Headlines + copy

Good copy on a mediocre page beats great design with mediocre copy. Headlines especially carry most of the conversion weight.

Headline principles

• State the benefit or outcome
• Specific over generic
• Under 12 words
• First-time visitor clarity test

Body copy

• Skim-able structure (headings, bullets)
• Benefits before features
• Specific proof points
• Conversational tone

Common mistakes

• Generic value props ('boost productivity')
• Feature-first pitches
• Walls of text
• Jargon without translation

What to do with this

• Test your headline against the specificity test, if a competitor could run it verbatim, rewrite with numbers + named outcome
• Lead with outcome, not feature, "close 8 more deals/quarter" beats "AI-powered CRM with advanced analytics"
• Match headline to source traffic, cold-paid visitors need different language than branded-search visitors
• Test 3-5 headline variants in parallel, headlines are the highest-leverage page element
• Read the headline aloud, if you cringe, the visitor bounces, cringe-test before shipping