Headline examples, and the formulas behind them
Good headlines from ads and homepages, old and new, grouped by the trick they're using, so you can steal the trick and not the words.
TLDR
- Most good headlines use one of about eight tricks. Learn the tricks and you stop staring at a blank field.
- Steal the structure, never the line. “1,000 songs in your pocket” works because it’s specific, and yours needs its own specific.
- Write 20 versions, then pick. The first one is almost never it.
- Keep the ones that get you in a swipe file tagged by trick, and you’ll have a menu next time.
1. The specific number
A number makes a claim feel measured instead of made up.
- “1,000 songs in your pocket.” Apple, launching the iPod in 2001. Not “lots of music”. A number you can picture.
- “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.” David Ogilvy. The number sets the scene, the clock does the bragging.
How to steal it: find the one number in your product that’s surprising, and put it in the first five words.
2. The admission
Say the bad thing first. People believe the rest more.
- “We’re number two. We try harder.” Avis, 1962. They were second to Hertz and made that the whole pitch.
- “Think small.” Volkswagen, 1959, selling a tiny car to Americans who wanted big ones.
How to steal it: what’s the thing a competitor would say about you? Say it yourself, then say why it’s fine.
3. The outcome, not the feature
- “Be less busy.” Slack, early on. Three words, zero features, and it’s the thing everyone wanted.
- “Send better email.” Mailchimp. A promise you can check.
How to steal it: finish the sentence “after using this, you’ll…” and use the end of it.
4. The identity
- “I never read The Economist.” Management trainee. Aged 42. The Economist’s red posters. It sells to your fear of being that guy.
How to steal it: who does your customer not want to be? Describe that person, don’t mention the product.
5. The plain description
Sometimes the best headline is just what it is, for who.
- “Payments infrastructure for the internet.” Stripe. Boring on purpose. Developers trust boring.
- “Email for developers.” Resend. Three words, and you know if it’s for you.
How to steal it: “[What it is] for [who it’s for].” If that’s clear and nobody else can say it, you’re done.
6. The question they’re already asking
“Still paying for three project tools?” works when the reader’s answer is an instant yes. It fails when they have to think. Test it: if a stranger needs more than a second to answer, rewrite it.
7. The before and after
“From 40 tabs to one folder.” “From spreadsheet to dashboard in an afternoon.” Works best when the before is painful and specific. “From chaos to clarity” is the slop version. Nobody’s life is “chaos”, and nobody’s ever achieved “clarity” from a SaaS tool.
8. The “without”
“[Good thing] without [bad thing].” “Ads without the agency.” “Taxes without the shoebox of receipts.” It’s the fastest way to position against how people do it today.
How to actually write one
- Write the plain description version first (number 5). That’s your fallback, and sometimes it’s the winner.
- Write three versions for each trick. That’s 24.
- Read them out loud. Cross out anything you wouldn’t say to a friend.
- Pick two and test them if you have the traffic. If you don’t, pick the more specific one.
For character limits by platform (Google Ads headlines stop at 30 characters, and Meta starts cutting headlines at about 40), there’s a free ad copy character counter, and ad specs for every platform. For a page title, the Google snippet preview shows where Google cuts it on desktop and on a phone.
Keep a headline swipe file
Every headline above came from somebody’s swipe file. Keep your own: screenshot the ad, save the homepage, forward the email, and tag it by trick (#specific-number, #admission, #without). Savepad reads the text in screenshots, so searching “without” finds every “without” headline you’ve ever saved. There’s more on setting that up in how to build a copywriting swipe file.