Why You Should Ditch Headline Formulas And Focus On This Instead

April 8, 2014 by jennifer mcgahan 4 Comments

A good headline is like quicksand.

Your readers can’t help themselves. One glance and they’re fighting to pull themselves away. They can try, but they can’t leave.

Unfortunately, most headlines just aren’t that compelling. Of the people who read them, only 20% actually continue reading or click the link. There’s only one way to increase that percentage, and that’s to commit 80% of your effort writing a killer headline.

I admit I’m a sucker for any article, blog post, webinar or hangout promising to make me a better headline writer. In fact I collect articles on headlines like I collect headlines. The good writer or marketer who doesn’t have a headline swipe file doesn’t exist. Most writers read all the time, so naturally they compile shelves of good material to steal. I encourage you to start saving remarkable headlines and subject lines. You’ll start to notice patterns: the “how to” headline, the “if, then” headline, etc. A quick search will bring you more than enough swipe files to reference as you think of your next topic.

But what if suddenly your access to swipe files was cut off; or God forbid you hit your head and couldn’t remember all the tips and “tricks” you learned along the way.

Even with total amnesia, you could still write headlines as long as you had one thing intact…

Last Saturday I was pressed for a short answer about writing emails. The short answer for almost everything related to copywriting has to do with — you guessed it — short copy. That means subject lines and headlines. For all the books, articles and blogs about copywriting, this is the most important part of your copywriting skill set; the ability to write concise and compelling short copy. If you can do that, you hardly need any other “tricks” get people to read your writing.

Well, naturally the follow-up question was “how to write good headlines and subject lines.” But there was no time to go into technique. The truest, best, shortest answer about headlines is this: If you understand a handful of raw, human motivators, then you can write good headlines.

And I’m not talking about a shallow or perfunctory understanding. I’m talking real heartfelt knowledge…

That comes from that sick feeling you get when you just missed out on something that can’t be replicated.
Or that desire that jumps up in the pit of your stomach when you have a shot at obtaining the piece that completes the puzzle.
Or that inkling to act on a hunch that could crack open the code, or change one corner of the world for good.
Or the feeling that you’d gladly empty your wallet this moment if you could just feel or look a certain way.
Or the relief you feel when a lifeline is cast in your direction, or the pressure’s off, or vacation is coming, or you just got that raise.
Or the taste of insecurity as you dodge a small disaster careening toward you.
Or the thrill of victory when you earn or achieve something after months of effort.

When you know an emotion in your bones…then you can write headlines.

Feelings are universal. You don’t need to feel the specific desire for whatever it is you’re selling or writing about. You just have to understand what your reader is going through. The way to do that is to be aware of how you felt in a universally intense human situation.

We’ve all experienced these emotions. We’ve all been there. The details are different for everyone, but you know how it feels to want something so bad, you’d go to the mat for it. Or you’ve fantasized a dozen times about gaining a certain delightful effect — preferably with very little hassle, time or money. You’ve imagined how freakin’ fabulous it would be if only….[this part’s all yours].

Now wring it out. Squeeze all those details out — because those details are personal to you — but look closely at the feeling that’s left. That raw emotion is what you touch on as you write your headline.

Most (but not all) good headlines come from the motivating triggers we all understand because we humans are all essentially the same. Our core values are pretty basic, when you remove the”stuff” around them.

The Big Emotions

…and some examples of the range of issues they encompass are listed below. By the way, some of these work best as email subject lines, another spot you want to compel your reader to click. Can you tell which ones?

Curiosity

I’m sorry if you’re the last to know…
How to triple your Facebook Likes in one month on $5 a day [curiosity mixed with self interest]
The toxins in your hotel room can ruin your vacation [curiosity mixed with fear]
The best investment Warren Buffet ever made, in his own words

Vanity

Slimming secrets stars use the day before they walk the red carpet
How to get firm abs in 60 days, and shock your friends at the pool
I hope they’re not laughing at you…
New-car technology that makes you look smart

Fear/Greed/Self Interest

Never lose your controller connection during an epic kill streak again
7 stupid money mistakes that get you deeper in debt
You’ve waited too long for this to back out now

Kindness/Benevolence

Your smallest gift means everything to her
If you say this single word, you can bring peace into your life today
The truth about “Legacy” [benevolence mixed with self interest]
Not everyone who gets this will respond [benevolence mixed with vanity]

Safety/Security/Insecurity

How to lower your mortgage and pay off your home quicker
The doors are closing forever
Are you wasting time and money getting Facebook Likes?
Why investing in the wrong marketing channels can set you back months and weaken sales

These emotions are so vast and universal, you’d be hard pressed to find a desire, wish, or pain that doesn’t fit under one of these umbrellas.

Humans are wired to feel first, and then react.

Instinct saves lives and helps us make decisions. And it certainly accounts for different personalities and preferences. Expand on these feelings and write headlines that trigger action based on any powerful emotion. [Note: the list above is just a sample!]

All the formulas and tricks that A-list copywriters use are just fancy architecture built on very solid ground. Effective copy wouldn’t exist without an understanding of why people want to click and read more.

Connections are made when active minds think alike. Emotion both wakes up the mind, and gets people thinking about taking an action. Once you understand that, your headlines take care of themselves.

Camera picture: Flickr CC, TheonlyAnla

Quicksand picture: Flickr CC, Mark Roy

quick and easy copywriting course — Free Product

Interested in some other tried and true copywriting tips? Here are the ones I use all the time… for free!

Warming Up A Prospect With A Cold Email

August 26, 2013 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

You know it would be better to have an engaged subscriber — someone who opted in to your list. You even know the benefits of using an email service for your email marketing.

But the fact remains that sometimes you truly need to contact a certain demographic or even a specific individual to get the ball rolling. You have no choice because it’s part of the prospecting required to open the door for new business. You’re sending it from your personal professional email address to theirs — and it must impress them.

Sometimes you just have to send a cold email.

First, accept that even when your recipient knows you and and expects regular emails from you, the delete key is easy to access. Bet you do it too; delete emails with barely a scan, especially when you’re busy or you’ve fallen behind cleaning out your inbox. According to the Radicadi Group, a technology research firm, business people get an average of 108 emails every day, and they tend to pile up. How do you make sure yours stands out?

The best way is to become that sender who consistently send useful and interesting emails.

The second best way to get your emails opened is to make sure the person receiving your emails is expecting them. Rule number one in deliverability and list building is a confirmed opt-in.

But there are times when you want to try reaching out to someone you’ve identified might be a good fit as a business client or a partner in a project…the only trouble is, they just don’t know it yet.

You need to send a cold email to start a relationship.

A couple of days ago I tried this — only I wasn’t asking for his business. I wanted to give the guy MY business. Here’s the story:

Last week Mr. MyTeamConnects and I bought our first rental property. As a writer to and for investors over the past decade, I am excited to finally start investing my own money in real estate. (Woo hoo! )

Now, you’d think I would know what to do with a property after all the research, webinars, seminars and phone calls about real estate investing that I’ve been exposed to. But though I know the marketing side of things, I have a steep learning curve to climb dealing with actual property. Now that I own a tangible investment, I’m searching for a property management firm to get some questions answered.

Funny how it works learning something new…in theory, it’s easy-peasy. In practice, you really feel the bumps in the road. 😯

The first firm I contacted told me they don’t manage houses like ours that have septic tanks and wells, due to liability issues. (Hmmm, first road block.) But he referred another management firm — even gave me the owner’s direct email address. Cool! I sent an email to him on his buddy’s recommendation.

To his direct email address, mind you…name spelled out and everything.

I’ll bet you can guess what happened. No response. After waiting a couple of days I went to the firm’s website and sent an inquiry through the website. It was sent to “propertymgr@…” not the man’s direct personal email that his colleague/competitor gave me.

See, the gentleman my first contact recommended was not expecting my email. So it’s probably sitting somewhere in a junk folder. The email filter did it’s job, even protecting him from someone who needs his services! I even dropped his colleague’s name in the subject line: “Your colleague Bart at Bella recommended you.” Crickets. No response. He probably never even saw it.

Now imagine how difficult it is to get a response from a cold email when its purpose is to engage a possible customer — it’s even more challenging!

Many business people, especially B2B sellers, contact prospects via a cold email. They get their list of names and address from various sources:

Business cards from a conference, trade show or Meet-up they attended.
LinkedIn contacts
Purchased email lists
Online data-gathering services like Jigsaw or ZoomInfo

Whether you have a long list of cold prospects, or you’ve selected just a few to contact, your next hurdle is creating an attention-getting email. How do you capture someone’s attention within the first few words?

Tip #1, and I can’t stress this enough: Never forget that you are not “selling” anything with a first touch. All you’re trying to do is get them to read and respond in some way.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking this first email is a one-time shot.

It’s a fantasy to believe that all you have to do is send a cold email, and someone picks up the phone and calls you. As I said before, you’re lucky if the email even lands in their inbox, let alone gets read. The type of response you’re aiming for with a cold email is more likely to be one of the following:

Reading it and simply digesting the message. It’s rare that a reader will remember and follow up at some point in the future, even if you’ have left a good impression. Plan to reach out at least a couple of times, spacing your emails a couple days apart. Remind them who you are and repeat your message.
Clicking on a link for more info: a white paper or web page. This is the ultimate response, because now you can ask if they would also like to receive updates, a newsletter, or a follow-up by phone or email.
Deciding to add you to his contacts on a social site — following you on Twitter, checking out your Facebook page or Linked In profile. Reinforce your message or campaign by repeating it on your social sites. That way, your recipient will see a common thread, something to hang onto and remember.

If you make an impression, that’s great, but guess what? The ball is still in your court. Oops, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to just getting that first cold email opened…

Now that you have the proper mindset, it’s time for the real work — writing a subject line that compels action when they don’t even know who you are.

Thursday’s blog post will give you five smooth moves you can use to get their eyes to lock onto your subject line and open your email. Stay tuned!

F1 Afterglow And Its Affect On The Email Inbox

November 20, 2012 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

Connections matter, especially in your customer’s email inbox.

Months of anticipation contribute to the letdown after the big event is over. Case in point: It’s been over 24 hours and I’m still not over the Formula 1 race in Austin last weekend.

I’m still gaga over F1.

My uncles have been going to Indianapolis 500 for as long as I can remember. It’s always been on my bucket list to go with them one year. But this year I got the chance to do one better. When F1 became a reality in my own hometown of Austin last summer, my dad and uncles called to tell me they were coming down for the event. You can’t be car fans and NOT go to the first F1 race in Austin; out of the question! This was my chance to check it out.

To say it was fun is an understatement. The noise, the sheer power of gorgeous gleaming machines flying along the track at up to 230 mph. Drivers executing turns at top speeds capable of producing 5 G’s of force. Man, machine and millions of sponsors’ dollars putting everything on the line for speed times measured in thousandths of a second.

F1 racing is gripping good stuff! Check out turn 1 of the first lap and tell me if you don’t love this! [Video]

The race last weekend pretty much carried me away. It was a mini vacation (not long enough) from which I’m still trying to get a grip on reality. I spent half the day figuring out when and where I can see another race. I might be hooked.

Whether it’s true love or infatuation, I don’t know. What I do know is, I sat down at my computer this morning to a load of email. Literally hundreds of messages greeted me since Friday evening.

As much as people talk about the importance of subject lines, when push comes to shove and you have to ruthlessly delete email from your inbox, subject lines matter less than two other criteria.

Today the true test of subject lines never even got a chance. I had to get through the bulk of email based on the sender, and what I knew of them.

When you need to delete hundreds of email at a time, it comes down to two simple factors.

Past behavior
Perceived value of the sender’s email.

Here’s how I whittled down my inbox this Monday morning.

First I scanned my inbox for my clients’ email. These are customers I am currently working with who contacted me over the weekend. Obviously I read these. Next was family. Not always necessary to respond to, but should be scanned nevertheless.

Next, business emails. Bills, receipts, auto responders of payments and ad receipts, etc. Keep those.

Next I had to get through all the stuff that I subscribe to. My discretionary emails.

Interestingly, the criteria for reading or deleting all came down to two things: The sender and my knowledge of their email patterns based on past sending behavior.

I immediately deleted anything I knew would be presented again in the near future. Some senders produce content that I know will be repeated and accessible through future sends. I deleted those. Their reliability in this case got them deleted! They’re going to send me the same stuff again soon. I already know this base on past sends.

I got rid of stuff I subscribe to through a different channel. For example if I subscribe to an RSS feed via Google reader, I deleted that email. If I’m on a list that takes all content and sends an aggregated version of it at week’s end, I deleted that email. I know I’ll get another chance to review it within a few days.

If I knew it was a regular sender and the message might be an exclusive message with a non-repeatable content inside, I decided whether I wanted to check out the message based on he subject line. Here’s where the subject line actually held some real clout. Admittedly I had so many emails to get through I deleted these based on the sender. But if I know the sender’s content is unique and valuable, I peeked at it before deleting it.

Notices from social sites…I deleted those, too. My daily routine is to check out my social sites and respond to comments, etc, so I was okay deleting those without reading them. Come to think of it, maybe it’s time to stop those daily notifications like “You have new followers on Twitter, or “This cool person just started following all your boards on Pinterest.” I don’t need to be reminded to keep tabs on that.

Want to know what I did read? Basically, three emails this morning:

1. Sandy Krakowski’s email, my go-to online small biz mentor…for inspiration.

2. Alan Weiss’ Monday morning email…for practical personal and business advice. (As a new subscriber, I’m intrigued with his emails.)

3. Jeff Goins’ email, a fellow writer…his earnestness and warmth are comforting.

I needed these emails today…because if F1 was like a circus, the Renaissance Festival or the Grateful Dead, I’d probably leave everything behind and follow it around the globe. I’m in an F1 frenzy. Good thing it takes money to go to Monaco and Singapore to follow F1. Reality (family and finances) is a good thing. : ) These three email senders would get me back on track and cure my F1 hangover.

And so it all comes down to this: the connection the recipient feels to the sender of the emails, regardless of how she feels about F1 racing. 🙂

I deleted over 90% of my emails without reading them simply based on: first, the sender address; and second, my knowledge of their past sending behavior.

Pretty eye-opening, don’t you think? How do you go about deciding what stays and what goes when your inbox is flooded? I’d love your input!

Subject Lines That Get Noticed In Bed

October 5, 2012 by jennifer mcgahan 4 Comments

Shocking!

50% of American BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) workers send and receive work email in bed!

The big news in email this week is that 61% of mobile phone users get email daily on their phone. In fact, it’s the #1 activity. Getting news is the distant second at 36%.

Email also tops tablet users’ activities at 44% of all users…daily!

No question, email is a big part of daily life. Whether it should be part of your night life is another thing altogether.

Wherever you read email, though…you have competition in the inbox.

For the marketer, it’s bad enough that the latest viral cat meme could cause your email to be passed over. Now come to find you’re also competing with whomever shares the bed of your subscribers!? Too much!

I have a couple solutions:

1. Send email first thing in the morning. Not after 7 at night. If your customers are in a different time zone, set up your email service for appropriate send times. The people in this survey hail from theUS, the UK and Australia, so it’s not just an American issue.

2. Start writing kick-butt, fall-out-of-bed subject lines.

Let me tell you about subject lines.

When I write an email sometimes I start with a subject line, and sometimes I write the body of the email first. It really depends. More often, the subject line comes LAST.

Case in point: As I write this I haven’t come up with a good title yet.

Titles, subject lines…they’re the same. For email or blog posts, writing them is almost the same process, which for me goes something like this:

Inevitably as I wrap up writing the email I start focusing on the subject line and how it fits with the body. A back and forth dance takes place between the subject line and the first paragraph of the email content. I tweak the two until they work together. Sometimes the first paragraph of the email or post will broaden or expand the meaning of the subject line. Sometimes it jumps off the track and the body of the email must work to bring it back in line.

In spite of that effort, (here’s the ugly truth) there’s always the chance the whole thing bombs and the open rate stinks for whatever reason. That’s life. Rather, that’s email.

Reading email in bed — when you should be doing (ahem) other things — is life. So you need to get noticed!

I’ve been studying subject lines for years now and there are no strict rules.

Here’s a short list of the subject line “rules” email experts can’t agree on. By the way, if I forget something I will continue to add to this list until I exhaust it.

One study shows people like to see their names in subject lines, another says it’s taboo.
Ask a question/ Don’t ask a question. The use of question marks is questionable.
Use a long subject line and make use of every last character. OR…keep your subject line to five or six words.
Don’t use special characters/ strange characters are eye-catching.
Stick to a regular format as in: “[MyteamConnects Newsletter] Oct. 2012.” OR…Rivet readers with an emotional and personal subject line: “What was I thinking!” “Did you see that debate last night?!”

I’ll be adding to this list as I go. Feel free to let me know if I’ve missed any in the comments below.

Finally, Two bits:

1. You can always test your subject lines. They are just about the easiest thing on the planet to split test.

2. Get a life; Keep your tablets and gadgets out of your bed. It’s tacky. Please tell me if I’m wrong, but coming from an email fanatic like me, that ought to count for something.

I Saw Stars In My Subject Lines

June 4, 2012 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

This is a new one for me, as subject lines go…

In Horchow's subject lines last Friday: a cute little star.

What do you make of that? I have never tried doing symbols in subject lines. I wonder how many spam filters snagged this. Maybe it had no effect.

What do you think? Wouldn't it be cool is your next subject lines could be:

or…

I wonder how this would work. Web-safe fonts are de-rigeur today, but I would love to test the open rates of these!

Any ideas for making this happen, email gurus?

Please comment below. Thanks!