Headlines, subject lines and titles are vague, clever or brand-centric. They don't pick out the reader or state a benefit.
Most people read the headline and nothing else. A headline that doesn't pick out the right reader and promise a benefit wastes the copy, design and spend behind it.
Ogilvy: "On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar." Hopkins: "It is not uncommon for a change in headlines to multiply returns from five or ten times over."
• Headlines that only make sense after reading the body; subject lines with no reason to open.
Owned — Homepage H1 is a tagline with no benefit.
Earned — Press releases headlined with the company name.
Paid — Ad headlines that test identically because none says anything.
Analytics — Low CTR and open rates, high bounce.
AI — AI-generated headlines published without testing alternatives.
• Write 10 headlines per asset and test the top two.
• Every headline names the audience or the benefit.
