The Single Thing Your Reader Is Most Interested In

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. A bit cheesy perhaps but nonetheless true, especially when you’re talking about headlines… because the stakes are so high.
If your headline doesn’t appeal to the reader, doesn’t get them excited or intrigued, then that person isn’t going to bother to read your message. Whether it’s a sales letter, an article, a web page, or any other kind of communication, they simply will not read it because you’ve failed to persuade them that there’s anything in it for them.
If your headline doesn’t work, no one will read your body copy.
And if they don’t read your copy, what chance do you think there might be of them buying your product or service?
Without a great headline your sales letters will be leaving millions on the table, just waiting for your more savvy competitors to come along and swipe it away from under your nose.
What’s in it for me?
That’s all they want to know. Sounds a little selfish, perhaps, but we humans are selfish folk at heart. All we care about is what’s in it for us.
If the writer can convince us that our life will improve in some way as a result of using their product or service, then a sale is almost guaranteed.
I want it now!
But just when you think you’ve got it cracked, along comes another dimension. In today’s Internet age, we are all after immediate gratification. Not just what’s in it for me, but what’s in it for me NOW!
So your headline must stop people in their tracks and get them to read on… or it will fail.
Let’s say that your headline has captured the reader’s attention. It has stimulated their imagination and intrigued them sufficiently for them to read on. You’ve still only secured one single step.
They have only agreed to read your next sentence, usually your sub-headline – nothing more – but that’s all you’re going to get.
Generally speaking, a piece of sales copy advances line by line. The headline leads you to read the sub-headline; the sub-headline takes you into the first sentence; the first sentence leads you to the second sentence… and so on. The writer is buying your time piece by piece.
Halfway through any sentence you can simply give up and move on. They’ve lost you.
But the most powerful headline gives the reader the ultimate incentive to persevere; to carry on reading every word till they reach the end… and BUY!