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Brick No121: The easiest way to write a bad headline
By Matt Weston, Friday 17 December 2004 The last few weeks, I've been fielding a whole lot of questions on writing headlines. The questions started when I launched our reader classifieds . . . and they reached crescendo when I announced the gratis Google AdWords Vouchers. Mostly my replies can be surmised in just two lines: Curiosity killed the cat. It also killed a lot of ads. The majority of advertisers have a tendency to write headlines that rely on curiosity, and curiosity alone. Invariably at this point I turn to John Caples. Way back, JC wrote the encyclopaedic "Tested Advertising Methods". And he dedicated four of the book's eighteen chapters to writing headlines that sell. Try this for size: " Suppose you are looking through a newspaper. You see a headline that arouses your curiosity. You will read the body copy if you have time. But suppose you see a headline that offers you something you want. You will make time to read the copy . . . " . . . As every advertising-pro knows, there are scores of people who read only headlines for every person who reads both headlines and body copy. " Headlines that rely purely on curiosity - like "Put Up, Or Shut Up", "Moments Don't Wait" or "Our Morning Shift" attract only curious rubberneckers. Much better are headlines that use benefits and advantages to appeal to the reader's self-interest. Self-interest headlines - like "Corn Gone In 5 Days Or Money-Back", "Get The Router That Pays For Itself" or "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock" - attract self-interested people who are much more likely to buy. More from Caples: " Perhaps the writers of [badly headlined] ads would say, "But you should read the entire ad. Then you would see how beautifully the headline ties up with the copy." " This is laughable. What reader cares how well the headline ties up with the copy? Do people read advertisements backwards? No. They read the headline first. Only then, if they are interested, do they read the copy. " Again, he hits the nail square on the head. Scores of people read only headlines. If you fail to convey self-interest in your headline - a tangible benefit - then your ideal customer won't even get to the body copy, let alone be convinced to buy. Remember to sign up: back to top |
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