Why are headlines so important?
How do we go about targeting the people who would be interested in our offer? A salesman can prospect hundreds of people and hope to find a few that match his product/service. However, an ad can reach millions of people at one time but can only appeal to a select few.
It is our job as copywriters and advertisers to tailor a specific ad for a specific target market. We do this through our first interaction with our prospective customers, the headline.
We see headlines everywhere. The newspapers we read are filled with them. Facebook posts have headlines which draw readers in. Simply put, headlines are our first method of contact with our customers. People virtually never read an entire newspaper. They skim through the pages and more specifically the headlines. They stop at the ones that they find interesting. So, it isn't far fetched to say that headlines are single most important piece in an advertisement. After all, what good is an advertisement if it fails its number one job, to bring in new customers.
A great headline in itself should sell your product. It should be specifically created to draw in the one person that NEEDS what you have to sell. It is your qualifying phase of salesmanship. The first phase of selling is to qualify your prospect. You want to make sure that what you are offering is a perfect solution for your consumer.
A single word in a headline can change the success rate of the whole advertisement. Cases have shown that replacing certain words in headlines can grab a person's interest more often. Hence, it is critical to understand what makes a good headline. We're often browsing online when we come across something that grabs our interest. We click on the link because the headline sounds appealing to us, as if it can offer us something we've been looking for.
Have I convinced you yet about how important it is to make sure you've got the best headline?
Good, because we'll now begin to discuss what exactly makes a good headline.
101: How to write attention grabbing headlines
The first step is of course writing a headline that draws people in and motivates them to read your sales copy. However, there are several conditions that must be met in order for a headline to be considered effective.
This goes without saying, but headlines should be unique. You don't want to be put in the same context as your competitors and so you should try to stand out. You want to position yourself in the minds' of your customers as THE authoritative figure in the market. You want to be known as the best option there is. How can you accomplish this when your headline sounds like the next person's.
Also, try to be as specific with your offer as possible. There is no room for error here because you can write the best sales letter ever and still not get many conversions simply because the people reading your ad don't know that the product is for them! Instead of a vague headline, try to outline exactly what your product will do and for whom. Someone should stumble upon your headline and be able to decide right then and there if that product will help them. For example, "How to raise conversions by 30% in just a month" is a decent headline because we can see what we're going to get out of the offer. This headline targets people who want higher conversions and tells them that they'll be able to get 30% more in a certain time.
How do we go about targeting the people who would be interested in our offer? A salesman can prospect hundreds of people and hope to find a few that match his product/service. However, an ad can reach millions of people at one time but can only appeal to a select few.
It is our job as copywriters and advertisers to tailor a specific ad for a specific target market. We do this through our first interaction with our prospective customers, the headline.
We see headlines everywhere. The newspapers we read are filled with them. Facebook posts have headlines which draw readers in. Simply put, headlines are our first method of contact with our customers. People virtually never read an entire newspaper. They skim through the pages and more specifically the headlines. They stop at the ones that they find interesting. So, it isn't far fetched to say that headlines are single most important piece in an advertisement. After all, what good is an advertisement if it fails its number one job, to bring in new customers.
A great headline in itself should sell your product. It should be specifically created to draw in the one person that NEEDS what you have to sell. It is your qualifying phase of salesmanship. The first phase of selling is to qualify your prospect. You want to make sure that what you are offering is a perfect solution for your consumer.
A single word in a headline can change the success rate of the whole advertisement. Cases have shown that replacing certain words in headlines can grab a person's interest more often. Hence, it is critical to understand what makes a good headline. We're often browsing online when we come across something that grabs our interest. We click on the link because the headline sounds appealing to us, as if it can offer us something we've been looking for.
Have I convinced you yet about how important it is to make sure you've got the best headline?
Good, because we'll now begin to discuss what exactly makes a good headline.
101: How to write attention grabbing headlines
The first step is of course writing a headline that draws people in and motivates them to read your sales copy. However, there are several conditions that must be met in order for a headline to be considered effective.
This goes without saying, but headlines should be unique. You don't want to be put in the same context as your competitors and so you should try to stand out. You want to position yourself in the minds' of your customers as THE authoritative figure in the market. You want to be known as the best option there is. How can you accomplish this when your headline sounds like the next person's.
Also, try to be as specific with your offer as possible. There is no room for error here because you can write the best sales letter ever and still not get many conversions simply because the people reading your ad don't know that the product is for them! Instead of a vague headline, try to outline exactly what your product will do and for whom. Someone should stumble upon your headline and be able to decide right then and there if that product will help them. For example, "How to raise conversions by 30% in just a month" is a decent headline because we can see what we're going to get out of the offer. This headline targets people who want higher conversions and tells them that they'll be able to get 30% more in a certain time.
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