Look closely enough, and you’ll see we’re using the formula in our own headline above.
And if you’re reading this, it’s obviously working… right?
We recently came across an interesting Facebook Group post by Alen Sultanic, and it raises an important point:
Copy that emphasizes features and benefits gives you bad to average results.
So instead of focusing on features and benefits, you should sell outcomes.
According to Alen, the formula you’re about to see increased one marketer’s opt-in rates by 71% and conversion rates by 63%. Pretty amazing.
So let’s start with a decent headline idea, then improve on it. Alen gave this example:
“How to lose 20 pounds in 20 days (or less) using a little-known herb only found in the Amazon Rainforest.”
It’s a decent headline, no? It’s got a nice outcome, but the outcome isn’t as compelling as it needs to be.
Alen says compelling outcomes are built on two things:
- Where we are -> Where we want to go.
- Who we are -> Who we want to become.
When you understand where your target audience wants to go, and who they want to become, you get a truly compelling outcome.
Here’s the magical headline formula that helps you achieve both:
“How To Go From Feeling [what problems they’re aware of, but can’t solve] To [outcomes they want] By [mechanism] In [timeline] days or less.”
Apply this formula to the original headline example, and you get:
“How To Go From Having Belly Fat, Feeling Tired, and Fighting Cravings To Easily Losing 20–30 Pounds In The Next 3 Months — Using This Little Known Herb From The Amazon Rainforest.”
Much more powerful, right?
If you decide to test this formula in your campaigns, let us know how it goes. We’d love to hear!