This is Inbox Hacking, a free newsletter with Email Marketing insights, tools, & tactics sent twice per week. If someone forwarded you our Newsletter, join marketers from Hubspot, the NBA, & Realtor.com and sign up for a Free subscription. On tap: Improving your headlines for more clicks & engagement.
Morning, Inbox Hackers. Hope your coffeeâs filled to the brim and your vacation days too (use âem!)
Today weâre talking effective headlines & titles⊠so your emails, videos, ads, etc. will get more clicks and engagement.
Iâll show you current trends, highly effective phrases, and examples from a worldwide leader.
Write better headlines – Takeaways:
- Most writers spend too little time on the headline
- Yet most readers only care about the headline
- Headlines have gotten shorter
- Exaggeration isnât needed to grab attention
- Clickbait only works in the short run (erodes trust)
Headline and Title Trends
I picked these headline trends out with a lil help from a handy AI assistant (Perplexity).
- Many titles are getting shorter (rampant phone reading/scanning)
- Super specific headlines so readers canât mistake what theyâll get
- “need to know” & “the first time” are very effective phrasesâ
- Mentions of time boost engagement, (i.e. âthis monthâ / âin 90 secondsâ)
- Most shared headlines were 11 words / 65 characters (Facebook & Twitter)
Teases still work. Personalization too. The best number in a headline is still 10.
ââThe first timeâ is so trendy that I even hear it constantly from various podcast guests when revealing something new about their life.
Write Better Headlines – Tactics in Action
The worldwide leader in making sports widows, ESPN, knows a thing or two about grabbing eyeballs. So emulate their tactics for writing better headlines…
1)Promoting their Fantasy App is the main goal.
2)Then the Fantasy article with a giant font.
3)Last, the subheads to the right.
Then ESPN uses:
- Numbers in nearly every title
- Very unique power verbs like âicesâ
- Time themes like â30-year streakâ andâŠ
- âŠânot sinceâ
Oh, and videos far outweigh articles below the top fold.
You donât need an ESPN writer (neither does ESPN #layoffs). Just follow their headline tactics. Or use BuzzSumoâs content analyzer that helps generate ideas and learn from the best current headlines.
Write Better Headlines Wrap-up
Headlines are the keys to making emails stand out, getting videos clicked on, and enticing browsers to download lead magnets.
Taking time to learn to write better headlines and tweaking each headline until it has the best chance of grabbing attention is always time well-spent.
And itâs vital to know the nuances of different platforms and the headlines used. (i.e. your blog vs. YouTube titles).
âFor being only about 60 to 100 charactersâor 16 to 18 words long, a headline has a lot of responsibility.â ~Marketing Insider Group
2 more helpful links:
âSean at Psychotactics uses headline parentheses and his sub-headlines are epic. His Headline Report is worth reading twice.
âHeadline deep dive with structures, formulas, and swipes from Marketing Insider Group.
Keep reading for The Knowledge Base, 3 key stats, & Todayâs Hack.
Maybe your subject lines are the best ones known to mankind.
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Knowledge Base
đȘKnowledge is power, but first, a real underdog
Need guidance on setting email marketing benchmarks?
đČDid you notice that Spamhaus Glitch?
Bots versus marketers (how to do battle)
đInfographicâ check your marketing messages
Get journalists to mention your organization
đLevel-headed take on using AI & getting sued
Follow Inbox MailersâŠ
Self Help
The smartest dog on Earth memorized and recognizes the names for like 1,100 different dog toys.
Most dogs know how to sit and thatâs it.
But even the dumb-dumbs know how to treat people. And how to be happy. And how to get everything they want.
Mostly they just want friends. But they donât hunt friends, they be friends.
*Shout-out to Inbox Hackers:
âWayne at VACS Ltd. (calibrations)
Tina at Raise the Bar (manager training)
Facts and Stats
- Only 15.7% of mailers say theyâre âvery confidentâ in their email deliverability knowledge (Email Insider)
- 24.5% of mailers didnât know if theyâd been blocklisted in the last two years (Media Post)
- New survey: Mailersâ top 3 concerns? 1. Staying out of spam folder. 2. Getting more emails delivered. 3. Staying off blocklists. (Mailgun)
Bonus: 2 vital e-commerce metrics most brands donât calculate or understand how to? Answer here.
News FlashâŠ
You can stop worrying about subject lines 24/7.
This one strategy unlocks better open rates.
Inbox Mailersâ Triggered Emails. Yes, it works for businesses of all sizes.
- Get open rates of 50% – 70%
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- Increase/Fix Sender scores and IP Health
- Re-engage your Dead/Unengaged list
- Increases click volume
Schedule a free demo of Inbox Mailersâ patent-pending platform.
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Get Hacking
Oh the horrorâŠnew survey revealed email marketers were flippant about key email metrics. Only 16.4% said they tracked inbox placement. Just 10.8% monitored spam trap hits.
Spam traps can chew the legs off an email marketing program. Clean your list regularly.
Inbox placement? Getting the email delivered isnât enough. Donât roll the dice that subscribers would dig through their spam and promotional folders to find your email. Monitor inbox placement rates and see rates for various ESPs in this June 2023 report.
ALT hack: An easy way to increase salesâ Add product reviews in various languages (73% of consumers would like this option).
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