Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has a 200% ROI, and yet many businesses do not get the full advantage of this Digital marketing strategy because they fail to use effective call to action . In fact, 70% of small business B2B sites lack CTAs.
If you want a high click-through rate (CTR) on your PPC ads, you’ll need to craft irresistible call to action. In this article, we’ll go over what PPC call to action are and give you 12 tips on how to make them stand out.
In marketing, a CTA is any language that invites readers to do something. Whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, viewing a website, or making a purchase. Without CTAs, a landing page leaves a potential buyer hanging, without direction on where to go next. That’s why CTAs are so crucial. They turn casual browsers into potential leads and customers. Any marketing effort involves writing the perfect CTA Button.
In pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, CTAs are what drive the click-through rate (CTR). They are what get users to click on the ad. CTAs go hand in hand with PPC. So they need to be compelling.
There are 3 broad categories of CTAs in PPC: those that invite user engagement, those that generate leads, and those that encourage a direct response. Which you use will depend on your ad campaign goals:
No matter which type of Call to action/(CTA Button) you’re after, following some basic guidelines can make them more effective. So without further ado, here are 12 tips on writing the most effective PPC calls to action:
Call to action need to be simple and clear. Tell people exactly what clicking the ad will do. In other words, what you want them to do, e.g. “buy now.” Remember PPC ads have a strict character limit, so you need to make every word count. You can’t afford to be vague or unclear.
Always write digits for numbers as this reduces character count and the time it takes to read the ad, e.g. “24” instead of “twenty-four.”
We recommend sticking to just one 1 Call to action – (CTA Button) line per PPC campaign. That way, your CTA buttons are not competing against each other and your campaign has a clear goal & desired action for the users.
Every Call to Action should get the user to do something. So use strong verbs that convey action. call to action examples, “skyrocket your ROI on SEO marketing Materials” sounds a lot better than “read SEO insights.”
Use words that tap into users’ emotions. After all, people buy with their emotions first, then rationalize their purchase later. This is true even for B2B customers. Try to make them enthusiastic about trying your product by using exclamation points, e.g. “Buy now for 50% off!” If your Call(CTA) is enthusiastic, users are more likely to be.
Creating a sense of urgency motivates users to act. If they feel like the offer is limited, they’ll think it’s now or never. So consider advertising a limited-time sale, offer, or promotion to get their attention. This way, you take advantage of their fear of missing out (FOMO), a powerful motivator.
You might even contrast with something negative, like “stop eating junk and transform your life with an easy diet proven to work by thousands.” Appealing to users’ negative sentiments, like their bad eating habits, is risky and may not always work. But it can be a powerful way to incite action.
Show that there is value behind every Call to action, e.g. benefits, bonuses, or return on investment (ROI). Otherwise, users don’t know whether clicking on the ad is worth their time.
Draw on a unique selling point (USP). Maybe you can offer a free consultation or a free trial. Such offers communicate value to the user by showing what’s in it for them. If it can’t show value, your Call to Action won’t generate clicks. Simple as that.
Say what your business does and the results you get, while keeping it at a high level. This will intrigue customers and make them want to learn more. You don’t want to give away too much, but just enough to spark interest.
Leave cliffhangers. TV shows have mastered the art of cliffhangers to get viewers to keep watching. As humans, we need closure. The same goes for Call to action-(CTA Buttons). Make a promising claim without giving all the details and users will want to learn more.
Humans have an urge to belong. We want to do what we see others doing. Call it the bandwagon effect, following the crowd, or peer pressure. Whatever you call it, it’s here to stay, and your Call to action can leverage it by citing influencers or celebrities, e.g. “Try Lebron James’s work out routine for $10/month.” You can also cite recommendations, endorsements, reviews, and ratings. Together, these are considered “social proof.”
Social proof is the future of marketing. As the modern world becomes more connected, people place more and more value on the opinions of others. Try including social proof for your product or service in your CTA to make it that much more irresistible.
What keeps many from investing in a new product or service is risk. People don’t want something to turn into a waste of time or money. So your CTA should show that they have nothing to lose. Do this by offering a free trial, a money-back guarantee, or no-obligation quote. Users feel more at ease when they know what they’re getting into.
Offering a low-priced or free product in hopes of gaining a new customer is called the loss leader strategy. By marketing a product below its value, you stimulate interest. Then once the user is hooked, you can increase the price. The user will feel more comfortable paying more once they’ve experienced the product’s real value. It’s a win-win.
The internet makes us impatient. We want instant information and gratification. Your Call to Action can tap into this by showcasing instant delivery, e.g. “Get a free demo now.” By including the word “now,” the Call to Action implies that the user won’t have to wait for a benefit. The reward for clicking on the ad will be immediate. This way, you’ll increase your click-through rate (CTR) and generate more leads.
Make your CTA highly relevant to your target audience. It could be masterfully crafted, but it won’t do you any good if it’s targeted at the wrong people. For instance, asking regular consumers to buy B2B software is unlikely to generate much response. You need to match the Call to action to the intended customer.
You can also personalize the Call to Action by drawing on shared interests or using a casual tone. Users want to connect with you before engaging. One way to do this is by writing in the second person. The pronoun “you” implicates the reader, making them feel involved. For call to action examples, “buy the hot tub you deserve” is more appealing than “buy a hot tub.”
Consider the words users type into search engines when looking for your product and tailor your Cal to action(CTA) accordingly. If their searches include action phrase like “free,” “best,” or “near me,” you’ll want your Call to action to reflect that. Try writing “free SEO tool” or “best SEO tool,” for instance.
PPC ads display differently depending on the device. Mobile devices have smaller screens, for call to action examples, so ads have to be smaller. Keep this in mind when crafting CTAs for a mobile audience. Plus, mobile users are usually searching for a quicker answer. So make mobile CTAs short and to the point and try offering an instant solution. You might also enable call extensions for mobile CTAs. That way, clicking the ad automatically triggers a call to your business phone number. When you do this, make sure to set the PPC campaign preferences to only show ads to mobile users. Otherwise, users on other devices will be left at a dead end when clicking your ad.
As for PCs and tablets, search engines, including Google, consider them the same when it comes to PPC ads. Since tablets have only slightly smaller screens than PCs, you don’t need to worry about altering your CTA much between tablet and PC users. Both devices, and PCs especially, allow users to research more easily, so you might leave CTAs that require more time to this audience.
Success with PPC advertising is a matter of trial and error. Perform A/B tests to see what CTAs work best. Call to action examples: you can test different CTA button placements and colors. Generally, the CTA button color should contrast with the blog post & web pages/landing page background color. Test different CTA wordings, word orders, and lengths. The amount of variation is endless.
Though A/B testing different CTAs can be time-consuming, it’s worth nailing down the best one because it could make a huge difference in clicks, conversions, and revenue.
Of course, there are some pitfalls to avoid when crafting the perfect CTA. If you can avoid them, you’re guaranteed to improve your click-through rate (CTR). Here they are:
Having a sensational call to action can make the difference between a failed PPC campaign and a successful one. If you implement the tips above, you can dramatically increase your click-through rate, conversions, and sales.
Need help managing your next PPC campaign? Our experts at ppc.co have over a decade’s worth of experience in everything from Google and Facebook Ads to landing page optimization. We specialize in optimizing your return on ad spend. You name it, we can help. Get in touch to start scaling your business today.
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Pay-per-click (PPC) remains one of the fastest paths to pipeline, but the economics vary widely by industry and are shifting as AI reshapes the SERP. CPCs are up versus prior years, conversion rates have improved in many categories, and lead quality is increasingly a function of how well advertisers feed first-party data into bidding models.
The table below summarizes 2025 search-PPC benchmarks by sector—CPC, conversion rate (CVR), and cost per lead (CPL)—so you can compare what “good” looks like in your niche and calibrate ROI assumptions.
Use these numbers as directional guardrails, then layer in your own close rates and LTV to get to the only metric that matters: profitable growth.
| Sector | CPC (2025) | CVR (2025) | CPL (2025) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorneys & Legal | $8.58 | 5.09% | $131.63 | High LTV offsets cost; intake speed drives ROI. |
| Home Services | $7.85 | 7.33% | $90.92 | Strong local intent; geotargeting and call flows matter. |
| Healthcare (Physicians & Surgeons) | $5.00 | 11.62% | $56.83 | Wide variation by specialty; appointment UX boosts CVR. |
| Real Estate (Agents/Brokerages) | $2.53 | 3.28% | ~$100.48 | Lower CVR keeps CPL high; lean on LSAs/retargeting. |
| B2B / Business Services | $5.58 | 5.14% | $103.54 | Longer funnels—optimize to qualified pipeline value. |
| Restaurants & Food | $2.05 | 7.09% | $30.27 | Efficient lead costs; fast payback with online ordering. |
| Automotive – Repair/Service | $3.90 | 14.67% | $28.50 | Top-tier CVR; excellent for local lead generation. |
In short, AI is changing the way PPC campaign management is occurring, and it's happening FAST.
ROI ≈ (Close-Rate × Avg Customer LTV ÷ CPL) − 1
Example (legal): if close-rate 12% and LTV $6,000 on CPL $132 → ROI ≈ (0.12×6000 / 132) −1 ≈ 4.45x (345% net). Improve any one input (faster intake bumps close-rate; better routing lowers CPL) and ROI jumps. Benchmarks for CPL/CVR above provide solid starting points. LocaliQ
PPC will keep paying when two things are true:
(1) you can convert and qualify leads quickly, and
(2) your bidding models are trained on the outcomes that actually make you money.
As AI compresses differences in targeting, the edge shifts to first-party data, creative velocity, and value-based bidding.
Treat the benchmarks above as starting points, then rebuild your ROI math from the ground up: ROI ≈ (Close Rate × LTV ÷ CPL).
Contact us today for your customized PPC audit to see how we can improve your search engine marketing ad spend.
When you’re running pay-per-click (PPC) ads, it’s easy to assume clicks mean genuine interest, but most car shoppers are just kicking tires online. Seeing your inventory once doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy anytime soon or even at all. If you want to reach the portion of clicks that come from serious buyers, you need to use retargeting.
The reality is that even prospects who intend to buy a car will bounce before contacting you or visiting your lot in person. And if you don’t have a way to keep them aware of your business, when they’re ready to buy, they’ll buy from a competitor. Running retargeted ads will keep your dealership in their awareness even after they bounce.
According to a 2022 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study, the average person spends more than 14 hours searching for a new car, which includes visiting around 5 websites before making a purchase decision. The sites they visit include automakers, dealers, third-party sites, and pre-owned car lots with online inventory. Your prospects aren’t going to buy right away, so to get the sale you need to reel them back in. If you’re not using retargeting – also called remarketing – in your PPC campaign, you’re missing out on hot leads.
Buying a car isn’t a small decision. People compare makes, models, and deals and look for dealerships with great reputations. Getting a single click from a potential car buyer isn’t enough to make the sale. And when they bounce, there’s no guarantee they’ll remember you exist. You’re paying for all those initial clicks, and if potential leads never come back you’ve wasted your ad spend. When you use retargeting, you’ll have another chance to turn their curiosity into a conversation, and that’s why remarketing is an essential component in every PPC ad campaign.
PPC ad retargeting for car dealerships shows your ads to people who have already clicked on an ad or visited your website. When implemented strategically, it keeps your dealership visible across multiple platforms and follows those people across the web. For example, when you run retargeted ads on the Google Display Network, your display ads will show up on the blogs, news sites, and apps your prospects frequent.
You can also run retargeting campaigns on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. As long as your prospects scroll through their daily feed, your ads will show up for them if they’ve already interacted with you. YouTube also offers retargeting options with video ads that play right before the content. In fact, don’t underestimate the power of YouTube video advertising. According to data from Wyzowl, video ads convince 84% of people to buy a product or service.
Not everyone searching for a new car will respond to the same bland, boilerplate message. For example, someone browsing luxury SUVs isn’t going to click on an ad that says, “Low APR on all models!” That’s where remarketing shines. It lets you tailor your message to what each user actually wants, which increases response rates.
With retargeting, you can segment your audience based on their interests and behavior. For example, someone comparing financing terms won’t be swayed by flashy sports car imagery. With retargeting, you can show truck shoppers truck ads and sports car shoppers sports car ads. It sounds simple, but it’s one of the most powerful marketing methods of all time. People are far more responsive to messages that feel personal. You may have caught their attention with a general ad at first, but once they start browsing those SUVs on your website, you can retarget them with SUV ads.
When you use retargeting, you can provide different calls to action (CTAs) to users based on how they’ve engaged with your web pages. A visitor who spent a lot of time on your truck inventory pages can be served ads for your latest truck deals. Someone who checked out your lease specials can be hit with ads that talk about financing offers. It’s deceptively simple and brutally effective. Relevance is everything. When your ads reflect what the prospect was already thinking about, it feels personal and resonates.
A next-level tactic is using engagement depth to determine how strong your call to action should be. For instance:
· Multi-page viewers and long dwell times. These are warm leads and can be retargeted with stronger CTAs like “Book a test drive” and “Get a quote today.” They’re close to converting and just need a little push.
· Single-page bouncers. These are people who just peeked at your site. They can be re-engaged with lighter touchpoints like a general promotion or model comparison guide to reel them back in.
· Abandoned lead forms. If someone started filling out a form but didn’t finish, retarget them with a reminder and a stronger offer to sweeten the deal (e.g., “Complete your form for $500 off!”).
This level of nuance turns retargeting into a conversion machine and allows you to show the customer exactly what they want to see.
People don’t buy cars from whatever dealer they find first. That’s too risky. They buy from dealerships they trust and that feel familiar. You can build that sense of familiarity and trust through retargeting. For example:
· Consistent branding across ads. Using consistent branding, design, and messaging throughout your ads reinforces your dealership’s identity.
· Frequency builds familiarity. People need to see a brand between 5-7 times before they’ll remember it. Retargeting puts your dealership in front of people over and over again. Even if they don’t click right away, it’s helping to establish your credibility.
· Social proof works. When you use social proof like customer testimonials or awards in your ads it builds trust with your prospects.
Trust is earned over time, and retargeting will help you get it.
If you’re not using retargeting, your competitors definitely are. Car dealerships operate in one of the most brutally competitive markets out there, with national chains and franchise giants dominating search results and flooding ad channels with endless budgets. If you’re not showing up again and again, your competitors will, and they’ll scoop up all your leads.
The good news is you don’t need a massive marketing budget to get results. Retargeting allows smaller, local dealerships to play smart rather than trying to play big. When you focus on local PPC with hyper-targeted remarketing, you can reach a smaller, more qualified audience – people who are actually in your area, browsing your inventory, and likely to buy soon.
And unlike those cookie-cutter campaigns from national dealers, you can make your messaging feel personal and specific to your local community. That’s an edge big budgets don’t have.
Every visitor who leaves your website without converting is a potential sale but not necessarily lost. With smart retargeting, you can bring them back into your funnel and stay top-of-mind while your competitors waste money shouting into the void. Persistence wins the sale and retargeting is how you stay on the map.
To be blunt, search ads can get expensive fast, especially when clicks can cost a couple dollars per click. Pouring money into cold traffic is gambling on people who may not be ready to engage. Retargeting changes everything.
Display retargeting clicks typically cost a fraction of what you’d pay for search ads using competitive keywords. You’re no longer paying top dollar to get someone’s attention from scratch – you’re nudging people who already know who you are, and those people are more likely to respond. This makes retargeting one of the most cost-effective ways to use your advertising budget.
· Lower CPC, higher intent. Retargeting costs less per click, but you’re targeting people who already visited your site and showed interest.
· Better conversion rates. Familiarity breeds trust. Retargeted visitors are statistically more likely to convert than new users who just clicked an ad out of curiosity.
· Higher ROI. Since retargeting reaches warm leads, the cost of acquiring a lead is usually lower, which means your overall cost per lead is lower and you get better ROI.
If you’re skipping remarketing because you think it’s just something “extra” that doesn’t make a difference, you’re not saving money – you’re losing easy wins. Instead of perpetually chasing new, cold traffic, invest in converting the traffic you’re already getting. That’s exactly what remarketing does.
Generic ads are fine for first impressions, but once someone has browsed your inventory it’s time to get specific with dynamic retargeting. Here’s how it works:
When a prospect views a specific vehicle on your site, you can use retargeting ads to show them the exact vehicles they viewed and others like it down to the year, color, trim, and mileage. For example, if they looked at a black 2005 BMW 535i, that’s exactly what they’ll see in the ad – the same photos, same specs, all across sites like YouTube, Facebook, news platforms, and more. This reminds your prospects of exactly what they want.
Dynamic retargeting works by integrating your live inventory feed with your ad platform, like Google Ads or Meta. This means the vehicles displayed in your ads will always be up to date and won’t feature cars you sold last week.
Beyond personalization, dynamic ads are an incredible tool for creating a sense of urgency:
· Leverage scarcity. With these ads, you can leverage the power of scarcity by stating that your inventory won’t last. Using messages like “Only 1 left” or “Recently reduced” signals that the opportunity won’t last.
· Show what’s popular. If a particular model is getting a lot of views, let your prosects know. People don’t want to miss out on a good deal.
· Trigger action with FOMO. Fear of missing out is real, and when people see the car they want again – with a reminder that it might sell soon – they’re more likely to come in for a test drive.
By using retargeted ads, you can increase conversion rates by up to 200% compared to standard display ads. These ads feel more like a helpful reminder than an outright advertisement.
If you’ve never run paid ads before, it’s easy to assume your only options are basic keyword targeting and generic follow-up ads. But today’s ad platforms give you a buffet of hyper-specific targeting capabilities to fine-tune exactly who sees your ads, where, when, and how.
One of the most effective PPC retargeting tactics for car dealerships is location-based targeting. With radius targeting, you can serve ads to people within a specified distance from your dealership, like within 10-15 miles. These will be prospects who are not only likely to visit your site but could realistically walk into your showroom today. Don’t waste ad spend on clicks from people three states away.
Then there are device-specific campaigns. If your analytics show that 75% or your traffic comes from mobile (this is common), you can launch a mobile-only retargeting campaign with click-to-call buttons, mobile-optimized landing pages, and a map and directions built right into your ads. This will improve the user experience and increase conversion rates.
Timing also matters. When you schedule your ads you can control when they appear. Run them during lunch breaks, in the evenings, or on weekends when people have more time to browse car listings and are more likely to make big purchase decisions.
Other strategic targeting elements include:
· Demographic targeting. You can tailor your messages based on age, income level, and household status. A 25-year-old college grad and a 45-year-old parent are not shopping for the same reasons even though they might buy the same car.
· Behavioral triggers. You can create audiences for your retargeted ads based on repeat visits, clicks, video views, or interaction with a specific feature like a trade-in calculator.
· Lookalike audiences. Build new audiences that resemble your best customers. Platforms like Meta and Google are really good at identifying similar users based on their behavior online.
The bottom line is that retargeting doesn’t have to be broad. With the right strategy, it becomes a smart, cost-effective system for reaching the right prospects at the right time.
Have a sale, lease offer, or year-end clearance? Retargeting can amplify the urgency to act now. By offering short-term discounts and financing deals, you can tap into the urgency people feel when presented with time-sensitive offers. Emphasize the end date using a countdown timer or final deadline to create FOMO (fear of missing out).
With this type of retargeting, you can align your ads with your email messaging to increase conversions even more. For example, if you sent out a promotion to your email list, they’re likely to see your retargeted ads and be reminded of the deal you’re offering.
Retargeting is the PPC secret weapon most car dealerships don’t take advantage of. Using this strategy can make the difference between a one-time curious visitor and a buyer ready to schedule a test drive. If you’re spending money on clicks without retargeting your visitors, you’re wasting your ad spend.
At PPC.co, we specialize in high-performance white label PPC campaigns that include smart retargeting from day one. Whether you’re launching your first campaign or looking to tighten up your existing ad strategy, we can help you capture more leads, drive more traffic, and move cars off your lot. Let’s turn those clicks into closed deals – contact us now to get started.
