5 Psychological Tactics to Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines

In order to understand how to increase the appeal of your business to your audience, what you need to do is figure out a way in which their thought process works. Even though this may be quite individual (between one person and another), the truth is that there are several simple psychological principles that can be used in order to influence the majority of people. This is why, when it comes to headlines, it seems as if several patterns keep repeating. With that in mind and without further ado, here are five psychological tactics that will help you write the most effective attention-grabbing headlines.

1.  Question headlines

The first psychological trick that you could play on your audience is asking a question that they will want (or need) an answer to. It could be a question that they’ve previously asked themselves or it could be something that has never before crossed their mind but now they just have to know. Either way, appealing to the curiosity of your audience is one of the simplest, yet, most effective psychological tricks that you could play on your audience and ensure that they click on the headline that you’ve presented them with. It really is that simple.

2.  Curiosity gap

Another psychological phenomenon at your disposal is the so-called curiosity gap. What this does is provide incomplete information to your audience in hopes that it will attract their attention to read the entirety of the article in their quest for answers. The biggest downside of this method, however, lies in the fact that it’s quite easy to cross the line into clickbait territory. Still, by not outright lying and deceiving your audience, you’ll be able to stay on the safe side without much effort. On the other hand, regardless of what you think about clickbait, no one can deny the fact that it actually works.

3.  Wordplay

One of the main reasons why you should go for word-play is the fact that this is one of the simplest ways to display your prowess to your audience even before they click on the link. The problem, nonetheless, lies in the fact that this requires a no small amount of talent, as well as some admirable writing skills on your part. So, make sure to work on your language skills as much as you possibly can, regardless if you’re a native speaker or not. Courses like Monkey Tree ESL are one of the ways for one to improve their language proficiency, thus improving their writing quality level by quite a margin.

4.  How-to headlines

The easiest way to provide value is to offer knowledge to your audience. This is why how-to headlines are so effective at grabbing one’s attention. This is also quite useful for SEO purposes, seeing as how it’s the natural format that people use in search engines. For instance, when looking for a way to write a business plan, they’re most likely to use a phrase such as “How to write a business plan”. This way, you gain a slight visibility edge that goes a long way.

5.  Negative headlines

The FOMO (fear of missing out) phenomenon, is one of the strongest motivators there are. Why? Well, because it is in human nature not to want to be left behind. This is why headlines suggesting that there’s something that your readers aren’t aware of are so effective. Suggesting that there’s an advantage that they haven’t been using their entire lives or that there’s a mistake that they’re consistently making without even being aware of it are incredibly effective motivators. Also, suggesting that the knowledge in your post will allow them to avoid a disaster may be quite helpful.

The very last thing worth paying attention to is the fact that the best way to use these methods is organically. The topic needs to be carefully selected and no matter how strong the impulse to use these methods is, you need to keep it subtle and natural-looking. Otherwise, you risk instigating defense mechanisms in your audience, thus diminishing your odds of making a conversion.