Many marketing experts believe the most important element of copy is the headline. If it is eye-catching, it is likely to make users click on it and read the copy. According to an article published on eConsultancy´s blog spot, adding an emotive word in a headline might increase the chances of users engaging with the copy.
Research shows that on average, the number of people who read the headline is five times higher than those who read the copy. An analysis of how users engage with headlines could give writers useful information about what works well and eConsultancy did just that by looking at the top posts from its blog over the past few years.
Over a random data range covering about four years, there were 22 million page impressions on the blog. The top 100 articles generated about 10% of all impressions, so they clearly made a difference.
Then eConsultancy looked at the most common verbs and adjectives used in the headlines of these articles. The list contains 28 words, which played a part in the success of the copy and includes words like best, brilliant, epic, fails, free, great, horrific, inspire, lousy, most, success, useful and valuable.
Another common factor of the most successful posts was that they gave answers to users´ questions, so many of the headlines also contained the words how, why and what.
Also, a post will perform well if the copy delivers on the headline´s promise. If reader´s expectations are met they will be willing to share the post with their online contacts, eConsultancy noted.
Catchy headlines increase engagement with copy
