By Mehdi HassanHow many CTAs should a landing page have?
A landing page should have one primary CTA, meaning one goal, and it can repeat that CTA several times. It may add one secondary CTA for visitors who aren't ready, styled so it's obviously less important. More than that and the page starts asking the visitor to choose between offers instead of deciding whether to act.
The confusion comes from counting buttons instead of goals. A long page with the same "Book a demo" button in five places has one call to action. A short page with "Start trial", "Book a demo", "Download the report" and "Join our Slack" has four. Our call to action guide covers the copy and design side; this article is about the number and the hierarchy.
What's the difference between repeated and competing CTAs?
Repeated CTAs ask for the same action in several places, and competing CTAs ask for different actions with similar visual weight. Repeated CTAs help because visitors become ready at different points on the page. Competing CTAs hurt because each extra option adds a decision, and an undecided visitor often leaves.
Pattern | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
Repeated primary | "Start your free trial" in the hero, after features and at the end | Usually helps: the action is always nearby |
Primary plus quiet secondary | Solid "Start trial" button, text link "See pricing" | Usually helps: serves two readiness levels |
Two equal buttons | "Start trial" and "Book demo" side by side, same style | Often hurts: visitors must choose a path |
Many unrelated asks | Trial, newsletter, webinar, social follow, careers | Hurts: no clear goal for the page |
Different asks per section | Demo in hero, ebook mid-page, trial at the end | Hurts: the page changes its mind |
You'll see percentages quoted online for how much single-CTA pages beat multi-CTA pages. We couldn't trace those figures to a controlled study, so we don't repeat them here. The principle holds without them: every extra goal is another reason not to complete the main one.
When does a secondary CTA help?
A secondary CTA helps when a meaningful share of visitors aren't ready for the primary action but would take a smaller step toward it. It turns a "not yet" into a lower-commitment action that keeps the visitor moving, rather than leaving entirely.
- "See pricing" beside "Start free trial" for buyers who want to know the cost before signing up.
- "Watch the 3-minute demo" beside "Book a call" for visitors who want to see the product without talking to sales.
- "Read the case study" beside "Get a quote" on services pages, where trust comes before contact.
- "View the docs" beside "Start building" on developer tool pages, where engineers check the API first.
The secondary option must lead toward the primary goal, not away from it. A newsletter signup on a demo page isn't a secondary CTA; it's a different goal. Our collection of developer tool landing page examples shows several pages where the docs link plays this supporting role well.
How do you set CTA hierarchy on the page?
Set CTA hierarchy by giving the primary action the strongest visual treatment everywhere it appears and keeping the secondary one clearly quieter. The visitor should be able to tell, without reading, which button the page wants them to press.
Pick the one goal
Write down the single action that matters most for this page and its traffic. If the team can't agree, the page is trying to do two jobs.
Style the primary as the only solid button
Use your accent color and a solid fill for the primary CTA, and reserve that style for it alone.
Style the secondary as a link or outline
A text link or outline button reads as an alternative, not an equal choice.
Keep labels consistent
Use the same words for every instance of the primary CTA, so visitors recognise it as they scroll. Our CTA button text examples help with wording.
Remove the rest
Move unrelated asks (newsletter, careers, social) to the footer, or off the landing page entirely.
Where should repeated CTAs go on a long page?
Repeated CTAs should go right after each section that could tip a reader into acting: the hero, the product explanation, the strongest proof, pricing or the FAQ, and the end of the page. Placing them at fixed intervals, every 600 pixels say, ignores the argument the page is making.
Scroll depth data helps here. If most visitors never reach your end-of-page CTA, the earlier placements carry the page. If many visitors scroll to the end without clicking, the page may be failing to convince, and adding buttons won't fix that. Our guide to scroll depth explains what that data can and can't tell you, and a sticky header button can keep the action within reach between placements.
Hypothetical example: reducing a homepage from five goals to one plus one
For example, suppose a B2B SaaS homepage has buttons for a free trial, a demo, a webinar, an ebook and a community, all styled the same. Sales wants demos; the product is sales-led.
The redesign makes "Book a demo" the single primary CTA, repeated in the hero, after the product tour, after the customer stories and at the end. "Watch the 3-minute demo" becomes the secondary text link, for visitors not ready to talk. The webinar and ebook move to the resources page, the community link moves to the footer, and the trial is dropped from the homepage because it led to unsupported signups. Illustrative only, not a client result.
Can a homepage have multiple calls to action?
A homepage can have multiple calls to action because it serves several audiences, but it still needs one obvious main action. Homepage visitors include buyers, job seekers, partners and existing customers, so navigation paths for each are fine. The hero and the repeated CTAs down the page should still push one goal.
The difference from a landing page is the traffic. A paid landing page receives visitors who clicked a specific ad, so they should meet a specific offer and nothing else. A homepage receives everyone, so it routes them, but the routing should be quiet and the main action loud. If your homepage has drifted into a menu of equal options, our guide to a homepage-only redesign explains when fixing that one page is enough.
How do you check whether multiple CTAs are hurting conversions?
Check by tracking clicks on every CTA separately and comparing them with your primary conversion. If secondary and unrelated CTAs collect a large share of clicks while primary conversions stay low, the extra options are likely pulling attention. If the secondary CTA's visitors go on to convert later, it's doing its job.
Set up a click event for each CTA with a label for its position and type, as our guide to landing page conversion tracking describes. Compare your page with your own history, and treat external figures carefully: our landing page statistics page notes which commonly quoted numbers hold up. For services sites, our guide to B2B services landing pages covers routing every CTA toward a booked call.
