Headlines that Get Clicks

Let's say you're an eco-tailer running a deal for 40% off organic cotton women's clothing. You come up with a catchy headline, like "Super Summer Sale" that goes out on all your social media outlets -- Twitter, Facebook, RSS, Blog, et al. You're waiting for the clicks to roll in ... and waiting ... and waiting. What went wrong?

The deal headlines published on Ecobunga! go out on RSS, Twitter, Facebook, and our Newsletter. So we've got a good idea of which headlines get clicked. And our experience concurs with what web usability guru Jakob Nielsen cites in his article, "World's Best Headlines: BBC News". As he suggests, headlines for the web should be "short; rich in information; front-loaded with the most important keywords; understandable out of context; and predictable."

This is especially important in social media applications, where users get bombarded with scores of new headlines and posts daily. They can't read all this information word-for-word; they scan. You must consider this when you write headlines that serve as gateways to your promotion. A catchy, slightly ambiguous title might work well in print, where the context is fully provided beneath the title (or when you open that greeting card or brochure.) But ambiguous social media headlines generally don't work. They are bound to either be skipped (because people aren't enticed enough or are confused) or to lead to disappointment (when people end up on a page that doesn't meet the expectation set by the headline.)

So, let's rewrite our Super Summer Sales headline, shall we? Keeping Nielsen's suggestions in mind, let's keep it short, but make it informative and clear.

40% Off Women's Summer Eco-Fashions

It may not be as fun as the original, but the most critical information to shoppers -- the discount and the product -- are crystal clear. We've found, too, that putting in the exact nature of what makes the product "eco" is often helpful (in this case, organic cotton), but not at the expense of the discount or the basic product.

Finally, what about giveaways? The same rule-of-thumb applies. A headline with the generic title of the giveaway, "Earth Day Go Green Sweepstakes" garners far less clicks than one that lists the prize, i.e. "Win $1000 Worth of Gardening Tools".

We love a good catchy phrase, but we suggest you save it for the copy on your website, not the headline leading to it.