Last Updated on 26th February 2024
Best Performing Content Headlines
The phenomenal amount of content posted online every day makes customer engagement a challenge. According to experts, eight out of ten people will read an average headline, but only two in ten will click on it.
So how do you make headlines clickable whilst still being true to your audience and avoiding being ‘click bait’?
Headlines that draw on human emotions
Humans by nature are egocentric and are guided by emotion. This is an important psychological factor to consider when crafting a headline – appeal to human emotions. Customers want to know “what’s in it for me,” so think about what your customers want and use your headline to show them how they can get it.
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Headlines that explain ‘How To’ do something
The “How To” headline is one of the most powerful as it ticks several engagement boxes in one foul swoop. Internet users are often looking for information on how to do things and your headline tells them exactly what they can learn to do.
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Headlines that make a statement
When you are targeting a wide audience, making a statement in your headline increases the likelihood of people clicking on it. The statement obviously needs to be true and if it is a new discovery or topical news that is shocking, the statement headline is all the more appealing.
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Headlines that provide a solution
Many people have problems they do not know how to resolve, but you can tell them in an instant by writing a headline which offers a solution. These type of headlines cross over with “how to” articles and statements in that they identify what the solution is – but you can also in the problem in the title.
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Headlines that promise a secret
Humans have an innate need for attention and appraisal and will often look to seek for approval in others by sharing classified knowledge. Promising them access to “secret” knowledge or “little known” facts compel them to click on links to access pearls of wisdom they can tell other people about.
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Lists as Headlines
Lists are one of the most popular types of content on the web as people know exactly what information to expect from them by the title.
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Headlines that appeal to self-interests
If you own an online business, appealing to your customer’s interests should be the easiest headline to write – you already know what your audience is interesting in. But you still have to make the headline appealing in relation to your product or service.
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Headlines that raise curiosity
Curiosity can often get the better of people. There have been times when I have resisted clicking a headline that purposefully raised curiosity, but always go back to it at some point. The power curiosity holds over someone is a sure-fire way to get a click-through.
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Headlines that provide an explanation
Another technique to raise curiosity is to provide an explanation in your headline, that make the reader think, “hmmm, why?” (or how?) The point is you still need to give them something to get excited about rather than providing an entire explanation.
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