CTA button copy: say what the reader gets, in their own voice

Date: 2026-10-27 · Topic: CRO / sales-page copy · Status: playbook + Cedwyn audit (changes PROPOSED)

The evidence (with its limits)

• "Your" -> "My", +90% clicks. Michael Aagaard (ContentVerve) and Oli Gardner ran an A/B test on an Unbounce PPC landing page selling a 30-day free trial. They changed one word on the button, "Start your free 30 day trial" to "Start my free 30 day trial". After three weeks the "my" version had a 90% higher click-through to the payment page. (Aagaard, Unbounce blog, 22 May 2013, read 27 Oct 2026. CXL's forms article repeats it.) Limits: one test, one page, 2013. The sample size isn't published. It measured clicks to the next step, not paid sign-ups.
• Benefit beats a vague verb, +33.1%. Empire Flippers changed their blog-sidebar signup button from "Join us!" to "Make Money Flipping Websites" and got 33.10% more conversions. (Via CXL, read 27 Oct 2026. The original test write-up wasn't read: secondhand.)
• Aagaard's rule (same Unbounce post): button copy should answer "what will I get?" and "why should I click?". Longer, specific copy beats short generic copy "as long as it's the version that gets the most conversions". Treat it as a hypothesis to test, not a law.
• For a small site: with tens of buyers a month you can't A/B test a button (see ab-testing-small-lists.md). Use these patterns as sensible defaults, change one button at a time, and log the change date in the annotations log so a before/after can be read later. Expect noise.

How to write the button (checklist)

1. Name the thing the reader gets, not the action they take for you: "Get my copy", "Send me chapter 1", "Read the free edition". Avoid "Submit", "Buy", "Join", "Click here".
2. First person ("my", "me") when the button finishes the sentence "I want to ...". Check it reads naturally ("Get my e-book · £4.99"). If "my" sounds forced, use the plain benefit with no pronoun.
3. Put the price or "free" on the button when the next step asks for money or an email. It removes a surprise and the click is a real yes. Keep it honest: no "was" prices (see uk-reference-pricing-was-now-emma-sleep-2026.md) and no false urgency (uk-dmcc-act-urgency-reviews-price-copy.md).
4. No internal jargon on buttons: version numbers, SKU names and file formats go in the line under the button, not on it.
5. One primary button per card, so the eye goes to it first. Secondary links ("Contents & samples") look like links, not buttons.
6. A microcopy line under the button answers the main worry: "Instant download · EPUB + PDF · 14-day refund" (only state what is actually true).
7. Welsh and Spanish too: write each version natively (e.g. "Anfon y bennod ataf", "Quiero mi copia"). Don't translate word for word, and get a human to check (helo-blod-free-welsh-translation-trilingual-copy.md).
8. Accessibility: the visible text is the accessible name. If the price is shown as a separate element, make sure "Get my copy, £4.99" still reads as one phrase to screen readers, and keep tap targets at least 44 px.

Measuring it

• Before the change: note the clicks on the button (Clarity or GA4 click event) and the purchases per 1,000 /ebooks/ views over 14 days.
• Change one button set only. Annotate the date (tools/annotations_log.py).
• After 14 days, compare the click rate. Report it as directional unless each side has at least ~100 clicks.

How we apply it to Cedwyn (audit 27 Oct 2026, 08:10Z, live /ebooks/)

Button texts on cedwyn.bucklerfamily.estate today: - "Buy v0.0.2 · £4.99" ×8: this leads with the version number and "Buy". PROPOSED: "Get my copy · £4.99", with "Edition v0.0.2 · instant download" in the line under the button. - "free version (v0.0.1 2026)" ×9: this is lower-case and a label rather than an action. PROPOSED: "Read my free edition", with "v0.0.1 · no sign-up" under it (only if that's true; check the flow). - "Buy all four — £19.96": PROPOSED: "Get all four books · £19.96". The four separate prices add up to £19.96, so there's no saving to claim. Don't say "save" unless a real discount exists. - "Send me the chapter" (sample form): already first person and specific. Keep it. Optional: "Send me chapter 1 (free)". - "Read v0.0.1 · free" / "Read the free first chapter": fine. Make sure they're consistent. - "+ supplement, 25 Oct 2026 (free PDF)": a link, not a button, which is fine.

Rules: these are body-text changes, so they go to the onpage/bizdev worker as PROPOSED, with no wording change without the usual sign-off route. Public text must never name the owner and must avoid banned words (none of the proposed strings uses them). Make the change in the /ebooks/ template only, one set at a time, logged with annotations_log.py.

Sources

• unbounce.com (Aagaard, 2013, read)
• cxl.com (Empire Flippers +33.10%, Unbounce +90% restated, read)

Raw Markdown: cta-button-copy-first-person-benefit.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json