How do I create a call-to-action (CTA) in HubSpot?

A call-to-action (CTA) prompts visitors to take a next step, like downloading a guide, booking a meeting or signing up for a newsletter. In HubSpot, a CTA can be a button or banner placed on a page or email, or a pop-up that appears based on what the visitor does.

Before you start:

Plans: CTAs require Marketing Hub or Content Hub (Starter, Professional or Enterprise).

Permissions: you need permission to edit CTAs, and permission to publish them.

External websites: to use CTAs on a site not hosted in HubSpot, such as WordPress, the site needs the HubSpot tracking code or the HubSpot WordPress plugin installed.

Legacy CTAs: if your account still has CTAs made with HubSpot's older CTA tool, they'll keep working. Create new CTAs using the steps below.

Step 1: Choose your CTA type

In HubSpot, go to Marketing > CTAs. If you see More in the main navigation, click it first.
Click Create in the top right.
Select a tab:
- Pop-ups:
  - Banner: stays fixed at the top or bottom of the page.
  - Pop-up box: appears in the middle of the page.
  - Slide-in: slides in from a corner.
- Embeds and Buttons:
  - Embedded: a button or banner placed within a page or email.
  - Embedded Image: an image CTA.
  - Embedded HTML (under Advanced): a button that uses your website's own button styling.
Choose a template, or start from scratch.

Step 2: Design your CTA

Add content: from the Add tab, drag modules such as text, images, buttons, a form or a meeting booking into the editor. A CTA can include one form or one meeting, not both.
Edit content: click any module to change its text, links and design.
Customize the look: on the Design tab, set the position, size, layout, fonts, borders and background.
Mobile: turn on the responsive layout so content stacks neatly on phones.
Preview: click Preview to see the CTA on a specific page.

For an Embedded HTML button:

Use the Link to dropdown to choose where the button goes: a URL, one of your HubSpot pages, a meeting link, a file, an email address, or a pop-up CTA.
Enter the button text in Button content.
Optionally, add custom CSS classes on the Advanced page so the button matches your site's styles.
Click Save & Apply.

Step 3: Set when and where pop-ups appear

For banners, pop-up boxes and slide-ins, open the Targeting tab.

Choose a trigger (the CTA appears as soon as the first one is met):

Button click: a visitor clicks a button.
Page scroll: a visitor scrolls past a set percentage of the page.
Exit intent: a visitor starts to leave the page.
Elapsed time: a set number of seconds passes.
Inactivity: a visitor is inactive for a set number of seconds.

Choose pages: show the CTA on all pages, or only on specific URLs. You can also exclude pages, such as your privacy policy.

Choose visitors and frequency:

Show it to all visitors or only filtered visitors.
Choose whether it shows again after a set time, every time, or never again for the same visitor.

Step 4: Set options

On the Options tab, you can:

Hide pop-ups on small screens.
Link the CTA to a campaign (Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise).
Choose how clicks are tracked: through a redirect (the default), or through the browser.
Schedule the CTA: set a start date, an end date, or both, for banners, pop-ups and slide-ins.

Step 5: Publish

Click Review and publish, check the details, then click Publish now. Pop-up CTAs go live on the pages you targeted. Embedded CTAs need to be added to your pages or emails.

After publishing, you can run an A/B test to compare versions and review your CTA's performance. To show different content to different visitors, use smart content in the CTA editor.

Need help? Contact the Gate 39 team through the Customer portal.

References
[1] HubSpot – Create calls-to-action (CTAs) (updated Aug 3, 2026)
[2] HubSpot Developer Changelog – Update for Legacy CTA Editor Sunset (updated Sep 2025)
[3] HubSpot Developer Changelog – Update: Legacy CTA Sunset (May 24, 2024)