The only thing a good headline must do

I was listening through a speech Eugene Schwartz did to Phillips Publishing back in the day.

Well, OK, I listened it 3 times in a row so it sinks in…and I’ll probably get back to listening it from time to time (it’s that good).

If you don’t know who Eugene Schwartz was, in short, he was one of the highest paid copywriters of all time.

And this speech is considered one of his most famous ones.

Anyway, he reminded me of the most important thing about the headlines which I want to share with you.

I’ll just quote him on this:

“The headline should not try to sell. It should not try to identify the company. It should not try to present overwhelming power. All it’s got to do is get the prospect to read the next line. That’s all. Everything else is subsidy.”

So the next time you are writing a subject line for your email (which is basically a headline), keep that in mind and ask yourself: “Is this intriguing enough for my subscriber to open?”

Cheers,
Zoran

Want more tips like these?

Sign up now for daily email marketing inspiration