Salesforce Marketing Cloud teams know that CTAs drive outcomes. Whether the goal is traffic, conversion, or progression through a journey, CTAs are where intent turns into action. Yet many SFMC teams struggle with a deceptively simple question:
Which CTA is actually performing best?
Salesforce Marketing Cloud reports show clicks—but they don’t show CTA performance in context. Email heatmaps fill that gap by revealing how subscribers truly interact with each clickable element.
The CTA Visibility Problem in SFMC
Most SFMC emails contain multiple CTAs:
A primary button
Supporting text links
Linked images
Secondary actions
Utility links
In Salesforce Marketing Cloud reporting, all of these clicks are aggregated. The result:
CTR looks healthy
Clicks exist
But CTA performance remains unclear
Teams often assume the most important CTA is the most clicked. That assumption is frequently wrong.
Why Click Totals Don’t Identify High-Performing CTAs
Click totals answer whether users clicked—not which CTA won attention.
SFMC reports do not show:
Which CTA received the most clicks
Whether the primary CTA outperformed secondary ones
Which CTAs competed with each other
Where attention was diluted
As a result, teams optimise CTAs based on:
Design intent
Best practices
Stakeholder preference
Habit
Not behaviour.
What “High-Performing CTA” Actually Means
A high-performing CTA is not simply one that gets clicks. It is one that:
Attracts the highest share of attention
Aligns with campaign intent
Outperforms competing links
Consistently wins across campaigns
Identifying that requires seeing click distribution, not just totals.
How Email Heatmaps Make CTA Performance Visible
Email heatmaps visualise where users click within an email—at the level of individual linked elements. Instead of guessing which CTA worked, teams can see it immediately.
This transforms CTA analysis from abstract to concrete.
Behavioural Accuracy Matters
Tools like CRMx heatmap analytics platform Email Heatmaps track clicks only on linked elements:
Linked buttons
Linked images
Linked text
Clicks on non-linked areas are not recorded.
This is critical because:
Only intentional actions are analysed
False engagement is excluded
CTA comparisons are reliable and fair
Without this accuracy, CTA analysis becomes misleading.
Step 1: Compare All CTAs Side by Side
With heatmaps, SFMC teams can instantly compare:
Primary CTA vs secondary CTA
Button vs image
Text link vs button
Above-the-fold vs below-the-fold CTAs
Instead of assuming which CTA should win, teams observe which one actually does.
Step 2: Identify CTA Hierarchy
High-performing teams don’t just ask which CTA was clicked—they ask which CTA ranked first.
Heatmaps reveal:
Top-performing CTAs
Close competitors
CTAs that receive minimal or no engagement
This hierarchy explains why some campaigns convert better than others.
Step 3: Spot CTA Competition
One of the most common CTA problems is internal competition.
Heatmaps frequently show:
Images stealing clicks from buttons
Secondary links outperforming primary CTAs
Early CTAs causing exits before later CTAs are seen
Once competition is visible, it can be fixed quickly—often without redesign.
Step 4: Understand CTA Placement Impact
Placement matters—but not always how teams expect.
Heatmaps show:
Whether above-the-fold CTAs truly perform better
If CTAs placed later are ever reached
Where attention naturally concentrates
This replaces assumptions about placement with evidence.
Step 5: Analyse CTA Timing, Not Just Volume
When users click is just as important as what they click.
Heatmaps reveal timing signals such as:
Time to first click
Early exits caused by certain CTAs
Delayed engagement indicating low urgency
High-performing CTAs often attract early, confident clicks.
Step 6: Validate CTA Performance Across Campaigns
One campaign isn’t enough to define a high-performing CTA.
Heatmaps allow teams to:
Track CTA performance over time
Identify CTAs that consistently win
Separate one-off successes from repeatable patterns
This turns CTA optimisation into a strategic asset.
Why This Is Faster Than Traditional Optimisation
Without heatmaps, CTA optimisation often looks like:
Change CTA colour
Change CTA copy
Move CTA
Wait for results
Repeat
With heatmaps:
Teams see what works immediately
Remove underperforming CTAs
Focus attention on winners
Make fewer, smarter changes
Learning accelerates because uncertainty disappears.
Avoiding False CTA Wins
Not all clicks represent success.
Heatmaps help teams identify false wins where:
CTR increases due to utility links
Exploratory CTAs inflate engagement
Non-conversion CTAs dominate clicks
High-performing teams optimise for intent, not just interaction.
Turning CTA Insight Into Better Emails
Once high-performing CTAs are identified, teams can:
Simplify emails around winning actions
Reduce distraction
Align content flow with proven behaviour
Build templates informed by real engagement
CTA optimisation becomes structural, not cosmetic.
Why High-Performing CTAs Stay Hidden Without Heatmaps
High-performing CTAs remain hidden because:
Aggregated metrics mask hierarchy
Reports lack behavioural context
Teams rely on assumptions
Heatmaps remove this blind spot.
Final Thoughts: High-Performing CTAs Are Revealed, Not Assumed
High-performing SFMC teams don’t guess which CTAs work.
They observe:
Where users click
What they choose
What they ignore
Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides the delivery and reporting foundation.
Email heatmaps provide the behavioural clarity that reveals which CTAs truly perform.
When CTA performance becomes visible, optimisation becomes faster, simpler, and far more effective.
Want to Identify Your Highest-Performing CTAs?
If you want to know which CTAs truly win attention, which ones compete, and how to focus engagement in your Salesforce Marketing Cloud emails, it’s time to add behavioural visibility.
👉 Request a CRMx Email Heatmap demo and uncover your highest-performing CTAs.
