A/B Testing Idea #2: Make your headlines sound super cool.

A/B Testing Idea #2: Make your headlines sound super cool.

Hello everyone,

We're back with our second post in the CRO testing idea series. If you missed the first post, please check it out here: "Place irresistible and clear CTAs." In today's post, we'll look at how to effectively A/B test your headline content.


 
Some people say "you only get one chance to make a first impression" while others contend that it only takes seven seconds to make an impression about someone or something. Well, the same concept applies to your website.

A good first impression on your website is crucial for making visitors trust in your products/services and keeping them tied to your business forever. Creating this first impression depends on many factors like structure, colors, spacing, symmetry, amount of text, and fonts. But, of everything else, a good headline plays a major role in the success of your website.  

Your headline is the first thing that readers see as soon as they land on your site; it holds the power to make or break a deal at first visit. Even if your content is truly unique and innovative, a weak headline can ruin its chances of being super successful in terms of conversions. So how do you create a strong headline that drives more traffic and clicks on your website?

Here are a few aspects to consider as you A/B test your site's headline content:

Communicate your brand's purpose
Often we just assume that the visitors fully understand everything about our website and its product offerings. However, that’s not always the case, especially for new visitors. With hundreds of websites selling products/services online, it's important to make sure that the primary headline on your homepage tells visitors what your website has to offer and how it aligns with their expectations—all in a few short seconds. Tweaking and testing headline copy that clearly communicates your brand's purpose and differentiates yourself from the competitors can encourage your visitors to take the desired action without another thought.
 
Example:
Say you own a website testing and analytics software solution that offers a set of tools to grow an online business. Take a look below at the old and new versions of the same headline message. Notice that while the first tells people what the product is, the second tells people what the product will actually help them do.



Extra tip: The easiest way to determine if your brand message is clear to your visitors is by assuming your audience knows nothing about the business you're running.

Try different headlines for different set of target audiences
Each website caters to a specific type of audience. So understanding which audience group you cater to, where they come from, what their interests are, and what information they are hoping to find on your site is another major parameter to consider before starting to test your headline content. Testing and optimizing your headline copy based on a particular set of audience segments like demographics (such as location, gender, age, etc), personal interests, and past engagements with your site can help you deliver personalized content for each category of visitors, which is more likely to generate conversions. 

Example: 
Say you run an ecommerce business and want to A/B test your headline copy with enticing offers for returning visitors to see which one convinces them to fulfill your conversion goals.
 

Extra tip:
  • You can target your A/B test in PageSense using a variety of audience segments such as visitor type, device used, JS variable, day of the week, and more to learn which version grabs your audience's attention immediately and performs best for each segment.
  • To know your target audience better, you can set up polls on your website using PageSense and learn your visitor’s business (or personal) needs and how your product can help achieve them. Later, you can use this feedback to test and optimize your website content. 
Match your headline with your ad copy
When a visitor clicks on an ad, it's of the utmost importance to match the message on that ad to the headline content on your post-click landing page. If your headline doesn't match the offers and features that you promised in your ad copy, you're wasting all your marketing investment and conversion opportunities. A/B testing your headline by incorporating relevant keywords that resonate with your ad copy can help you reassure people that they've come to the right place. It can also later persuade them to take the desired action on your site more quickly. Further, this type of testing is more likely to generate increased clickthrough rates, conversions, and revenue for your website.  
 
Example:
Say you're running a Facebook Ad for older travelers, and the post-click landing page shows the most relevant tourist packages, flights, and hotel stays based on their interests. Now compare the old and new headline messages below to see which version of the message sounds better.



Include stats and numbers
Numbers in your headlines are a great way to grab attention by spontaneously triggering curiosity in your targeted audience. When you use symbols like %, $, or digits instead of words to express percentages, dollars, or numbers in your headlines, it creates specificity around the duration, size, value, etc. of what you're offering customers, which is more attractive than a generic offering. This is a powerful psychological tactic that spotlights your headlines and immediately hooks the reader's interest, which results in more traffic.

Example:
Consider the pricing page of your website and see how adding a number to the headline can increase reader engagement.


Follow the problem-solving methodology
Solving your customers' problem is the easiest and fastest way to reach their heart. Crafting a headline that addresses an issue and provides a cutting-edge solution to solve the problem can make optimizing your website easier. Intriguing your readers like this can make them look for more information on the rest of your site. Further, when done well, it can build a solid emotional bond between you and your customer for a longer term.

Example:
Take a look at the image below to see how implementing the problem and solution technique in your fitness website can make your headline sound more interesting.


 
Test with power words and sentiments
Sometimes the right audience is just one word away. Using forceful positive or negative power words in your headlines has the potential to kindle your customers' emotions and inspire action on your website in no time. Also, these words can guarantee more clicks and make your headlines stand out from the rest. You can test your headlines depending on two groups of power words:  
  • Negative headlines: This type of headline tends to intrigue your customers by setting a stage to avoid a miserable situation. It includes words like never, stop, worst, avoid, or do not.
  • Positive headlines: This type of headline tries to build a relationship with feel good emotions. It includes words like best, always, fastest, easiest, most, greatest, largest, funniest, hottest, strongest, biggest, and ever.
Example:
Take a look at the image below to see how the choice of words can invoke a positive feeling as you read the headline.



Test the font and appearance of your headline
The presentation (color, fonts, and layout) of your headline copy has a huge impact on the performance of your site. Below are a few points to consider while testing the appearance of your headline:
  • Use title case. Avoid writing your headlines in all caps as it can reduce the readability of your text.  
  • Choose a font style and size that matches your website's personality. The most popular font style is sans-serif and font size is 20 - 36 pixels.
  • Apply colors that contrast (while complimenting) your website's background well and focus on the legibility of your content.
  • Align your headline perfectly with your body content for a bigger impact. Centered headlines are most powerful visually, while left-centered are more conservative and formal. 
Example:
Say you own an online food delivery website, and you want to test the color and font of your homepage headline for better clickthrough rates. Take a look at the before and after images of the headline below. Which one you think will attract more eyeballs? 

 
Try out the two-part strategy
Don't forget your supporting cast! Successful headlines act in two parts. Including a persuasive subheadline copy below your headline can be another winning strategy to pull your customers deeper into your website. You can test different versions of your subheadings to see which best suits your visitors, such as explaining a bit more about your product or services, emphasizing your product benefits, or encouraging visitors to click the CTA button placed on your site.

Example:
Take a look at the main headline and the subheading of a customer support software website as shown below. In this case, your subheadline re-affirms how your software helps your customers and adds emphasis about different product features.

 
Test the headline length and SEO compatibility
Test your headline for the right length, SEO keywords, and sentiments. Keeping a headline no longer than six words will help readers easily process your text and attain the goal of your website. Using free headline analyzer tools such as Coschedule or Sharethrough can help you effortlessly understand your website's performance. They analyze important factors (like searchable keywords, word balance, and sentiments) and assign a percentage score based on how good your headline is. They'll help you identify the factors you need to improve for more productive headlines.

Example:
Let's say you own an online pet supply store and you want to test the headline of your homepage to attract more visitor traffic. The screenshots below show the performance of both the old and new versions of the headline in terms of length.



Bonus tips:
  • Create a sense of urgency in your headline with words like "today," "now," and "last-minute offer."
  • Use comparison phrases like "versus" to reinforce the benefits and features of your products/services.
  • Research your competitor's headlines to add more value and optimize your headlines better.  
We hope you found this article useful. What is your favorite headline tester? Have you had any success with headline A/B testing? Do share with us in the comments box below.

Happy testing. Happy converting!

Thank you.

      • Recent Topics

      • Remove "Subject" as a required field on quotations

        Not sure why, but Zoho has made 'Subject' a system defined required field. I'm not entirely sure why subject would be required as a key field (i.e. you cannot deactivate it or change it from required). It doesn't make much sense on many product quotations,

      • Displaying only unread tickets in ticket view

        Hello, I was wondering if someone might be able to help me with this one. We use filters to display our ticket list, typically using a saved filter which displays the tickets which are overdue or due today. What I'd really like is another filter that

      • Best way to setup Inventory bin tracking for products with multiple boxes/crates

        Hi - we need some advice from the community on setting up Items in the Inventory for products with multiple crates. We have large products in our warehouse where the product is delivered as two large (double pallet) crates. We've setup the Items for these

      • Can't find field from ZCRM for a trigger

        Hello, Currently I am revamping our CRM system and we have created second layouts from to try out new processes while not disrupting the old one. Moreover, we want to use different layouts for different processes. The issue is that when creating the ZCRM

      • Discount Per Item / Option Removed

        Hi, I was using Zoho Books for three years now and very saticfied. Now, as we try to add an invoice, we founds that the discount option per item was takn away, and a discount from total was implemented. However, we have cases when we add a diffrent discount to each item. Was this option removed permanently? Thanks, 

      • Any Possible to change the challan type in Delivery challan ?

        Hello Team, We need to add the more values in challan type in delivery challan module in Zoho Books.So how to add additional values in challan type field. Please find following snap for your reference. Thanks in Advance, Thisai Moorthy.

      • Show when an invoice has been viewed

        It would be nice to know if/when a customer has viewed an invoice. This would mean not having PDF attachments and just have the link to the invoice. My previous invoicing solution had this feature and I did not realize how much I used it until it was gone. Would this be possible, or this already available and I am just missing it?

      • Zoho Books | Product updates | March 2026

        Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From Advanced Reporting Tags to the ability to mark projects as completed, explore the latest updates designed to improve your bookkeeping experience. Introducing Advanced Reporting

      • Separator line

        Is there a way i can insert a line in an invoice or quote without showing qty or prices? e.g. Options I Item description qty and price Option II Item description qty and price Thanks

      • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

        Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. 24

      • BCC Drop Box Centralisation

        Hi Team, For the last few years, I have had a question related to the Zoho CRM BCC Dropbox feature. Although BCC Dropbox is very useful for tracking customer email communication, I have always wondered why its configuration is managed at the individual

      • Kiosk Page Refresh

        We have a Kiosk running from a button in contacts to update values and also add related lists, which works great, but when the kiosk is finished the page does not refresh to show the changes. Is there a way to force the contact to refresh/update when

      • CRM Integration - Option to Sync Reporting Tags

        It would be nice to be able to sync reporting tags in Zoho Finance to a custom field in Zoho CRM. My use case is for a Customer in Finance to an Account in CRM (and vice-versa, of course), but I'm sure it's pretty obvious that this could also be used

      • Join the Zoho Desk Virtual Classroom Training (VCRT)

        Hello everyone, Have you heard about Zoho's Virtual Classroom Training (VCRT)? Zoho Desk's Virtual Classroom Training offers end-to-end training for Zoho Desk users. Join the VCRT and get hands-on guidance for setting up Zoho Desk and getting your business

      • Make Rich Text fields available in Canva Print Views

        Everything is on the title. I don't really understand why this is not already possible as Rich Text Fields are available in Canva Detailed Views for example.

      • Zoho CRM Approval Process based on Field Update

        Hello, In current structure, Zoho CRM send records to approval based on record creation and edit.  I think, it should be to set approval process trigger based on any field update in record. When the user update any field, the record can assign to approval

      • Approve records efficiently: Useful enhancements to My Jobs module and Approval process in Zoho CRM

        Dear Customers, As you might know, approval process is a process automation tool that allows you to automate approvals in your organization and My Jobs is where you approve requests from a single point of view. Here's how you'd go about it: You’d add

      • Filter isn't

        The ability to filter the history of a given flow to a specific status however it would be great to have the ability to filter to a status that isn't something for example if i want to find all history that isn't complete.

      • Introducing the Store Locator widget

        Hello everyone! Your website is often the first place customers visit before deciding where to shop. But when they can't quickly find the nearest store, check business hours, or get directions, many leave your website and search elsewhere. Every extra

      • Important updates to your connectors

        Hello everyone, Greeting from Zoho Creator! We're excited to announce that we'll be rolling out significant backend updates to Zoho Creator's built-in connectors to enhance security by following the latest frameworks. The existing version of some of the

      • Important updates to your Salesforce integrations in Zoho Creator

        Hello everyone, We're writing to inform you of an important change regarding Salesforce integrations in Zoho Creator. Salesforce has introduced new security requirements for third-party platforms that connect with their services via APIs. To comply with

      • Password Policy in Zoho Mail: Set password rules to keep your organization secure

        Weak or repetitive passwords are one of the most common causes of unauthorized account access in organizations. Zoho Mail's Password Policy feature allows administrators to define and enforce specific password requirements for all users in the organization,

      • What is Workqueue and how to hide it?

        Hi， My CRM suddenly have this "Workqueue", may I ask how to set the permission of this tab?

      • Zoho Community Digest - July 2026| Part 4

        Hi everyone, and welcome back! We're closing out July with a strong final week, from a major LinkedIn integration in Zoho Recruit to AI-powered forecasting in Zoho Analytics. There are also a few heads-ups worth noting, including API changes in Zoho CRM

      • Zoho CRM Community Digest - July 2026| Part 2

        Hello everyone! The second half of July brought five CRM updates, including a heads-up for developers on API changes coming in October, one Quick Win on keeping your attribution data intact through lead conversion, two Dev's Corner threads worth bookmarking,

      • Keeping project teams in the know with Zoho Cliq

        Project management is all about processes, data flow, and maintaining order. But communicating appropriate information at crucial times to stakeholders is as important as the moving parts of a project. Zoho Cliq can facilitate effective communication

      • Enable Credit Note creation for Sales Returns BEFORE receiving goods

        Currently, it is not possible to issue a Credit Note linked to a Sales Return until the goods have been officially marked as "received" in the system. In our business, we often need to issue a credit note to our clients immediately upon the initiation

      • Getting Internal Server Error message when filing for MTD

        I am trying to file for the MTD submission, and after I filled in all the information and click (Fetch Obligation) this message "Internal Server Error [500]" pops up. I have been trying for awhile and its still the same. What shall I do as today is deadline

      • No access to change view permission for team members

        Hi, I want team members to be able to update the percentage progress on their goals at mid year. Currently they cannot edit this, they can only update the comments against the goals. The ability to add view permission to goal progress for team members

      • Turn your Zoho One Home into your workspace with Dashboard 2.0

        When you open Zoho One, you probably don't need to see everything. You need to see what matters to you. A sales manager may want to track pipeline and revenue. An HR manager may want to monitor employee information. A business leader may want a quick

      • Zoho Assist Feature Update: August 2026

        Web Forms Web Forms in Zoho Assist help you collect support requests directly from your website and route them to the right team. Embed a customizable form so customers can raise issue details or join an active remote session using a session ID. Depending

      • Tip #84 – A More Natural Remote Experience with Custom Cursor Support – 'Insider Insights'

        Hello Zoho Assist Community! Anyone who has spent time in a remote support session knows the feeling. You're guiding a customer through a task, moving the cursor across the screen, and something feels just slightly off. The cursor doesn't behave the way

      • 【無料／オンライン】8/20開催｜Zoho ワークアウト｜ユーザー同士で学び合うオンラインもくもく会

        ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。 コミュニティグループの中野です。 8月20日（木）開催の「Zoho ワークアウト」をご案内します。 Zoho ワークアウトは、参加者それぞれが取り組みたいテーマを持ち寄り、 ユーザー同士で交流しながら、設定・検証・運用改善を進めるオンラインの「もくもく会」です。 「作業を進めたいけれど、一人だと手が止まってしまう」 「他社がどのように活用しているのか知りたい」 「同じ課題を持つユーザーと情報交換したい」 そんな方は、ぜひお気軽にご参加ください。 ▶︎ 参加登録はこちら（無料）

      • Assign Price Book to Accounts (again!)

        I can see this topic has been bumping about for over 10 years and unfortunately Zoho hasn't seen the need (or use case) in CRM to be able to assign an account to a price book to automate quoting (amongst other things). Strange given they DO assign price

      • Custom Statuses - Can You Do Anything With Them?

        As far as I can tell, one really cannot do much with custom statuses. I created a new custom status for sales orders called "Customizing / Hold". This is for sales orders that have the Confirmed status. The use case here is that, as an e-commerce company,

      • Price Book in foreign currency

        We have many customers who buy in foreign currency (USD), where our base currency is our local currency (AUD). It would be normal (it is in Zoho Books, Zoho Inventory etc.) to assign a currency to a price book, but I cannot find this option in Zoho CRM

      • How to disable option to search (In Advanced Field > Matrix Choice > Dropdown)

        In Advanced Field > Matrix Choice > Dropdown I don’t want the option to search or type to fill in words. How can I disable or remove this function?

      • Layout rules in Zoho FSM

        As titled, is there an item in the pipeline or an ETA for the implementation of layout rules in Zoho FSM? Similar to how they work in Zoho CRM https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/customize-crm-account/customizing-page-layouts/articles/create-conditional-layouts

      • Marketing Tip #45: Use WhatsApp to engage customers and drive more sales

        Email is great. Social media is useful. But when it comes to getting a message actually read? WhatsApp wins. In general, open rates on WhatsApp messages are significantly higher than email, and the conversation feels personal rather than promotional.

      • Client Script also planned for Zoho Desk?

        Hello there, I modified something in Zoho CRM the other day and was amazed at the possibilities offered by the "Client Script" feature in conjunction with the ZDK. You can lock any fields on the screen, edit them, you can react to various events (field

      • Next Page