Actions

Calls to action (CTAs) help people complete a task or action. They’re most often found in buttons, but can sometimes be linked text.  On a website, they might guide people toward finding information or making a decision. 

Regardless of the format, a CTA should set the expectation of what happens next, whether it’s leading someone to get something done, learn something valuable, or fix something quickly.

CTAs aren’t fancy, nor should they be. They take someone from point A to point B. They should be clear, concise, and predictable. The other content on the page or screen should communicate the overall message—the CTA shouldn’t do any heavy lifting by itself.

A good rule of thumb is to write your CTA as if the reader will only read the header and the CTA. They should work together.

Keep it short

Our designs are mobile-first. Make CTA text as short as possible without sacrificing clarity. 

Shorter CTA text also helps with translation. CTAs in English are often longer when translated into other languages.

• In most cases, start with an action verb. This helps users understand where they’re likely to go and encourages them to go there.
• Avoid product names unless it’s necessary to add clarity (or you’re taking a customer out of a current product experience and into another one). They take up precious CTA real estate.

Don’t overcomplicate the action. See our tips for writing small

Buttons

For buttons, brevity ensures the button will fit properly in visual designs, and prevents the text from wrapping on mobile. 

• Keep CTAs brief, especially for buttons. Two words is optimal. Three is OK. On rare occasions, you can use 4 words to flex, like if you have one headline and multiple CTAs on a screen and need to add clarity.
• Length for CTAs in buttons should be 24 characters max, regardless of word count (exceptions may be made in languages other than English).

Links

If your CTA is a link, there’s a little more room—if you really need it. 

• Write the link to be large enough for people to select—at least 8 characters.
• Don’t write link text longer than 6 to 8 words (about 55 characters).

For more about formatting links, go to Links

Be clear about the action

Be as specific as you can with CTA language so people have a clear idea of what they’ll be doing next. Describe what actually happens when people use the button.

For example, if a button is sending someone to fill out a form, you could say something like “Get started.” This lets them know that they’ll need to take action on the next page. 

• When possible, use verb + noun construction.
• Use descriptive text for links. Try to set contextual expectations about what’s behind the link.
• Avoid Next or Continue if a more specific word would do (Send, Start, Sign up). An exception to this would be multi-step flows, like doing taxes or when we want customers to focus on the step they’re on in the moment.
• Don’t use specific actions (Click here) or locations (here). See also: Learn more, click

Never purposely mislead someone or use confirmshaming tactics. See guidelines on emotional design for more. 

Use sentence case

Sentence case is easier to read and understand, and it aligns with the Intuit brand and our voice and tone. Don’t use all caps (unless you’re saying OK). It feels like yelling. Learn more about capitalization

Stick to plain text

In CTAs, the words do all the work. Don’t use emoji or punctuation in CTAs.

CTA text shouldn’t be formatted, either—that means we don’t bold, italicize, or underline. The words themselves should be precise and presented in a clear enough way that they shouldn’t require any additional emphasis or special treatment.