Copywriters say you should write 25 versions of your SaaS headline before you finalize one.

And I’m all for it, trust me.

Your headline is the most important copy of your website—the decider of fates and the turner of fortunes.




So before you bring out the quill and ink, let’s understand:

Because your headline needs more than writing.It needs thinking.Let’s get acquainted with the 4 basic rules for SaaS headlines first:

But wait—why are we writing these headlines?

Are we writing them to catch the attention of our visitors?

To sound impressive?

Sorta, but the main purpose is slightly different.

The two main reasons for your headlines existing are:

Your headline does not have to show off your vocabulary. Or how many puns you can fit into a sentence. It only needs to actually explain what your product is for: and it needs to do that well.

For example:

Do you have any doubt as to what
does? They recover abandoned carts and are not afraid to admit it out loud.

Another SaaS company that explains their product well right in the header is
.

Check out their headline:

Your product needs to make an impact on the customer’s job/life for them to care. Tell them right away why the product is game-changing!

Are you confused about the reason you need to sign up for
, the Live Chat app?

I mean, do you really want to miss sales opportunities by NOT signing up for Tidio?

Your customers have goals that they’re looking to accomplish. By showing how your product can help them achieve their goals is the best way convince them of your product’s utility.

Why do you need Appcues? To turn your product into a growth engine:

Headlines always fall into a category or format, but some of these formats are more impactful than others.

For example, ‘Goal-tracking, simplified’ sounds good. But ‘Get 20% more out of your day by tracking your goals’ makes you feel the FOMO.

20% more out of my day is a deal I simply cannot miss out on! I’m listening.

The pain-revealer points out the core impact of the problem the customers are suffering from. It hits the sore spot of your troubles. It adds salt to your wounds.

This headline works because you’ve got the customer’s attention. They recognize the problem. They feel it. And you’ve already made the outcome of your product crystal clear.




BLAM! Done and done. All questions, answered.

Why is this product important, what does it do…the customer already gets it.

The subhead, ideally, should follow up with a detailed explanation of how the product gives you more data on churn and how to reduce it.

Have a look at
‘s headline:

Now this is powerful, because the subhead is ‘Be above average’.

This combo glues the visitors’ eyeballs to the screen 100% of the time.

Another good example is
.

What’s the biggest pain that Fullstory’s potential customer’s face?

They don’t have the full picture when it comes to their analytics. And that’s what the headlines leads with.

Look, people buy SaaS products because they’re unhappy with the current functionality of the business.

They buy Intercom to eliminate the pain that lack of good customer support brings. They buy Slack to eliminate bad intra-team communication.

They buy it because they’re looking to kill pain. They’re looking for relief.

So why not combine the
that your customers have and the solution in one kickass headline, like:

, the customer testimonial automation tool is not joking around. They know what their customers struggle with, and that’s exactly what they’re about to solve.

Often the pain-killer headline might even look like this:

The problem here, in the case of
‘s clients—is the hassle of having many complicated IT platforms and the lack of visibility across them. Tricoda solves that, and makes that clear from the start.

You know what else is a real pain? Collaborating with other designers in the design process. Tracking files and version changes and updates ugh!


knows that very well and conveys their value perfectly in the headline:

Pain-killer headlines offer a new ray of hope, a better tomorrow. And let’s not lie, we’re all suckers for hope.

Leading with the benefit has the same pros as using a pain point in the headline. It’s doing selling for you, by telling your customers exactly what the purpose of using your product is.

It’s the answer to the question: What does your product allow the customer to do that they couldn’t do before? This benefit has to be desirable, and game-changing for your target market, or it fails to make an impact.

A great example of a benefit driven headline is
.

The benefit that their product brings is a better understanding of users.

Being ‘fast’ and ‘visual’ are unique features of Hotjar, that act as the cherry on top of this headline:

Some more examples of Benefit Arouser headlines:


:

:

I look at outcome-based headlines as ‘benefits, but on steroids’. If benefits convince you of the product’s functionality, outcomes show you the end-goal of using the product.

Let me explain: The benefit of buying a dog is companionship. The outcome of having a dog is a fulfilling life.

Ohno, the team diagnosis tool helps you ‘create high-performing teams’, not ‘solve problems within teams’:

talks about the ultimate outcome that customer service teams are looking for:

It’s simple but effective:

tells you to ‘get your audience organized’ with their product, not ‘build great campaigns’:

It’s all about the bigger picture, and the contribution of your tool to the customer’s business goals shows that you have taken the time to understand your audience.

I love
SaaS headline because it’s the perfect combination of benefit + outcome:

is the benefit of using Convertkit.


is the outcome. The ultimate goal that its customers have in mind.




You’ve got them hooked with the headline; they’re listening to you now.

They’re thinking about all the amazing things they can do with your product: they’re going to reduce churn. They’re going to change their business model, make better decisions on Friday nights, book flights in advance at cheaper rates.

You’ve shown them the dream. And now they’re ready to conquer.

But now they’re like: That’s all cool… HOW though?

How are you going to help them conquer their churn, their drunk Friday self, their business model?

The answer lies in your SaaS sub headline.

The subhead is your space to explain how your product helps your customers reach the outcomes you described in your main headline.

The subhead goes covers the problem and introduces the solution: YOU.

Let’s go back to the
website. Their heading smoothly flows into their subhead—explaining how to derive the benefit from the product:

What I love:

Another main + sub headline combination I like is
’s headline. Proposify helps create and organize proposals, but it really sells you on the outcome—closing more deals:

It positions the product with confidence—you know exactly how the product will help you.

A subhead doesn’t ask for much: just what the product is, and how it works to help the customer.

And that concludes our one-sided SaaS headline conversation.

These can be tricky, but with a proper understanding of what your visitors are looking for when they reach your website, you can cater to their needs and sell your product without sounding salesy.