Maximise Your Conversion Rate by Emphasising This Crucial Aspect of Your Copy

 Maximise Your Conversion Rate by Emphasising This Crucial Aspect of Your Copy

Out of a total of ten articles, this one is number six.

To be successful, you need to write good copy. No matter how well-written your content is, its headline is what really matters for clickthrough rates.

Here are some fantastic headlines from the past, along with our rationale for their greatness. However, prior to that step...

...as we carry on with our exploration of watershed moments in the history of advertising.

1916 A number of James Walter Thompson's coworkers paid $500,000 to buy him out when he retired.

In 1917, 111 advertising agencies came together to form the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

New York is the site of the 1919 opening of Barton, Durstine and Osborn (BDO).

year 1919 James Webb Young shot to fame thanks to the Odorono commercial. It was a historic first: an ad for women's deodorant. An uproar ensued during that period. His advertisement was considered insulting by many women. "In the Bend of a Woman's Arm" was the headline he used. But his prediction came true: the product's sales increased by 112% in its first year on the market.

Omaha welcomes Baygul and Jacobs in 1921.

Emmanuel Haldeman Julius's "Little Blue Books" sold more than 200 million copies in the 1920s.

Plus, he didn't pen any of them. He never did anything other than promote them; if a title wasn't doing well, he would change it. An excellent title is an act of brilliance, as he put it himself.

He reasoned that a simple change in title could boost sales. No one can dispute that.

His book, "The First Hundred Million," reveals, unsurprisingly, the methods he used to promote his children's books in print media.

The legendary copywriter Gary Halbert offered this advice: "Go read a copy of "The First Hundred Million." This is the place where I mastered the art of attention-grabbing headlines and copywriting.

A system existed under E. Haldeman-Julius. His office had a designated area called "The Hospital" where titles were renamed if they failed to sell 10,000 copies annually. Once the new title was unsuccessful, it was sent to "The Mortuary."

He had a book called "Art of Controversy" that didn't sell more than 10,000 copies. "How to Argue Logically" became the new title, and sales skyrocketed to thirty thousand copies. Why? Except for the title, he altered no other aspect of the book.

As a result of his research, Haldeman-Julius found that the use of specific words in book titles could boost sales of nearly all books.

Take Dr. Arthur Cramp's 1925 book "Patent Medicine" as an example; it sold a pitiful 3,000 copies. "The Truth About Patent Medicine" was the title change that Haldeman-Julius made, and sales increased to a respectable 10,000 copies. The words "The Truth About" seemed to have magical powers for Haldeman-Julius.

According to Haldeman-Julius, the time-tested method of using "How To" in a title is the most effective. For instance, "How to Psycho-analyze Yourself" sold nearly four times as many copies as "Psycho-analysis Explained" and "How I Psycho-analyzed Myself."

He also discovered that titles containing the following words worked well: entertainment, self-improvement, love, sex, romance, and life.

He learned that he could drastically affect his sales with just minor tweaks to his titles.

In the event that your product is underperforming relative to your expectations. Examine the heading. Is the primary advantage to your clients included? Does it pique your interest?

On the other hand, is your product or service referred to by a name that includes a charming expression that leaves the customer guessing? In that case, remove it.

Give a different name to your sales copy a shot. Make sure the change will improve things before you do it.

People in this "Information Age" need information like crazy. As an example, consider the internet.

Folks are looking for the hard data. So, what did Haldeman-Julius discover? The show "The Facts You Should Know..." was a huge success. There has been no change since his time. Even now, these are effective words.

No matter what field you work in, you can apply Haldeman-Julius's wisdom in your business today. Incorporate his ideas into your reports, titles, and copy headlines. If you're at a loss for a headline, consider experimenting with the following:

"How to" as well as "The Truth About" as well as "The Art of" as well as "Facts That You Should Know" as well as "The Key to.." as well as "The Story of" as well as "A Little Secret That." And there's sure to be plenty more that you can imagine.

In his work, Haldeman-Julius stood out. He never put pen to paper. He plagiarised the work of others. Promotion was his only activity. Further, he accomplished this solely in relation to his title. Only the titles were included; no body copy was found.

Famous copywriter David Ogilvy would draught headlines and test them out on his loved ones.

One shocking headline will always be associated with him. But he had already written 104 unique headlines before he came across it.

His infamous Rolls Royce was the subject of that headline: "At 60 Miles An Hour, the Loudest Noise in the New Rolls Royce comes from the Electric Clock."

Remain optimistic; the fact that advertising guru David Ogilvy had to come up with all those headlines and run them by friends says a lot.

"The Man in the Hathaway Shirt" was another of David Ogilvy's notable works that aired for 25 years.

In addition, for 18 years he ran an ad campaign for Schweppes in which he convinced client Commander Whitehead to appear in the ad.

His Rolls Royce commercial is still more well-known than any other car commercial ever.

You may find his writings in "Confessions of an Advertising Man" and "Ogilvy on Advertising."

The makers of some ads think it's cool or clever to run them without a headline at all. Such an ad will almost never be successful.

Advertising would be more informed about what works and what doesn't if it were to test.

Let me add one more thing. The alternative to a brief headline that says nothing at all is a lengthy one that says something.

And John Caples penned what is perhaps the most famous headline in history: "They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano - but When I Started to Play...." People are still making ads like this one, which was made for the US School of Music.

Not long after that, Caples penned another catchy headline: "They Grinned When The Waiter Spoke To Me In French...But When They Heard My Reply.." The piece was likewise composed for a school.

These ideas for headlines are still relevant and effective today.

Caples once remarked, "Only half the people in this country have a sense of humour, and clever ads seldom sell anything," expressing his distaste for including humour in his advertisements.

One must mention the classic work by Maxwell Sackheim, "Do You Make These Mistakes in English?" before departing from the subject of headlines.

"Are You Afraid of Making Mistakes in English?" was the original title of this headline, which you may have seen somewhere.

The first headline clearly garnered more attention than the second. But have you any idea as to why? Do you have any idea which one word was the deciding factor?

Just a heads up, the most effective headlines target the reader's ego. It practically guarantees success if the headline satisfies the reader's desires as well.

With these two hooks, you can entice readers to keep reading.

You can't miss the difference-making "these" words.

The reader's curiosity and sense of self-interest were piqued by that initial headline. It recommends reading the text carefully to identify and prevent "these" errors.

Just looking at the second headline gives the impression that it's an old, stuffy grammar book. This kind of book is unpopular, and no one wants to read it.

Without a break for forty years, Sackheim's winning ad ran. This record has not been surpassed.

Excellent headlines are a sales tool. End of story.

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