Before you run any ad headline, apply this five-word test. If the headline passes, it’s worth testing. If it fails, rewrite it.
The five words are: so what, who cares, prove it.
These aren’t five individual words. They’re three responses that any skeptical reader will have to your headline if it’s not doing its job.
“So what?” is the response to a headline that states a feature without establishing relevance. “Our software has 47 integrations” — so what? What does that mean for me? “Our software connects to the tools you already use so you can stop switching tabs and get two hours back every day” — now we’re getting somewhere. The so what question forces you to complete the thought that’s implied in most feature-focused headlines.
“Who cares?” is the response to a headline that makes a claim that isn’t specific enough to create emotional relevance. “Better marketing results” — who cares, specifically? “How health coaches booked out their calendars in 60 days without cold outreach” — specific enough that health coaches who want to book out their calendars care. The who cares question forces you to identify the specific audience and make the relevance to that audience explicit.
“Prove it” is the response to a headline that makes a bold claim without providing any signal that the claim is credible. “The best email marketing in the world” — prove it. The prove it question doesn’t necessarily require you to put the proof in the headline (though specificity helps). But it forces you to ask whether the claim is believable given the context. A claim that requires extensive proof to be believed is probably too bold for a headline that hasn’t yet established credibility.
A headline that passes all three challenges is one that:
— Completes the “so what” by establishing specific relevance
— Answers “who cares” by speaking directly to a specific person with a specific problem
— Survives “prove it” by being specific enough to be credible rather than bold enough to be suspicious
Apply this test before you spend money on any headline. It will save you significant wasted ad spend.
So what? Who cares? Prove it.