Many folks wonder why I fuss about headlines so much. Well, maybe it's because if your headline isn't up to snuff, you can kiss about 80% of your business goodbye. That's right. About 80% of the prospects who end up buying your product or the product of the person you wrote the sales copy for, buy that product because of the headline. Wonder why? Let me explain and then I'll give you a couple of tips to writing killer headlines.
The reason such a large percentage of prospects end up buying because of the headline is because if the headline is really solid and captures their attention, it does two things. The first is it gets them initially worked up about what's going to come next. That initial rush is important to get them in the "buying" frame of mind. More importantly, it makes them want to read what comes next. If the headline doesn't do that, it doesn't matter what the rest of your copy is like. Nobody will see it.
Okay, so how can we come up with headlines that will capture the prospect's attention? Well, the first way is to come up with one that asks them a question. When people are asked questions, human nature is to want to answer them. So a headline like, "If I Could Show You A Way To Write Sales Copy That Converts Like Crazy...Would That Be Worth 5 Minutes Of Your Time?" Now, somebody reading this is going to answer the question, whether it be positive or negative. But this way you get them to make some kind of a commitment to the rest of your copy. They'll either read it or they won't. Most will, if they got there from a pre qualifying ad of some sort.
Another way to come up with a killer headline is to make them a promise in it. You might say something like, "Get Rid Of Your Skin Moles In 3 Days...Guaranteed!" Now that is quite a powerful statement. You're telling the prospect that your product is going to get rid of their skin moles in just 3 days and you guarantee it. Statements like these are almost certain to get them to read what comes next. Yes, the rest of the copy has to be solid, but a setup like this makes the rest of the job a lot easier.
