Want to win a new Ferrari? Guess what, me too, but this blog article has absolutely nothing to do with winning a new Ferrari. It does, however, have everything to do with driving more business to your front door!
This article is about the “power of the pen” or more to the point, the power of a well written headline and/or subject line to attract the reader’s attention and help improve your business results. In order to capture the reader’s attention the headline and related sub-text needs to draw them to the copy, so a connection is made that will motivate prospective buyers to purchase your product or service offer.
One of the most effective ways to do this is through the use of what I commonly refer to as “magic” or trigger words and phrases that grab the prospective buyer’s attention. Choosing the right words and phrases in your headline is critical. Studies have shown that changing just one word in the headline can increase the response rate by 37%, so choose the words carefully and test several different headlines until you find one that produces the greatest results. Because … You … Imagine, are examples of trigger words that work when used effectively.
Why is testing several different headlines so important? Because, it has been shown that one headline will produce up to 19 times better results than the others.
As mentioned earlier, the headline is meant to do a couple important things … first, it needs to grab the reader’s attention. Second, your headline should pull the reader into the copy. Wherever possible, the headline should be quantifiable, measurable and time-bound. Finally, and most importantly, it must be believable! Now, think about the impact a powerful headline or subject line can have upon your results in all of the various ways you communicate including web site, emails, Facebook, sales letters and so forth.
If you want to test the potential impact of your headlines, check out the Advanced Marketing Institute’s Headline Analyzer http://aminstitute.com/ The Headline Analyzer measures the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) of the words you choose for headlines and subject lines. I frequently use the Headline Analyzer to improve the (EMV) scores on headlines for blog articles, sales letters, news releases and email campaigns, and also to ensure that I’m targeting the right audience with the message content.
For example, the Headline Analyzer indicated that this article’s headline has a total of 83.33% Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) words, and a strong empathetic and spiritual appeal. By comparison, most professional copywriters’ headlines will have 30%-40% EMV words in their headlines, while the most gifted copywriters will have 50%-75% EMV words in headlines. I don’t consider myself to be a “gifted” copywriter, so this shows how effective the tool can be if used properly.
If you want to improve the results from your headlines, here’s what I would recommend to get started:
- Develop 20 to 25 headlines for use in your business – i.e. ads, blog articles, newsletters, Facebook, etc.
- Check them out with the Headline Analyzer to see which ones have the highest EMV scores.
- Select the Top 5 or 6 from the list and test them on a limited sample to see which ones yield the greatest results with your target audience(s).
- Go with the Top 1 or 2 headlines for any broader communication to your audience(s).
Why go to all this trouble to improve the results from your headlines? Who knows, maybe you will win a new Ferrari? Or more likely, you could earn enough extra cash to buy your own!!!
Hope this helps … Enjoy the journey!
John
COPYRIGHT © 2013 John Carroll