Myth: emotional, curiosity-gap headlines are the proven winner.

Myth: emotional, curiosity-gap headlines are the proven winner.
No — proven at what? An affiliate A/B tested two native headlines to the same review page. "Doctors Are Furious About This" vs "Honest 2-Week Test: What I Found."

The curiosity headline won CTR by 61%. Everyone would have shipped it.

But they tracked all the way to confirmed sale. The honest headline converted clickers at 4.1%; the curiosity one at 1.3%. Net: the "loser" headline produced 28% more sales on the same spend, because it pre-qualified the click.

Curiosity gaps sell the click and tax the conversion. You pay for the volume and eat the bounce. The headline that filters is worth more than the headline that bait.