exactly what is on the other side of the click, it signals attentiveness, and attentiveness signals competence.”

How to Write a Strong CTA

Strong CTAs pull readers in. (Retrieved from Ready Cloud.)

1. Start with the main copy.

Before redesigning your CTA, start with the language leading up to it. When you’ve left your reader in a good spot, and they need to complete a task, reach an outcome, or go to a new spot on your website, that’s when you can begin to strategize your CTA.

2. Write the obvious CTA.

If all you can think of on your first draft is “Learn More” or “Click Here,” then so be it! Get it on the page.

The simple CTA can serve as a placeholder until you get your thoughts together on what the page is actually asking your reader to do.

Let it be ugly. Let it suck. Nobody has to see your first draft.

3. Pair the action with an outcome.

A good CTA answers two questions:

“What do you want me to do now?”

AND

“What will I get out of clicking this link?”

So, start there. Answer those two basic questions for your reader. They don’t have to be gee whiz. Just answer the questions.

Do you want your audience to download a marketing guide?

Will they earn a discount if they click register for an event within 30 days?

Do you want them to subscribe to your newsletter?

These are all valid actions you want your audience to take.

4. Grab a shovel and start digging.

Once you have the simple “Learn More” CTA down on the page and you’ve answered the action and outcome questions, do some research!

Find out what language other companies—or, better yet, your competitors—are using for their CTAs.

Check out these examples:

• Compare Pricing Plans
• Build Your Portfolio
• Claim Your Seat
• Take the 60-Second Quiz
• Start Your Free Trial

These examples tell readers what they’re going to get, where they’re going to go, or what action they should take next.

HubSpot has 49 other great call-to-action examples you can use. Pick a few that align with your brand voice and the context of the content around it.

5. Test, test, and test again!

If a CTA isn’t performing well on the website, change it. Plain and simple. Try new wording. Make the outcome clearer. Test a different action entirely.

The best CTAs you ever saw were probably the second or third renditions.

Sometimes the button is the problem. Sometimes you need to update the language leading up to the CTA. Either way, test it.

Make your readers earn the click.

Final Thoughts Before You Click Away

From newspaper headlines to storefront signs to tiny buttons on our webpages, calls to action have always existed to move people toward something worth doing.

The best language sparks movement, emotion, and curiosity. Even the smallest parts of our websites should push readers forward instead of leaving them standing still.

CTAs are hard to perfect. What works now may not work six months from now.

But that’s what I love so much about marketing: consumer behavior shapes content, and content shapes consumer behavior right back.

So go forth. Impress your boss. Increase your site traffic.

And please — for the love of marketers — retire “Learn More.”