Headlines are no doubt one of the most important pieces of copy that you can write for your customers. Whether it’s on a web page, blog post or even an email, the headline can make or break your content.

A boring headline isn’t going to cause many opens, clicks, reads or even purchases. So how do you optimize your headlines?

One way that is gaining popularity is with an online tool called the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) Headline Analyzer. It was developed by the Advanced Marketing Institute. They claim it can analyze and score headlines to help determine what has the most impact on your customer base. They do this by examining the percentage of “emotional” words in your headline.

The more emotional the headline, the better the chances of someone paying attention to it.

How It Works

With the EMV Headline Analyzer, you type in your headline and select your industry. You can see an example in the image below.

 It then grades your headline based on its emotional value on a score from 1 percent to 100 percent.  Scores between 50 to 75 percent are considered extremely good.

So Does It Work?

We put the EMV Headline Analyzer to the test, and it got solid results for a machine. But it still can’t touch a person that’s an online marketing expert.

We tested the headline of this blog post, “Optimize Marketing Content With Headline Analyzer Tool.” It scored at 57.14 percent in emotional value. According to the EMV Headline Analyzer, “the most gifted copywriters will have 50%-75% EMV words in headlines.”

However, we believe you should take these scores with a grain of salt. This tool is a machine and may not understand the nuances of the English language.

As an example, the previous headline score drops from 57.14 to 37.5 percent when we remove the word “content” and replace it with “posts.” Does this happen because the tool sees the word “content” as an emotional word meaning – in a state of peaceful happiness? We can’t say for certain, but we have a sneaking suspicion the tool is misinterpreting how we’re using the word “content.”

Overall, the EMV Headline Analyzer is a sold tool. It helps keep your headlines short and direct. It also gives you some framework for developing a good headline. The important thing is to realize this tool is not the “magical marketing solution” that will shoot your open and click rates through the roof as described by The Huffington Post.

It’s just one tool that can help you craft compelling marketing content.

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