If the clickbait titles we see online today have an ancestor, it’s probably the headlines that are still featured on the covers of most printed tabloid magazines.
Almost every week you’re likely to see a story about a celebrity giving birth with a headline like, “HER MIRACLE BABY,” for instance, or one like, “INSIDE THEIR SHOCKING SPLIT,” when a pair of married movie stars decide to divorce.
The main difference between the tabloids and the clickbait headlines you see on some news sites and blogs today is that they focus not so much on Hollywood gossip but about trying to take a gossipy approach to providing value.
Instead of teasing the secrets of the rich and famous, clickbait titles offer a secret that is somehow related to you, or your deepest interests. A good example here would be something like, “All She Did Was Buy Our Product And Apply It In An Unusual Way. What Happened Next Blew My Mind.”
Clickbait titles can be fun and harmless on entertainment-driven sites, and they appeal to several psychological triggers that are common to all of us. These include a fear of missing out (FOMO), a discomfort with ambiguity and a desire for information rendered in an accessible way.
When you hear about the “viral” success of sites that use clickbait headlines, it’s easy to imagine a content marketing team that decides to try it out as a means of increasing reach or engagement with customers.
In most cases, though, the use of clickbait as a marketing mechanism is unlikely to yield the results you want, and could even backfire in ways that hamper the success of your overall marketing strategy. Here’s why:
1. You’re promising something you may not be able to deliver
By their very nature, clickbait titles are the equivalent of a 70s game show where contestants were told they might find a big prize behind door No. 1, 2 or 3.
What happens though, if your customer clicks through, reads the content and thinks, “Actually, that’s not very shocking,” or “That didn’t blow my mind at all.”
It’s not that a good blog title shouldn’t make some kind of promise, but be specific about it so customers can have more reasonable expectations.
“3 Strategies That Could Help Streamline Loan Applications” will work far better for a bank or financial advisor’s blog than something like, “Do This And NEVER Be Turned Down For A Loan Again.”
2. You’re hurting your SEO
Clickbait headlines emerged as sharing content on social media became commonplace. There has been so much content shared this way that it became harder to stand out.
While you might see an initial surge of traffic coming from blog posts that use a clickbait-style title, though, the effect can be short-term compared with using keywords that actually relate to your customers’ needs and pain points.
Remember that clickbait titles are all about what you’re leaving out to tease the reader. Most blog traffic, however, comes from people looking for specific answers to questions in a search engine.
Does your target customer want to reduce the time and cost involved in training employees on new technologies? Choosing the appropriate keyword phrases could drive a much more SEO-friendly headline like, “How the right tech turns employee training costs into an affordable, worthwhile investment.”
3. Your bounce rate could skyrocket
When a comedian tells a joke, audiences decide pretty quickly if they want to stick around or not. If they laugh a lot at first, they might want to listen to the entire set. If they don’t like the initial punchlines, they may be lining up to exit.
Clickbait titles can have a similar effect on your blog. Even if they are amused or intrigued enough to click, they might look at what’s on the post and then close their browser tab or navigate immediately to another site.
Search engines like Google measure this and refer to it as the “bounce rate.” Ideally, you want a low bounce rate, where instead of reading one post and then leaving, your readers move on to read additional posts, or navigate to other areas of your website, like product pages or your e-commerce store.
4. Your value and benefits get buried
The effort involved in writing clickbait titles often focuses on appealing to emotional cues or being funny, rather than focusing on what reading the post will offer the person who clicks through.
As opposed to a news site or a personal blog, those run by businesses need to stay oriented around being helpful in terms of insight, advice and even products and services that can address a pain point.
Compare this:
‘These Are The Strangest Questions Customers Ask Me (Including One That Made Me Laugh!)’
With this:
“The 6 Common Questions Your Home Security Alarm Provider Should be Able to Answer.”
Not only is “home security alarm” in there, but you’re making it clear what your firm does and that you’re sharing knowledge based on your existing track record.
5. You risk your customer relationships
You always want to be professional with your customers. Customers are partners in your success. They are a community you’re serving.
Your blog content should be like any other element of your marketing strategy — something that helps earn trust and build a relationship as part of an outstanding customer experience.
Instead of clickbait, seek connection. Because it’s what happens after they click that really matters.
