A headline captures the attention of the prospect. This in turn, subconsciously asks the prospect to further read on the content of the website. Headlines have the power to tap into your emotions, wants and needs. Mere words have a psychological impact on you. This is because when you see or read something that caters to your desires you tend to act on that desire to sate it. You have no choice but to read on to see how the website is going to help you.
Powerful headlines could increase your website conversion rates to above 73%. Website conversion rates simply means the number of visitors that come to your site who converted into your customers. Headlines, however requires rectification and testing in order for it to perform in its optimum.
In the Marketing Experiment Journals done by www.MarketingExperiments.com on improving website conversion rates through headlines, the headline-"Dental Plans for $8.33 a month. Acceptance Guaranteed." was the most effective in increasing web conversion rates. It was found out that stating a specific, low priced amount for a product or service with a guarantee succeeded in producing a larger amount of click throughs and lead generation.
In another experiment, is was found out that a benefit-driven headline was very effective because of its means to emphasize on the benefits of a product or service. The headline was-"Say Yes when a client asks you to review FIVE MILLION separate documents." However when the headline was added with just two words, it became-"Say Yes when a client asks you to review FIVE MILLION separate documents. And smile.", the headline dismally didn't perform at all with no clickthroughs and lead generation. This shows that words you use in headlines are extremely crucial in making your headlines perform.
To test out various headlines, you have you have to do the following:
1.A/B Split Testing
It is a test to determine which headine performs better than the other one. You could make use of the same landing page with different headlines and observe which page gets the more clicks or more website conversion rates. You could test them out for about 2-4 weeks, based on your preference. Once you observed the page that has more clicks and conversion rates, you've found the headline you should use for your website optimization. Also, take note of the headline your visitors prefered to click on. Was it benefit-driven, emotionally-driven, etc?
2.Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
Using pay-per-click search engines like Google Adwords, you can create ads to test out the different headlines. You should use effective phrases or key phrases that people use to find products or services. After a cerain amount of time, choose the ad that has the most click through rate and website conversion rate and continue to only use that ad to bring visitors to your website. Do bear in mind that the costs of paying for these pay-per-click ads should be covered by the revenue made from the website.
3.Presentation Of The Headline
Test out the presentation of the headline on your website. Make sure that it is easily readible by the prospect and the message is being put across. You might also want to test out the font and color of the headline to see which one works best. Hiring a web designer to align the designs on your website is recommended as well. Colour, size and visibility of headlines have been known to register more psychological aspects into the prospect's mind.
Using and testing out headlines is a highly recommended procedure to be performed by copywriters. As proven by the headline experiments carried out, mere words, colors and presentation could actually contribute to the impact of a headline. It is all up to you as to how powerful a headline could be.