Forum Moderators: not2easy
5 Tips To Write A Sexy Teaser [marketingprofs.com]
On the web, where people skim more that they read, the importance of this tip soars to a new level. One way I think of heads and teasers is that something needs to grab attention, even for those who are skimming. It may be a paradox, a double entendre, a pressing business need - there are many creative ways to approach the challenge.
But when the skimming eye can take in that critical hook with a SINGLE glance rather than going into "full read" mode, then click-throughs go up. For this reason I often add a line break to the headline after 3 or 4 words. It's easier to take in those two resulting lines with one glance.
When I first began splitting headlines this way in an e-mail newsletter, click-through to the main site went from 30% to over 40% of all addresses.
Interesting points about breaking headers tedster, do you do this in regular copy aswell? Personally I try not to make them more than 4/5 words but now I may change that....
Nick
Interesting points about breaking headers tedster, do you do this in regular copy..
Yes, I do. I agree with you about keeping it short to begin with, but sometimes language just won't accomodate a thought in 3-5 words. My experience in that case seems to show that a header with two narrow lines is much more effective than a header with one wide line.
It's not quite as "beautiful" and my designers friends hate when I do that. But it communicates better, and function tops aesthetics for me every time.
In the offline world of advertisin I once had to place 33 ads for the same thing. The budget was ridiculously small so I had a severely limited wordcount/ad...like 21 words!
It's amazin how much fluff you can cut if motivated and it's amazin how many times you can say the same thing differently.
Sometimes however, restricting wordcount *too much* can mean adopting inappropriate language for the target audience.
