# Copywriting CTA Human Guide

## What This Is For
Designing an end-of-article CTA is a function of three inputs: the objective (what action), the audience (who reads it, in what relationship to the author), and the context (independent. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for content production: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Copywriting CTA agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for copywriting CTA.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Copywriting CTA guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- `Newsletter / email subscription`
- `Social follow / personal branding`
- `Lead generation (download / gated asset)`
- `Product or service signup / free trial`
- `Demo or sales call booking`
- `Community join (Discord / Slack / forum)`
- `Engagement (reply / comment / share / restack)`
- `Reader support (paid subscription / tip / sponsorship)`
- `Try-it / direct action (use the code, run the tool, fork the template, open the calculator)`
- **Steelman the opposite.** Offer to design the CTA you would recommend against — e.g., the hard-sell version on a TOFU post — so the user can see why it fails.
- **Variant for a different audience or platform.** If the article will be cross-posted (own site + Medium + LinkedIn + a syndication network), offer to rewrite per platform.
- **End-to-end review.** Offer to audit the rest of the article for CTA-supporting signals: author bio, related-post links, in-line proof.

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Workflow, Step 1 — Interview, Step 2 — Diagnose, Step 3 — Compose the recommendation, Recommended CTA, Content (copy), Form (structure), Mechanism, A/B test plan, Accessibility check.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Run the four steps below in order. Do not skip the interview. The user may have given partial context already; pull what's available from the conversation, then ask only for the missing pieces.
- Use the `ask_user_input_v0` tool. Ask one question at a time. Do not stack questions in prose. Each question must have 2-4 tappable options. Fall back to free text only if the answer genuinely cannot be enumerated.
- If the user lists more than one, ask which is primary. You can offer 1-2 secondaries later, but the primary must be singular.
- — never "Book a Demo" verbatim.
- Output the recommendation in this exact structure. Do not deviate. Do not add filler.
- The user's stated brand voice or any `<userPreferences>` in scope (formality, language, em-dash avoidance, length limits).
- The language of the article. Output copy in the article's language; never default to English.
- Never output a template verbatim if it conflicts with the user's stated style preferences.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Copywriting CTA human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the samber/cc-skills skill entry for `copywriting-cta`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# End-of-Article CTA Designer

Designing an end-of-article CTA is a function of three inputs: the **objective** (what action), the **audience** (who reads it, in what relationship to the author), and the **context** (independent writing, newsletter, brand publication). Get those three right and the copy + form follow almost mechanically. Skip them and you get the universal failure mode: a generic "Subscribe for more" or "Learn More" that converts at the noise floor.

This skill runs a tight interview to capture those three inputs, then prescribes a CTA: copy (what it says), form (how it looks and sits on the page), mechanism (whether to use urgency, scarcity, curiosity, reciprocity, social proof, or none), an A/B test plan, and an accessibility check.

---

## Workflow

Run the four steps below in order. Do not skip the interview. The user may have given partial context already; pull what's available from the conversation, then ask only for the missing pieces.

### Step 1 — Interview

Use the `ask_user_input_v0` tool. Ask one question at a time. Do not stack questions in prose. Each question must have 2-4 tappable options. Fall back to free text only if the answer genuinely cannot be enumerated.

Ask these in order, skipping any already answered:

**Q1. Article context.** Options: `Personal / independent blog or essay` · `Newsletter / paid publication (Substack, beehiiv, Ghost, etc.)` · `Brand / company / content-marketing blog` · `Other (free text)`

**Q2. Primary objective.** (Pick the one outcome you most want from a reader who finishes the article. If they say "all of them," push back: multiple objectives is the #1 cause of CTA failure.)

Options:

- `Newsletter / email subscription`
- `Social follow / personal branding`
- `Lead generation (download / gated asset)`
- `Product or service signup / free trial`
- `Demo or sales call booking`
- `Direct purchase`
- `Community join (Discord / Slack / forum)`
- `Engagement (reply / comment / share / restack)`
- `Reader support (paid subscription / tip / sponsorship)`
- `Try-it / direct action (use the code, run the tool, fork the template, open the calculator)`
- `Other (free text)`

If the user lists more than one, ask which is primary. You can offer 1-2 secondaries later, but the primary must be singular.

**Q3. Audience and relationship.** Options: `First-time visitor (organic search / social)` · `Returning reader, not subscribed` · `Existing subscriber / customer` · `Mixed / unknown`

**Q4. Funnel stage.** (Where is the reader mentally?) Options: `TOFU: discovery, learning, no buying intent yet` · `MOFU: evaluating options, comparing` · `BOFU: ready to act, just needs a nudge` · `Not applicable (no buying funnel — e.g., personal blog, journalism, hobby content)`

**Q5. Mechanism preference.** (Only ask if a mechanism could legitimately help. See `references/mechanisms.md`. For sophisticated, skeptical, or repeat-reader audiences, default to "None / value-only" without asking.) Options: `None: value statement only` · `Curiosity gap ("Want to know more?")` · `Reciprocity (free asset first)` · `Discount / offer` · `Urgency (real deadline)` · `Scarcity / FOMO (limited spots)` · `Social proof (count / testimonial)`

Capture any free-text constraints the user volunteers (length limit, brand voice, no popups, multi-language, etc.). Note them.

### Step 2 — Diagnose

Map the inputs to a CTA archetype. The decision logic:

```
context = INDEPENDENT / PERSONAL
├── objective = newsletter / email      → Archetype A: Author-signature subscribe
├── objective = try-it / direct action  → Archetype B: Inline action + source link
├── objective = reader support / tip    → Archetype C: Reader-supported funding link
├── objective = community               → Archetype D: Proof-counted community invite
├── objective = social follow           → Archetype A (variant: lead with social links)
├── objective = engagement              → Archetype E: Specific reply prompt
└── objective = product / demo          → ⚠️ FLAG. Only valid on personal/professional
                                          blog where the author IS the product
                                          (consultants, coaches, solo founders, indie devs).
                                          Frame as "if you hit this, here's how I help"
                                          — never "Book a Demo" verbatim.

context = NEWSLETTER PUBLICATION
├── objective = growth / subs           → Archetype F: Share/restack + native widget
├── objective = engagement              → Archetype E: Specific reply prompt
├── objective = paid conversion         → Archetype G: Value-gap tease
├── objective = monetization / sponsor  → Archetype H: Inline sponsor block (not bottom)
├── objective = community               → Archetype D
└── objective = direct purchase         → Archetype K (rare on newsletters; use BOFU only)

context = BRAND / CONTENT MARKETING
├── stage = TOFU                        → Archetype I: Transitional asset (lead magnet)
├── stage = MOFU                        → Archetype J: Direct + Transitional pair
├── stage = BOFU                        → Archetype K: Direct CTA + risk reversal
├── objective = community               → Archetype D
└── objective = engagement              → Archetype E (rarely the right call here)
```