Brain Food for the Copywriter:

John Caples tested two headlines for an ad for Wildroot Hair Set for Women.

A: “Girls! . . . Want Quick Curls?”

B: “Does he still say, ‘You’re Lovely?'”

The first one is simple, the second one emotional.

Which one of these do you think would have worked better?

The second one?

Nope.

The first one!

“Girls! … Want quick curls?” pulled 3X more requests for samples than the other one.

Why?

1. It was clear and direct in calling out the target audience – ‘Girls’.
2. The offer of ‘quick curls’ was simple and believable.

As for the other headline:

1. Didn’t specify the target audience.
2. Appealed to an older audience.
3. The offer of men saying, “you’re lovely” isn’t as believable as getting “quick curls.” 😀

Now you might wonder if there can be something more interesting than starting every headline with ‘Girls’.

So did John Caples and other writers.

Yet, test after test showed that plain, and clear worked better all the time.

Takeaway:
Clear works better!