Digital Business Mastery: How To Create Squeeze Page Headlines That Boost Your Opt In Rates (+10 Headline Ideas You Can Steal)

Is your opt-in page getting you the leads you want for your affiliate marketing offers?

Are you giving something away for free but still unable to capture your audience's attention?

Well, your headline might be the problem.

You don't need me to tell you that a web user has a very limited attention span.

Even if you are giving something away for free on your website, a powerful, catchy headline that stands out is super important. Without it, you're unlikely to capture their attention -- and without their attention, you're not going to convert any leads.

When it comes to your squeeze page or form, if you get the headline right, you immediately boost the effectiveness of your offer. But, when you get it wrong, you can say goodbye to your leads.

What Makes a Good Headline for Opt-Ins?

Fact: A good headline should grab the user's attention.

This is true for all headlines, but even more so in the case of opt-in pages or lead generation forms, because without your user's attention, you won't be able to convince them to convert.

So how do you create a headline that grabs attention? There are a lot of great formulas for headline writing: for web content, for blogs, for email subject lines, for social media, etc. While many of the principles are the same, the advice below is specific to writing an optimized headline for opt-in/squeeze pages and forms.

Your headline should:

Solve a problem.
Be very specific.
Appeal to the user's emotion.
Be useful.
Be formatted to stand out from other text on the page.

Of course, no headline can be all of the above. But if you aim to factor in at least one or two of these, your headline is definitely going to be more powerful.

How to Create an Attention-Grabbing Headline

1. Focus on One Thing Only

It's time to really think about what it is you're offering your audience.

Think about it and then narrow it down to be really specific. The information you provide in your headline should tell your audience whether or not your offer is of value or interest to them.

If your headline is vague and lacking any real focus about what your audience will gain from your offer, you're unlikely to get the results you want from your opt-in box.

Jon Loomer's opt-in form is highly specific in nature. It invites users to sign up for a free workshop about a specific type of Facebook advertising copy. There's no confusion about expectations or what the offer actually includes. It's direct and focused.

2. Offer Value

If you can clearly identify your audience's problem and sell the solution in your headline, you have a winner!

Get inside your audience's head and think about what it is that they really, really want.

Your headline must immediately convey the usefulness and benefits of your offer to your audience. Otherwise, they are unlikely to continue reading.

The headline on Quick Sprout's page, for example, immediately addresses an audience concern: getting traffic. Quick Sprout takes this concern, frames it into a question and then offers to send the user tips to make this traffic happen (in exchange for their email address). It's simple, it's specific, and it's definitely clear about what value it offers to its audience.

3. Use Proper Formatting

The way you format your headline has a huge impact on how it is received and how it performs with your audience.

Needless to say, your headline should be formatted so it stands out from the rest of the text on the page. You can do this by making the text bigger, by making it bolder, or even by using a different type face. A different color also often does the trick.

If your headline needs to be lengthier than usual, break it up with visual cues (e.g., punctuation) such as em-dashes or even ellipses.

This opt-in form from Unbounce makes sure the headline stands out not only by making it bigger and bolder, but by placing it on a black background. It's definitely the first thing that catches your eye.

4. Keep It Simple

A headline that works doesn't actually need to be something ground-breaking at all. In fact, when you keep it short and simple, you are more likely to succeed with it. Often, the real message gets lost in cleverness.

Also, the length of the headline is also a factor worth considering. A shorter headline, one you can read at a glance, is usually more effective than a long-winded sentence. Most people scan online content, so a simpler, shorter headline will make sure your message is communicated more effectively.

You don't always have to be creative or clever when straightforward will do just fine.

Bidsketch's opt-in headline is incredibly simple. It conveys what the product does (creating proposals), while at the same time highlighting the simplicity of the process ("in minutes"). Without trying too hard, it offers a solution simply by talking about the usefulness of the product. There's nothing gimmicky about it. The simplicity is what works.

5. Pair It With a Powerful Sub-Heading

A good sub-heading can sometimes be just as powerful as your headline. Combine them to really pack a punch with your message.

Sub-headings work by backing up the interest that your headline piques. You can't possible say everything in a headline. Use the sub-heading to continue the though process and provide a bit more information (such as further benefits) about your offer.

For example, Chris Ducker's pop-up opt-in box does a great job using the sub-heading to further explain his business bootcamp offer.

10 Headline Ideas to Get You Started

Stuck for ideas and not even sure where to start?

Here are 10 headline suggestions to help get your creative juices flowing.

You can reword these ideas to generate your own headlines for your opt-in boxes. Or, you can use them as inspiration when writing your own from scratch.

Simply replace the X's with the words of your choice to create a headline appropriate for your offer. I've got a few examples under each idea to give you an idea of how it would work.