![Get Paid. Click here. [Mega Post]](http://www.mrgreen.am/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/cello54a-150x150.jpg)
Alert: This post contains copious amounts of data and discussion. 50mg of ritalin recommended.
Editor’s note: Due to unforseen complicationz I will be reverting to my natural spelling which is British English. P.S. The “h” in herb is pronounced.
I think all agree that affiliate marketers are the kings of writing headlines with high CTRs (click-through-rates).
However, many struggle to create headlines with high CTRs and CRs (conversion rates).
I am guilty of creating sucessful headlines, but not taking the time to understand why they are successful.
I read one case study today that really opened my eyes (thank you Mr Polarbacon from the forum). It really made me appreciate the craft of creating effective headlines.
Marketingexperiments.com posted this case study where they split tested 10 headlines for the paid survey website seen below:
Before they released any data they asked their readers to chose which headline they felt would produce the highest conversion rate.
Voting results looked like this:
“Get Paid to Take FREE Surveys” was the king of the ball taking a quarter of all votes. “Here’s Your First Survey, and an Invitation to Join Our Research Community” was crowned the ultimate loser. The actual best performing headlines were:
Headline two smashed the original headline by 10.44%. Ok cool, that’s not going to float no boat. The really cool thing is how these guys break down this data.
Look at headline eight. It scored 7.23%. Look at headline four. It scored 7.46%. There are two principles that you need to know that demystify the results of this data set.
Principle 1. All marketing messages must emphasise what visitors GET, not what visitors must do.
Principle 2. Treat headlines like the opening scenes of movies. Dominate your visitor’s attention. Place the value propositition at the start of the headline.
With these two principles in mind, move you gorgeous eyes over to the image below:
Boom! Five out the top six performing ads follow the two principles to a tee. The four worst performing, peasant-esk headlines, completely ignored the principles. Fancy that!
I really enjoyed the data they drew from this case study. However, some of their comments made me say “Eh?” (in a kiwi twang).
For example they say:
“The goal of the headline is not to sell your product. The goal of a headline is not to enforce your call to action. The goal of a headline is to get them in conversation.”
Although I agree with that concept, I don’t agree that they applied that concept to their case study. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t know many conversations that would spur from “Surveys – Quick, Easy and FREE.” I would use headlines like “Hate Your Boss? Click here” or “Want Money? Try our surveys.” If I want to introduce conversation into my marketing campaigns, I use questions. Simple as that.
Anyway enough of my theorectical hating, time to hate in the way Mr Green knows best.
Mr Green Case Study to De Death!
I just booted down the door to the Plenty of Fish ads platform and set up two campaigns as seen below:
Fight 1: The two principles vs. The two principle haters.
Fight 2: The original definition of conversation vs. The Mr Green definition of conversation.
I put all the theories I just spoke about into battle to see which ones hold true. The images are indentical. The ad copy is identical.
Which ads do you think will CONVERT the best? I will post results sometime this week. Correct answers will be given a free supply of oxygen for a year.
Extra for experts.
For those of you superior beings who managed to get through the post, you would have noticed that I skipped past one headline that stuck out like a sore thumb.”Here’s Your First Survey, and an Invitation to Join Our Research Community.” This headline performed second best in the headline case study. However, it received the LOWEST amount of votes in the poll. It also ignored the two principles (marketingexperiments.com beg to differ).
Why do you think that headline performed so well? I’m stumped.
Summary for A.D.H.D sufferers.
1. Headlines should focus on benefits for the user, not what they should do.
2. Headlines should mention the benefits for the user before anything else is mentioned.
3. Headlines should not be used for selling but to start conversation with your visitors.
4. The first three points could all be proven wrong in the case study I’m running. I will get back to you on that sometime this week.
5. You are free to go now.
Long time reader, first time commenter
HL10 is very interesting. It puts the focus on already having received something with "here is your free survey", which makes the visitor stay on the page at least long enough to see what it is.
It is the same difference between "get your free ebook" and "here is your free ebook".
Welcome Jakob!
That sounds like a solid point. Personally I would act on "here is your free ebook" as opposed to "get your free ebook".
I think the 2nd best one makes the viewer feel that they're being invited to some exclusive community.
Ya it does sound like an exclusive invitation but it performed double as well as HL10 which also mentions the invitation. It's crazy odd.
A possible difference for HL11 performing better than HL10 is that HL11 appeals more to the ego as it is telling the person they are super special and that their opinions are valued enough to be used for research purposes.
PS Another excellent post Lorenzo, well worth the wait.
wooooooo awesome post my man moarrrr, mr g I missed them!!! long no read
I've experienced numerous times that if something seems 'real' it will convert more than crazy promises in copy. For example a 'Win $100 Best Buy Gift Card' has performed better than its $1,000 version for me. The bribe is much better with the $1,000 but that just doesn't seem real to most people. That copy might fit that fine line of containing motivation and seeming real enough to make them convert.
I have found this too.
Man that's another case study idea right there. Finding the highest incentive point possible whilst still sounding real.
No one cares about $10, $50 is ok, $100 is nice, $432 great? I'll definitely have to break this down!
I'd really like to see a case study one day that includes in the split test data on how many conversions each ad got. Sorry if you did and I missed that in this post… which is great btw!
I might be wrong but I just feel that if you have a headline that performs 10% better than another, but only converts half as well, then it would be less effective to use that, even though it has a higher CTR?
Richard,
I may be wrong, but I think the data above is for Conversion Rates (CR), not for Click Through Rates (CTR) as the headline is on the offer page not an advert for it. The column heading is CR.
ben
Hey Richard, I will be posting conversion data in the follow to this case study
!
Awesome! Can't wait.
At the risk of getting off-topic… have you split-tested having the image blurry like in this test? It seems strangely compelling for some reason.
That is a fantastic idea. Looking forward to the results.
But…I'm gonna throw a wrench into the gears…You're case study could be very flawed.
The Marketing experiments headline was on a landing page. I'm sure the landing page headline affects the user way different than the headline of a banner ad.
I've found that continuity from creative to landing page to conversion page is more important than any one headline.
My theory why the benefit oriented headlines did better is because most affiliates driving traffic use benefit oriented headlines! This is backed by the poll in the beginning.
Therefore, since the affiliates are driving traffic this way than the continuity between creative to lander was reinforced.
I'd like to see a case study of sudden DEATH for this theory…It could very well render the results from both of the above just outright wrong…
I totally agree that continuity helps with conversions. Yes I could of created a landing page for every new ad that I created but that of taken a bit too long!
If headline B1 wins, then this whole conversation is thrown out the window…I hope it doesn't.
You said you would like to see a case study of sudden DEATH… I like the name, but do you mean creating conitinuity by adding my own landers in it?
Possibly,test for a sudden death round for the top headline against a headline that would coinside with whatever offer you send them to. for example..on peerfly, the offer Christian Date (UK) has the head line:
"Find a Christian soulmate here!
Everything is in your hands."
Then right above the lead fields
"Register to find love!"
So you can test "get a girlfriend" vs "get a soulmate" vs "Find Love. click here everything is in your hands"
Or something like that. internet marketing is so much fun because there are so many variables to test!
This offer might not be a good one to try, but you get the idea of what I'm thinking.
I hear ya! I'll see what I can find.
awesome post can't wait to see the results. On the oddball headline I think the concept of "you" is what is at work there. It's the only headline that is directed towards the user directly and as a statement not an "advertisement" It's compelling and slightly vague to peak their interest. two extremes to further highlight the point would be…
"Hey YOU! We have a special offer we just can't wait to tell YOU about so why don't YOU click here for FREE right now????"
vs
"Attention! For your eyes only: [your immediate response is required]
Psych 101 in action: People only care about themselves. Fuck altruism. Tell them what you can do for them, and how great it will be once they're on board, and that's all they see. Sounds terrible but it's hardwired into 99% of us.
I think there’s something powerful about the word “Get”.
I’ve been testing “Download Prosper202 For Free” vs “Get Prosper202 For Free” on the prosper202 homepage and the version with get is converting over 35% higher. [screenshot] http://bit.ly/mVgRct
Win! By the way what were you using to track that?
Probably Conversion202 that was just released publicly.
B2 will have the highest CTR.
Awesome post! One thing to keep in mind is context. What I noticed it's not so much what the headlines is but whether it blends in with the content where its being served.
For example back in the day on FB if you wanted to kill dating you don't write "Single and Lonely?" you simply wrote "(1) Friend Request" and your CTR and CRs would jump through the roof!
All I'm saying is we can't look at things in a bubble and need to know the context in which were testing the variables. In this case what was the ads they clicked on, where was the traffic coming from, etc.
I think A1 will have the highest CTR
I think A1 & B2 will be winners.
[...] you haven’t read the intial headline case study post, please do [...]
Loved the post, and gave me a lot to think about too.
[...] Get Paid. Click Here. [Mega Post] [...]