what makes a great branded content headline? · more clicks to branded content. we extensively...

What Makes a Great Branded Content Headline?New Actionable Insights and Best Practices for Publishers

IntroductionOver the past decade there has been drastic advancements and changes in the publishing industry. With the expansion of social media platforms, new variations of content distribution methods, and an endless amount of content formats, publishers have to work harder than ever to get a reader’s attention.

At Polar, we are dedicated to the publishing industry and recognize these growing pain points. We work extensively to ensure publishers get the attention and recognition they deserve by providing a technology solution that aims to grown premium publisher’s revenue and branded content business.

We recently sat down with a number of premium publishers from around the globe to discuss content and creative best practices. As a result, we decided to examine our own aggregate performance data to find new insights for driving more clicks to branded content. We extensively reviewed data from a variety of the world’s leading premium publishers, such as Condé Nast, Gannett, Oath, News Corp and The Telegraph.

Headlines are the single most important part of getting eyeballs to your branded content, whether it’s custom, editorial, sponsored, or video. Headlines are the gateway to your content and it’s what makes the reader hungry to find out more. The following best practices represent a detailed look at global aggregate headline performance data from the world’s leading premium publishers. Our goal was to better understand what attributes affect a headline’s click-through rates (CTR) by analyzing characters, words and phrases.

*Please note, this research represents the aggregate performance data from our sample. We are not recommending a “one size fits all”, in that the benefit of branded content is building experiences that are relevant to your voice, tone, platform and environment for your audiences.

2

Introduction

A B C DE F G HI J K L M

What Makes a Great Branded Content Headline?

Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Key Takeaways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Section 1: Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Character Length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Special Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Section 2: Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Headline Word Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Topics & Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Positive Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Negative Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

First Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Section 3: Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Two Word Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Three Word Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Starting Two Word Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

About Polar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

3


Table of Contents

MethodologyWe looked at the performance data for over 10,627 unique headlines

promoting branded content through our platform by publishers from

January to August 2017.

Our goal was to better understand what attributes improved or hurt

click-through rates. Each headline had to have been promoted at least

10,000 times to be included in this research.

All attributes such as a bigram or special character had to have been

used in at least 25 headlines and by at least two different publishers to

be factored into the performance ranking.

Sentiment analysis lexicon was sourced from Bing Liu and

collaborators.

https://www.cs.uic.edu/~liub/FBS/sentiment-analysis.html

4

Methodology


https://www.cs.uic.edu/~liub/FBS/sentiment-analysis.html

5

Key TakeawaysKey Takeaways

Longer Headlines Improve CTR .Median CTR improves when headlines have

more words and characters. Performance peaks at 90-99 characters and 15-16 words in length.

Include Words That Relate To Your Topic .Including keywords that relate to the content’s topic helps to grab the reader’s attention and

desire to click.

Use Numbers And Special Characters .CTR performance improves when numbers and special characters ($, !, &, ?) are used in a

headline.

‘If It Bleeds It Leads’ Is Not Always True .After looking at both positive and negative words, the median CTR improves when there are positive

words in a headline.

A

B C 1 2 3 $ ! & ?


A a When it comes to writing headlines there are many factors to keep in mind, with one of the main ones being character selection and length. If headlines are made of words, and words are made of characters, one could argue that characters are the key ingredient to a headlines success. However, there is more to characters than one might think. In this section we will cover the use of characters, including character length, special characters and numbers.

6

SECTION 1

CHARACTERSA

C

E e

a

c

B

D

F

b

d

f


7

Character LengthCharacter Length

10-19 Characters In Length




8

Character LengthCharacter Length

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the number of characters used in a headline. Characters are represented by groups of 10.

Description

With headline character length the trend is clear, more characters lead to stronger CTR performance.

This trend is also inline with headline word length, which also suggests more words lead to better peformance.

Key Insights

0 .12%

0 .16% 0 .17% 0 .16%

0 .20%0 .23%

0 .28%

0 .33%

0 .43%

Number of Characters

Med

ian

CTR

10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-99


9

Spcial Character$pecial Char@cters!

Special Character (!)

Special Character ($)


10

Special Characters$pecial Char@cters!

The following plots out CTR performance based on the use of special characters used in a headline. Special characters are symbols that are not letters or numbers.

Description

Can special characters impact CTR performance? Absolutely. Based on the headlines analyzed, using a dollar sign ($) or an exclamation mark (!) has a positive effect on CTR.

Using the “and” symbol (&) or a question mark (?) does not necessarily have a negative impact on CTR, however, there’s no clear positive trends when compared to our benchmarks.

Key Insights

$CTR 0.36%

!CTR 0.29%

?CTR 0.20%

&CTR 0.18%


11

Numbers (Numeral)Numbers (Numeral)

Top Number (4)

Worst Number (10)


12

NumbersNumbersTop Numbers (Shown As A Numeral)

0 .26%0 .25%

0 .24%0 .23% 0 .23% 0 .23%

0 .20%0 .19%

Number

Med

ian

CTR

4 9 3 7 5 6 8 10

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the use of numbers in a headline.

Description

When using numbers in a headline, consider using 4, 9, or 3 as these had the strongest median CTRs.

Key Insights


13

Numbers (Spelled Out)Numbers (Spelled Out)

Top Numbers (Three)

Top Numbers (Six)

Top Numbers (Eight)


14

NumbersNumbers

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the use of spelled out numbers used in a headline.

Description

Generally speaking, numbers perform better when shown as a numeral, rather than spelled out.

Six’ was the top performing spelled out number, but one of the worst performing when represented as a numeral.

Key Insights

Top Numbers (Shown As Spelled Out)

Number

Med

ian

CTR

Six Four Five Three One Seven Two Eight

0 .23%0 .22% 0 .22%

0 .21%0 .20%

0 .19%0 .18%

0 .13%


15

NumbersNumbers

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the use of even and odd numbers used in a headline.

Description

Our research has confirmed that odd numbers perform better than even, however, not by a large margin.

You are better focusing on specific number performance than higher-level factors such as even or odd.

Key Insights

Even & Odd Numbers

Even 0.20%

0.23%Odd

Med

ian C

TR


A a The selection and use of words is one of the mostimportant aspects of creating a successful headline and thus, a successful campaign. Words in themselves are merely tags to identify certain objects, ideas, actions or characteristics and play a massive role in the way readers see, feel, and interact with your content. In a world full of content, it’s vital that you take the time to properly craft headlines with words that matter.

In this section, we will dive deeper into the use of specific words in a headline and how they can directly impact CTR, we’ll examine headline word length, topics and categories, word sentiment and much more.

16

SECTION 2

WORDS word /wərd/a single distinct meaningful element of

speech or writing, used with others (or

sometimes alone) to form a sentence and

typically shown with a space on either

side when written or printed.


17

Headline Word LengthHeadline Word Length


Word Length (4)

Word Length (12)

Word Length (16)

Headline Word LengthHeadline Word Length

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the number of words used in a headline.

Description

Number of Words

Med

ian

CTR

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

0 .14%0 .16% 0 .17% 0 .16% 0 .17%

0 .19%0 .21% 0 .21%

0 .26%

0 .22%

0 .26%

0 .29%

0 .33%

CTR performance increases when headline word length is 16 words long. Headlines with more than 16 words decreased in CTR as fewer publishers used more than 16 words. The reality is most ad formats are not big enough to show more words.

Avoid short headlines - CTR performance was weak when headline word length was 4-8 words long.

Key Insights

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0 .29%

0 .28%

0 .28%

0 .27%

0 .25%

0 .24%

0 .24%

0 .23%

0 .21%

0 .21%

0 .19%

0 .18%

Hobbies

Body, Fitness & Health

Education

Family & Relationships

Date, Place, & Time

Business & Finance

Food

Technology

Countries & Cities

Travel

Sports

Location & Places

Topics and CategoriesTopics and Categories

Individual words were grouped into a specific category based on different topics, such as hobbies or food. The chart plots out the aggregate median CTR for the different word categories.

Description

Median CTR

Top

ics

and

Cat

ego

ries

19


20

Hobbies and Body, Fitness & Hobbies and Body, Fitness & Health

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the top 5 performing words relating to hobbies and body, fitness, & health.

Description

Including ‘woman’ in a headline increases CTR performance.

Key Insights

Hobbies Body, Fitness & Health

Median CTR

0 .37%

0 .21%

Garden

Cars

Car

Music

Spots

0 .25%

0 .25%

0 .19%

Median CTR

0 .44%Woman

Heart

Sleep

Face

Health

0 .27%

0 .26%

0 .26%

0 .25%

Gardening appears to be a strong performing category.

Key Insights


21

Education and Family & Education and Family & Relationships

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the top 5 performing words relating to education and family & relationships.

Description

Believe it or not, words related to ‘education’ performed 3rd best overall compared to other topics and categories.

Key Insights

Using words oriented towards ‘house’ (homes, house, home, families) saw the highest CTR performance.

Key Insights

Education Family & Relationships

0 .26%

0 .24%

0 .22%

0 .22%

0 .24%

Students

School

University

Class

College

Median CTR Median CTR

0 .39%

0 .35%

0 .30%

0 .30%

0 .22%

Homes

House

Families

Home

Children


22

Dates, Places & Time and Dates, Places & Time and Business & Finance

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the top 5 performing words relating to dates, places & time, and business & finance.

Description

Including urgency words like ‘now’ helps improve CTR performance.

Key Insights

Money doesn’t buy you happiness but it improves CTR performance. Including the word ‘cash’ increased CTR performance.

Key Insights

Dates, Places & Time Business & Finance

0 .40%

0 .34%

0 .26%

0 .25%

0 .25%

Cash

Retirement

Cost

Stocks

Stock

Median CTR

0 .23%

0 .19%

0 .19%

Now

Summer

Day

Spring

Time

0 .22%

0 .22%

Median CTR


23

Food and TechnologyFood and Technology

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the top 5 performing words relating to food and technology.

Description

The word ‘cup’ saw the highest CTR performance of all the words related to the topic and category of food.

Key Insights

Of all the words related to technology, ‘electric’ performed the best, beating the median CTR by 1 percent.

Key Insights

Food Technology

0 .24%

0 .22%

0 .16%

0 .15%

0 .15%

Electric

TV

Apps

Technology

Video

Median CTR

0 .27%

0 .26%

0 .21%

0 .20%

0 .17%

Cup

Recipe

Eat

Delicious

Restaurants

Median CTR


24

Countries & Cities and TravelCountries & Cities And Travel

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the top 5 performing words relating to counties & cities, and travel.

Description

Words oriented toward ‘Canada’ performed the best(Canadian, Canada, Canada’s) against other countries.

Key Insights

Of all the words related to travel, ‘festival’ performed the best.

Key Insights

Countries & Cities Travel

Festival

Destination

Discover

Destinations

Holidays

0 .23%

0 .19%

0 .17%

0 .16%

0 .14%

Median CTR

0 .28%

0 .28%

0 .26%

Canadian

America’s

Canada

Cities

Canada’s

0 .21%

0 .21%

Median CTR


25

Sports and Locations & Plac-Sports and Locations & Places

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the top 5 performing words relating to sports, and locations & places.

Description

The word ‘game’ outperformed names of specific games (football, rugby, golf) by 30 percent or more.

Key Insights

The word ‘park’ performed the best, which had a CTR more than twice as strong as the other location words.

Key Insights

Sports Locations & Places

0 .50%

0 .24%

0 .22%

Park

0 .17%

0 .17%

Urban

Place

Islands

West

Median CTR

0 .26%

0 .20%

0 .18%

0 .17%

0 .17%

Game

Football

Rugby

Fans

Golf

Median CTR


26

Positive & Negative WordsPositive & Negative Words

Positive Word (Hot)

Positive Word (Worth)

Positive Word (Good)

Negative Word (Pain)

Negative Word (Fall)

Negative Word (Wild)


27

Positive & Negative WordsPositive & Negative Words

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the use of the 5 positive words that had the highest CTR performance.

Description

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the use of the 5 negative words that had the highest CTR performance.

Description

Positivity can outperform negativity - Including positive words in a headline stresses positive actions, sounding helpful and encouraging rather than bureaucratic.

Key Insights

Positive Words Negative Words

Using negative words often works because it strikes curiosity. Readers are curious about negative things they shouldn’t be doing or don’t want to happen.

Key Insights

0 .37%

0 .31%

0 .25%

0 .20%

0 .20%

Pain

Wild

Fall

Miss

Hard

Median CTR

0 .28%

0 .27%

0 .26%

0 .25%

0 .24%

Hot

Worth

Good

Support

Ready

Median CTR


28

First WordsFirst Words

Top First Word (I)

Top First Word (Six)

Worst First Word (Experience)

Worst First Word (22)


First WordsFirst Words

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the first word of a headline that performed the best.

Description

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the first word of a headline that performed the poorest.

Description

Top 5 First Words Worst 5 First Words

Writing headlines in a first-person point of view creates more intimacy and connection with the topic.

Numbers as the first word performed well. Numbers enhance the scalability of a headline, avoid spelling out numbers.

Key Insights

Starting a headline with a number is a great way to improve CTR, however, avoid using larger, more specific numbers such as ‘22’ as it can seem overwhelming to readers.

Key Insights

0 .29%

0 .28%

0 .26%

0 .25%

0 .23%

I

3

Six

Don’t

Four

Median CTR

0 .07%

0 .08%

0 .09%

0 .10%

0 .11%

22

Watch

Experience

Enjoy

Explore

Median CTR

29


A a As the previous two sections have outlined, headlines play a large role in the success of your content. Small elements such as character count and word selection must be carefully planned out if you want to entice and engage your readers. Without a good headline, it is unlikely that your content will ever be seen or read.

In this section we will dig deeper into combinations of words including phrases or listicles (list-based), which can help improve headline success.

30

SECTION 3

PHRASES


31

Two Word PhrasesTwo Word Phrases

Two Word Phrase (Top Tips) Two Word Phrase (Your Home)

Two Word Phrase (Your Business)Two Word Phrase (Most Important)


Two Word PhrasesTwo Word Phrases

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the 5 best performing two word phrases. The two word phrase could have appeared anywhere within the headlines analyzed.

Description

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the 5 poorest performing two word phrases. The two word phrase could have appeared anywhere within the headlines analyzed.

Description

Top 5 Two Word Phrases Worst 5 Two Word Phrases

Median CTR

Things You

Top Tips

Your Home

A Good

What You

0 .36%

0 .35%

0 .32%

0 .31%

0 .30%

32

Median CTR

Your Business

X Most

Most Important

Cancer Research

Best Of

0 .07%

0 .07%

0 .07%

0 .08%

0 .10%


33

Three Word Phrases Three Word Phrases

Three Word Phrase (To Know About)

Three Word Phrase (To Make Your)

Three Word Phrase (Of The Best)


34

Three Word PhrasesThree Word Phrases

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the best 5 performing three word phrases used in a headline. The three word phrase could have appeared anywhere within the headlines analyzed.

Description

Top 5 Three Word Phrases

Phrase

Med

ian

CTR

Of The Best

To Make Your

To Know About

You Need To

How To Make

0 .27%0 .25%

0 .20% 0 .20% 0 .19%


35

Starting Two Word Phrases ExamplesStarting Two Word Phrases

Starting Two Words (X Things)

Starting Two Words (What To)

Starting Two Words (The X)


36

Starting Two Word PhrasesStarting Two Word Phrases

The chart plots out CTR performance based on the top 5 performing starting two word phrases in a headline.

Description

‘X things’ saw the best CTR performance and is a commonly used beginning listicle phrase.

The use of numbers helps improve CTR performance, but remember to use numerals instead of spelled out numbers.

Key Insights

Top 5 Starting Two Word Phrases

Ph

rase

Median CTR

X Things

What To

The X

This Is

Are You

0 .34%

0 .24%

0 .23%

0 .19%

0 .19%


Toronto 610-156 Front Street W.

Toronto, ON M5J 2L6

New York City 1216 Broadway

New York City, NY 10001

London 41 Corsham Street

London, UK N1 6DR

Sydney L1-204 Clarence Street

Sydney, NSW 2000

About PolarPolar’s technology helps premium publishers accelerate branded content

revenue growth. Conde Nast, Gannett, Oath, News Corp and The Telegraph

partner with us to grow their direct-sold branded content businesses. Our

Branded Content Platform is built exclusively for premium publishers and

offers distribution, campaign management and insights reporting capabilities.

We are entirely focused on solutions that drive more views, make operations

more efficient and prove branded content works. We partner with publishers

across 15 countries and have offices in Toronto, New York, London and Sydney.

To learn more, visit us at polar.me.

CONTACT US AT WWW .POLAR .ME

37


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