Comments on: Are Your Headlines Offensive?

By: Richard Vanderhurst

Richard Vanderhurst — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:54:19 +0000

I like your article… very informative, another angle of content and headline creations. Thanks for sharing!

By: Texas Tech Tuesday – Website Optimization Secrets from The Most Innovative Offense in Football (part 1) | FutureNow's GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:22:12 +0000

[...] If you only know that headline “A” outperformed headline “B” without understanding WHY headline “A” worked best, it would be like Coach Leach only knowing that play X worked and play Y didn’t without [...]

By: Diana Scimone

Diana Scimone — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:45:18 +0000

Great strategy, Jeff. I’m constantly writing about how to stop child trafficking, and the stories can be so overwhelming that people tune out. You’ve reminded me to trumpet the line, “There IS something we can do about it.” I’m gonna go rewrite something right now–thanks!

Diana Scimone
Born to Fly International, Inc.
http://www.dianascimone.com
http://www.born2fly.org

By: 10 Cool Links for Bloggers and Copywriters | IdealFusion Consulting

10 Cool Links for Bloggers and Copywriters | IdealFusion Consulting — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:48:14 +0000

[...] talented Jeff Sexton asks if your headlines are offensive. Come on, you know you have to click through on that [...]

By: Jason Cohen

Jason Cohen — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:05:42 +0000

Love the offense/defense point, but shouldn’t that make the title of your article: “Put your headlines on the offensive.”

I first found your article because by the title I thought it meant offensive as in “I’m offended by that.” It came up in a related search from my latest blog post.

I’ll be keeping this in mind! Thanks.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:41:53 +0000

Tony,

You are right that the first headline will grab attention more forcefully than the second one will. The question is, which one will drive better response rates?

In other words, this is a situation where the reader has to click-through in order to read the rest of your copy. In that situation, you will want your headline to leave the reader in an “action-ready” mindset, and the second headline does that better than the first. This, in my opinion, is why the second headline outperformed the first, despite being less forcefull.

-Jeff

By: Tony Vicassa

Tony Vicassa — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:55:15 +0000

Interesting point.

But I don’t know why. If all the headlines all put in a clutter of headlines, I still feel I will notice

“Does a sexual offender live in your neighborhood?”

first.

I think it capture the attention and “force” the reader to read the copy carefully.

The 2nd one in my opinion, does not hit the urgency button in me.

Just my 2 cent.

Vicassa.

By: Are Political Consultants Better at Marketing than Most Marketers? | FutureNow's GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:06:36 +0000

[...] to conduct A/B and multivariate testing, you can’t effectively drive continued improvement. An understanding of language nuance is important, but you’ll still want to take your copy changes to the “court of last resort” with [...]

By: Joel Drapper

Joel Drapper — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:10:04 +0000

Great article! I will think about it when I write my titles.

By: Asher

Asher — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:35:25 +0000

Hi Jeff,
This is an excellent article. I like your angle on the offensive mindset approach.
Asher

By: 10 Cool Links for Bloggers and Copywriters | Copyblogger

10 Cool Links for Bloggers and Copywriters | Copyblogger — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:00:57 +0000

[...] talented Jeff Sexton asks if your headlines are offensive. Come on, you know you have to click through on that [...]

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:38:06 +0000

David,

I couldn’t agree more. You definitely need to be able to predict audience reactions, emotional drives, world views, etc. Still, some emotions and desires are universal; it’s not hard to predict how someone would react to a child molester moving next door.

-Jeff

By: David Abbott

David Abbott — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:56:55 +0000

I’m wondering if guilt, as in reading copy and being reminded by the subject that I should be doing more than I am, qualifies as “pain based” or “negative mental images” copy? The key to knowing how to apply this lies with knowing your audience’s perception of the topic.

By: Janet

Janet — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:44:15 +0000

I am constantly changing our communications around here from a negative to a positive opening statement or question. You’ve given some great examples of what I am asking for – thanks!

By: Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:15:07 +0000

Wow great article! You’re very right about the two different ways of writing that envoke particular feelings… I never thought of a way of writing defensively and offensively. Good stuff.