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Headline Testing:The Single Most Impactful Thing You Can Do (Maybe)

“ Headlines have to work on their own, unlike in print. What’s the proposition you want to say to the reader to earn his/her click?”

—Gabriel Snyder, Editor-in-Chief, The New Republic

OverviewHeadlines Testing Basics

Headline Testing Basics

Evaluating 2+ headline options

Comparing performance when it comes to a key metric

Headline Testing Basics

An experiment, not an analysis

Controlling for all other factors

Headline Testing Basics

Seeking for significant results – not small variations

Selecting a testing environment that represents broader engagement

Our MethodologyOne Approach to Testing

Our Approach to Testing

Using Facebook paid advertising

Confirmed that Facebook is indicative of our broader audience

Our Approach to Testing

Setting up a distinct ad campaign, ad set, and ad for each headline option

Launching each headline option at the same time, to the same audience, with the same budget

Our Approach to Testing

Allowing test to run for at least 3 hours and at least 10,000 impressions

Lowest CPC headline or one with greatest clicks is winning option

The Data:Headline Tests In Action

Which Headline Worked?

A B

Hypothesis: Clarity Wins Over Poetry

A B48 Shares787 Clicks

115 Shares1184 Clicks

Winner: 50% more clicks

Which Headline Worked?

A B

Hypothesis: Decisiveness Drives Clicks

A B80 shares656 Clicks

16 Shares460 Clicks

Winner: 42% more clicks

Which Headline Worked?

A B

Hypothesis: Key Stats Win Out

A B43 Shares

1041 Clicks38 Shares727 Clicks

Winner: 43% more clicks

Which Headline Worked?

A B

Hypothesis: Extra Words Don’t Help

A B64 Shares

1117 Clicks27 Shares862 Clicks

Winner: 29% more clicks

Which Headline Worked?

A B

Hypothesis: Logical Syntax is Key

A B26 Shares697 Clicks

27 Shares946 Clicks

Winner: 35% more clicks

Which Headline Worked?

A B

Hypothesis: Simplicity Should be a Default

A B2 Shares

419 Clicks16 Shares

1512 Clicks

Winner: 260% more clicks