See Ory Rinat's presentation from Spark 2016, TrackMaven's annual digital marketing summit focused on the intersection of marketing art and science. Learn more at spark.trackmaven.com Headlines have to live on their own – unlike in the print world where they were attached to your article and content. They travel across the web, asking readers for their click. Our research has shown that just changing a headline can swing engagement with a piece of content by 30%. So we test our headlines. A lot. Learn how we quickly and cheaply run A/B tests on our headlines, and see some of the key takeaways we apply as a result.

1. 1
Headline Testing:
The Single Most Impactful
Thing You Can Do (Maybe)

2. “
Headlines have to work on their own,
unlike in print. What’s the proposition you
want to say to the reader to earn his/her
click?”
—Gabriel Snyder, Editor-in-Chief, The New Republic

3. Overview
Headlines Testing Basics

4. Headline Testing Basics
Evaluating 2+ headline options
Comparing performance when it comes
to a key metric

5. Headline Testing Basics
An experiment, not an analysis
Controlling for all other factors

6. Headline Testing Basics
Seeking for significant results – not small
variations
Selecting a testing environment that
represents broader engagement

7. Our Methodology
One Approach to Testing

8. Our Approach to Testing
Using Facebook paid advertising
Confirmed that Facebook is indicative of
our broader audience

9. Our Approach to Testing
Setting up a distinct ad campaign, ad
set, and ad for each headline option
Launching each headline option at the
same time, to the same audience, with
the same budget

10. Our Approach to Testing
Allowing test to run for at least 3 hours
and at least 10,000 impressions
Lowest CPC headline or one with
greatest clicks is winning option

11. The Data:
Headline Tests In Action

12. Which Headline Worked?
A B

13. Hypothesis: Clarity Wins Over Poetry
A B
48 Shares
787 Clicks
115 Shares
1184 Clicks
Winner:
50% more clicks

14. Which Headline Worked?
A B

15. Hypothesis: Decisiveness Drives Clicks
A B
80 shares
656 Clicks
16 Shares
460 Clicks
Winner:
42% more clicks

16. Which Headline Worked?
A B

17. Hypothesis: Key Stats Win Out
A B
43 Shares
1041 Clicks
38 Shares
727 Clicks
Winner:
43% more clicks

18. Which Headline Worked?
A B

19. Hypothesis: Extra Words Don’t Help
A B
64 Shares
1117 Clicks
27 Shares
862 Clicks
Winner:
29% more clicks

20. Which Headline Worked?
A B

21. Hypothesis: Logical Syntax is Key
A B
26 Shares
697 Clicks
27 Shares
946 Clicks
Winner:
35% more clicks

22. Which Headline Worked?
A B

23. Hypothesis: Simplicity Should be a Default
A B
2 Shares
419 Clicks
16 Shares
1512 Clicks
Winner:
260% more clicks