It’s not easy to write sales copy. Writing high converting copy is even harder. An effective sales letter always has to begin with a great headline. The headline has to hook the potential customer and get him or her to continue reading the copy. Here are the 4 main goals to focus on when writing sales copy headlines.

Unfortunately there isn’t some magic formula that will automatically make every headline a great headline. Every product or service that’s being sold is different and needs a different type of sales pitch. However, there are 4 main goals that you should always focus on when writing the headline.

Include Urgency

Every headline you write should include a certain degree of urgency. In other words, you want to get across to the reader that they need to buy what you’re selling as soon as possible. If you don’t create urgency for them to buy with the headline then you at least need to make it urgent for them to read the rest of the sales copy.

Be Very Specific

The more specific you can be with your headline the more people you’ll hook. For example, don’t just write that your product will make them thinner. Write that they will lose 10 pounds within the first 2 weeks. Don’t just tell them your software will save them time; tell them your software will shave 2 hours off every working day.

Make it Unique

You need to headline to stand apart from all the other ads that the potential customer is being bombarded with wherever he or she may go. So you either need to find a unique sales point or you need to find a unique way to present that selling point.

Make it Useful

No one is going to read your copy if they don’t think there’s anything in it for them. So make sure you tell the reader why they should keep reading or why they should buy your product. This means you need to put a great hook in your headline and/or you need to include a great benefit. Often copy writers take the best benefit of a product and work that into a headline.

4 main goals to focus on when writing sales copy headlines are to include urgency, to be very specific, to make it unique, and to make it useful. If you remember to keep these 4 things in mind then you will have a strong headline that will hook potential customers and get them to at least keep reading your copy.