5 Click-Worthy Headline Prompts (and Why They Work!)

So, let me ask you a question: how long do you spend crafting the perfect subject heading for your email marketing campaigns?

Five minutes, 10 minutes…no time at all because the intern does it? Oh dear!

If you’ve put a focus on email engagement as part of your marketing strategy, then it’s likely you’ve already encountered the challenge of every email marketer: how to get your prospect to open their inbox and click through to your email?

The thing is, unless your headline really pulls heavy duty and gets the click, all that time and effort you put into crafting the perfect offer for your audience and scribing the perfect email will be useless.

In this article I’m going to share with you 5 click-worthy headline prompts – used by some of the greatest copywriters (and email marketers) of all time – designed to get your prospect from their inbox, diving to your email….and hopping on over to your website to make a purchase.

You’ll learn why they work and see examples of them to trigger off your own creativity. By the end of this article you’ll be bursting to send a mail to your list…so let’s dive in.

1.The ‘how-to’ headline

Why it works: Your prospects are always scouring the web looking for the answers to their questions and problems. Imagine what would happen if you knew your audience so well you could show up in their inbox with a headline that suggested you held the answer to their “how-to” question?

Let me answer that for you. You’d make a sale. Okay…moving on.

Here are three examples of this headline in action:

• How to tie your sarong 5 different ways on the beach
• How to keep your makeup brushes (with only natural cleaning products)

2. The ‘question’ headline

Why it works: The question headline works on a very simple premise: the innate curiosity of human nature – especially if you’re posing a question to your customer where you are pretty much sure their answer would be ‘yes’, or ‘tell me more.’

Here are three examples of this headline in action:

• Do you know how to properly clean your gardening shears?
• What natural ingredients do you use to exfoliate?

3. The ‘numbered’ headline

Why it works: One of the oldest tricks in the copywriting box, and it works so well because it let’s the reader know there is a finite amount of information contained within your email. They know what to expect when they click through so hey are more inclined to if they are interested in the information contained within.

The trick with this technique is to always deliver the agreed number of points, and to lead with something fresh, newsworthy, or fun.

Here are three examples of this headline in action:

• 16 ways to style long hair for the beach
• 3 eco-friendly ways to clean silver jewelry (you didn’t know about)

4. The ‘who else’ headline

Why it works: The who else headline is heavy linked to social proof and our desire to have a place within a crowd or community. It plays into the belief that people generally want to follow what their peers are doing, and elicits the ‘me to’ response.

Here are three examples of this headline in action:

• Has this ever happened to you before?
• Is it just me obsessing over these new prints?

5. The ‘weird trick’ headline

Why it works: Like the question headline, the weird trick headline works because it plays on our natural inquisitive natures and the fear of not knowing something important, or missing out.

Here are three examples of this headline in action:

• 3 weird ways to wash your hair and still get it sparkling clean
• 5 strange but tasty butternut squash recipes

So there you have it, five fail-proof headline writing prompts that have proven their effectiveness over decades. It’s worth mentioning that you don’t have to stick with these in just your email marketing campaigns. You can also use these headline prompts for blog post article headlines and within your social media marketing.

The goal with all these headlines is to get your reader to click so they can be directed through to your body copy, ‘cos, if they don’t click…they won’t be exposed to your content. And then…well…nothing…because if they haven’t seen your offer they can’t decide whether they want it or not.

Want to improve your copywriting skills so you can write your copy in-house rather than hiring a pro-copywriter? Then I have a feeling you’re gonna love The Online Marketing Boutique – discover more here.

So here’s my question, where will you start?

New email campaign?

Killer piece of content marketing?

Crafting compelling social media statuses?

There’s no time like the present, and we’d love to hear which prompt you decided to go with so let us know in the comments.