What is the Best Call to Action for Your Podcast?

We’ve all experienced analysis paralysis. There are too many items on the menu at a restaurant and you’re not sure what to order. There are seemingly a million Apple Watch bands – which do you pick? What’s really the difference between the Honda Odyssey EX and EX-L?¹

What’s the balance between offering choice and getting people to take action? That really depends on the medium. For example, you may notice podcasts have a ton of calls to action (CTAs). Maybe you do. My podcast does at times. Is that really the right route? And if not, what should your podcast’s CTA be? Let’s explore.

Too Many Requests Result in Zero Action

My daughter is 4 years old and I’m told there are a few things we need to do for her to make her feel like she’s in some sort of control. We need to tell her what’s happening next. This comes in the form of a daily schedule. She knows when she wakes up we get changed, brush teeth, and clean the sun room. Then she can have iPad time.

I need to make sure I don’t tell her to do too many things at once because she’ll get overwhelmed and do none of them. Then she’ll get upset because she doesn’t understand what’s going on. This is how toddlers act. They want to be in the know.

I also need to show her the positive results – the benefit – of her doing 3 things she’d rather not do. Experts call this a “preferred activity,” and for her it’s 30 minutes of iPad time before breakfast.

Now, I’m not saying our podcast listeners are toddlers², but we may not have their full attention. Podcasting, for many, is a multitasking activity. So we need to make our intentions and the benefits crystal clear.

Many people multitask when listening to podcasts, so our CTA needs to be crystal clear. Click To Tweet

You Should Have One Clear CTA

Because of that, you should have one clear CTA that you repeat throughout the show. You should mention it at the beginning, somewhere in the middle (related to the content) and you should mention it a few times at the end. Remember: you have listeners who are half paying attention so repetition is important.

And again, you don’t want to overwhelm or confuse the listener as to what you want them to do most. So have one CTA. And you want to make the benefits of the CTA clear.

Make Your CTA to Join Your Mailing List

You know a great place to promote multiple things? Your mailing list. Sure, you have to grab attention with a good subject line, but once someone is reading your email, they’re probably focusing on that task. There you can promote your membership, products, or even ask for a review in Apple Podcasts.

Plus, while it might be easy to skip an episode, mailing list subscribers will at the very least see your name in their inbox weekly. They’re buying into more of your content!

So in your CTA, ask people to join your mailing list. Give them an incentive. Tell them all the great things they’ll get outside the podcast. Highlight the benefits!

Your Podcast CTA should be to join your mailing list. From there, you can promote other content, products, and services. Click To Tweet

Matt Medieros of The Matt Report recommends having a dedicated subscribe page with the email opt-in as well as podcast subscribe buttons, which I think is a great idea.

Alternate: Go to the Show Notes Page

OK…it’s not lost on me that I’m telling you to have one clear CTA and I’m giving you two options. However, sometimes there’s a lot you want to mention. Show Notes, subscribe, join the club, rate us, etc.

If you give your listeners a clear URL that has several actions they can take, that might serve you well. I’d recommend prioritizing the actions you want your listener to take by making the primary action obvious. So if you want them to join your membership, have a big button encouraging that. You want them to join your list, have the form clearly labeled and easy to get to.

And again…highlight the benefits to the listener.

Clarity and Repetition are Key

No matter what you choose, clarity and repetition are key. You need to make sure your listener knows, beyond the shadow of a doubt, what you think their most important next step is.

This take some practice and strategic placement. I still have multiple CTAs in my episodes, but each episode starts with a super clear CTA: “join my mailing list.”

What’s your most important CTA? Let me know in the comments!

1. I just want Apple CarPlay!
2. Though on YouTube, some of the comments certainly feel like that’s the case.

Why “Rate and Review” Is Often a Weak Default CTA

If you listen to more than a handful of podcasts, you’ve heard some version of “please rate and review the show.” It feels like the thing podcasters are supposed to say, but it’s rarely the best use of your one request. Apple Podcasts rankings and search visibility are driven far more by new subscriptions, listening behavior, and download velocity than by the raw number of written reviews. A five-star review can make a host feel good, but it does not reliably push your show in front of new ears the way a new subscriber or a completed episode does.

There’s also a timing problem. When a first-time listener is 90 seconds into an episode and you ask for a review, you are asking for social proof before you’ve earned it. They don’t know yet whether your show deserves five stars. A better approach is to use the review ask sparingly, place it near the end, and make it specific. Something like, “If you got one useful idea today, leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 20 seconds and tells me what to record next” is far more effective than a generic “rate and review” plea at the top of every episode. But for most shows, a subscription, follow, or email opt-in is a stronger primary CTA.

Match the CTA to the Episode Type

Not every episode should push the same thing, even if you stick to a single ask per episode. The listener’s mindset changes depending on what you just delivered. A solo teaching episode about budgeting sets up a natural next step: download the budget template you mentioned. An interview with an expert who has her own free resource might make the listener curious about that resource, but you can still pair it with your own related lead magnet. A news or roundup episode is more likely to inspire sharing, so asking listeners to send the episode to one friend can outperform an email ask.

Think of the CTA as the logical continuation of the episode, not a bolt-on. If you just walked someone through a five-step framework, ask for the checklist. If you told a deeply personal story, invite listeners to reply or join a community conversation. If you covered a controversial topic, a poll on Spotify or a comment on YouTube might be the lowest-friction action. The key is to make the ask feel like the next obvious step, not a left turn into your marketing funnel.

Placement: Where You Say It Changes How Many People Do It

Where you place your CTA inside an episode is just as important as what you ask for. Pre-roll CTAs, in the first minute, reach the largest number of listeners because nobody has dropped off yet, but they also hit people who haven’t received any value and don’t trust you. Post-roll CTAs hit the smallest, most loyal group, but by then many people have already switched to the next episode. Mid-roll CTAs sit in the sweet spot: the listener has heard enough to know the show is good, but they’re not yet ready to leave.

If you only have one CTA per episode — and you should — try placing it after the first major segment or around the 60 to 70 percent mark. For a 30-minute show, that might mean a short, friendly ask at minute 20, right after you’ve delivered the core lesson. Pre-roll is still useful for a very simple “follow the show” nudge, especially for brand-new listeners, but don’t stack it with a second CTA later. The more times you stop to ask, the less each ask matters.

Rotate the Destination, Not the Number of Asks

One of the easiest ways to keep a single-CTA strategy from going stale is to rotate what that CTA points to over time. You don’t need to ask for five things in one episode; you can ask for one thing in January, a different one in February, and a third in March. This keeps the ask fresh for long-time listeners and lets you test which offers actually resonate. For example, in a launch season you might point everyone to a waitlist. In a slow content month, you might ask for a follow on Instagram so you can share behind-the-scenes clips.

Use a unique URL, promo code, or simple tracking link for each rotation so you can see what’s working. If your March ask for a free email course generates twice the sign-ups as your January ask for a rating, you have a clear signal. You also avoid the listener-fatigue problem of hearing “join my email list” in every single episode for two years straight. The rule stays the same — one clear ask per episode — but the destination changes with your current goal.