You’ve probably read the lists of trigger words to use in headlines – words and phrases that have stood the test of time and still make people open envelopes or click on links.
Those include words like “free, secret, how to, why, announcing, introducing, discover, breakthrough, new,” and many more. Along with those are question headlines and “7 ways to…”
Lately there have been some new entries to the list, but I doubt they’ll stand the test of time.
For a while, instead of “7 ways to…” it was “7 hacks that will…” I really dislike that term 
so won’t open an email with that headline. (Just a silly, stubborn thing of mine.)
Then along came “Jaw dropping.” My email inbox was filled day after day with jaw dropping news and its variations: “This will make your jaw drop!” “Her jaw dropped when she learned…”
There should have been jaws on the ground all over the country.
Today its “____said one shocking thing that ________” or “________did one thing.”
And then there are the headlines that scream about the “one thing” you must never eat, never say, or never do. (And they never tell. You have to buy the book to find out.)
I believe serious marketers should avoid these "new triggers."
I don’t know if “hacks” will last (I hope not) but I think dropping jaws and “one things” will fall by the wayside. Right now I wouldn’t consider using any of them in a headline, because I’m afraid it would backfire.
Why?
Because those headlines so often lead to non-news. They either don’t deliver at all, the news is stale, or it’s just gossip with no foundation.
I think the writers who are using them are inadvertently conditioning people to think “There’s nothing interesting there,” and just move on. I know it works that way for me.
How about you? Do you still click to read about “one things” and jaws dropping?
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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