In one effort to increase readership, The Times is using a tool that allows us to simultaneously present two different headlines for the same article on its home page. Half of readers on the page see one headline; half see the other. The test measures the difference in readers clicking on the article and lets us know if the numbers are statistically significant. If so, the winning headline goes on the home page for all readers.
And so, for a short while on March 15, one reader might have seen this:
$2 Billion Worth of Free Media for Trump
While another saw this:
Measuring Trump’s Media Dominance
Any guesses on which won the test, and by how much?
The top one got nearly three times as many readers, which underlines the crucial role of headlines in the digital age.
.. clear, powerful words and a conversational tone make a big difference.