The CTA is the hinge point of your entire page. Everything above it exists to get visitors to this moment. Everything below supports the case for clicking. And yet, the median landing page uses "Get Started" — a CTA so generic it could apply to literally any product on earth.
In our analysis of thousands of pages, Call-to-Action is the third most weighted dimension at 15%. Pages that score 8+ on CTA have one thing in common: the button text tells you exactly what happens next and makes the action feel easy.
The action + value formula
The highest-converting CTAs combine an action verb with the value the user receives: "Analyze your page free" (action + value), "Start saving 10 hours/week" (action + specific outcome), "See my score" (action + curiosity). Compare with "Get Started" or "Submit" — no value, no specificity, no reason to click.
Friction kills more conversions than bad copy
A CTA can have perfect copy and still underperform because of perceived friction. Users are unconsciously calculating: "How much effort will this take?" If your CTA says "Sign up" but users don't know if it requires a credit card, they hesitate. Adding "Free · No credit card · 2 minutes" below the button reduces that friction dramatically. In our data, pages with friction-reducers near the CTA score 25% higher on the CTA dimension.