Do direct response prospects still respond to “How to” headlines?
Or is it better to strip off the “How to” and give them a command?
I decided to test this out. The results were instructive, but not in the way you might expect.
Anyways, I don’t have a live sales letter running, but I do have several large email lists that I can send A/B-split emails to.
So I prepared one email with a “How to” subject line and identical “How to” CTA text. The other subject line and CTA were the same, except if you imagine a pitbull came and ripped the “How to” part to shreds.
Result?
The “How to” variant had marginally lower open rates… marginally lower clickthrough rates… and marginally higher total sales.
In other words, a total testing washout. I repeated the test a couple days in a row, and same crabstick.
You might not be surprised. In fact, you might think this is a perfect example of testing “whispers” — irrelevant details that don’t really move the sales needle.
I agree. The only reason I tested this is because I was told, on very good authority by a very successful copywriter, that “How to” headlines, much like a love affair between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, are a nostalgic throwback to the 70s. In other words, second hand news.
Maybe you think I’m wasting your time, but there’s a bigger point here.
After doing this copywriting stuff for a while, after reading a bunch of books, watching a bunch of courses, talking to other copywriters, and most importantly, writing copy and seeing the results of actual campaigns, I’ve come to a couple conclusions.
First, top copywriters really do produce better copy and get better results. But much of the specific copywriting advice out there — “Don’t use ‘How to’ headlines in today’s market” — is really unproven intuition or personal preference.
My other conclusion is that there are just a few direct response fundamentals that really matter, and that really work in almost any context. I wrote down 10 of them. (It was hard to get to 10.)
When in doubt, I will go back to these 10 ideas. If you want, I’m sharing them with you below. You’re unlikely to find something surprising or new here. But you might find a good reminder — and that’s really what the point is. Anyways, here’s the list:
1. Markets are problems. Address problems.
2. Curiosity works to get people’s attention, and to keep people’s attention.
3. Start where the reader is. Positioning is probably the most important decision you can make.
4. Accept that you don’t have the reader’s full attention and that the channel is noisy. Adjust your marketing and your copy for this.
5. What you say is more important than how you say it.
6. Concrete beats abstract. Stories beat sermons.
7. It’s a numbers game. The best you can do is make an educated guess. Or better yet, several educated guesses.
8. Your copy can probably use more drama than it currently has.
9. New sells real well. New product. New mechanism. New understanding.
10. Give people a way to justify making this purchase. Justifications can be proof… or another dimension of benefits… or a risk-free offer.
I’m back. Just to tell you one last instructive thing. I write a daily email newsletter. If you want to read more of what I write as it comes out, then one option is to subscribe to that newsletter. If you want, here’s where to sign up.