Head-to-Head: Score Four Term-Insurance Blog Headlines
Objective: Given four headline options for the same blog post, score each one against a numeric, threshold-based rubric built from the lesson's own formulas and rules, then recommend a winner backed by the scores, not a gut feeling.
You're doing a paid trial task for PolicyBazaar's content marketing team. They've drafted four headline options for a new blog post aimed at first-time term insurance buyers and want a scored recommendation, not a personal opinion, before it goes onto the editorial calendar and into an A/B test.
RUBRIC — score every headline 0, 1, or 2 on each of the four rows below, then sum for a total out of 8. CRITERION | 0 points | 1 point | 2 points Character count | under 25 or over 75 chars | 25-39 or 61-75 chars | 40-60 chars Specificity | no concrete number or fact | one vague qualifier only | at least one real number or named fact Benefit clarity | states a topic/feature only | benefit implied, not stated | reader can finish 'so that I ___' straight from the headline Formula match | no identifiable formula | formula unclear or mixed | clearly matches one of the six formulas CLARITY PENALTY: if a reader has to decode wordplay or a pun before understanding the headline, subtract 2 points from the total (Common Mistakes: Mistake 1, clever over clear). PUBLISH THRESHOLD: 6-8 = publish as-is. 4-5 = revise the weak row before testing. 0-3 = rewrite from scratch. FOUR HEADLINE OPTIONS FOR THE SAME BLOG POST: H1: "7 Mistakes First-Time Term Insurance Buyers Make in India" (57 characters) H2: "PolicyBazaar Explains Term Insurance" (36 characters) H3: "Buy the Right Term Cover in 15 Minutes, No Agent Calls" (54 characters) H4: "Are You Really, Truly, 100% Sure Your Family Would Be Protected If Something Happened Tomorrow?" (97 characters) Score all four against every row of the rubric, apply the clarity penalty if it's earned, sum each total, and write a 2-3 sentence recommendation naming the winner and the specific formula and rule it satisfies.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free web tool, good for confirming your own char-count math, not a substitute for applying the rubric yourself.
Free web tool that scores emotional pull, useful as a second opinion on the specificity and benefit-clarity rows, not a replacement for your own scoring.
Free tier handles a small table with totals easily.
No access? A plain text table or a sheet of paper with the same four rows works identically, manual character counting is fine too.
Paid upgrades (optional, faster/deeper)
Scoring four given headlines needs nothing but the rubric and basic character counting. The free tools above are optional cross-checks, not requirements.
Not needed to score four already-written headlines, only useful if generating dozens of new options.
Final deliverable
A completed 4-headline by 4-criteria scored table with totals and the clarity-penalty check applied to each row, plus a 2-3 sentence written recommendation naming the winner.
See a reference example
Sample scoring for a different brand's headline pair, not PolicyBazaar's set, to show the expected format. Care.com testing 'Find a Babysitter Near You Tonight' (39 chars, 1pt) against 'How 31.7M Families Found Trustworthy Care' (43 chars, 2pt; specificity 2pt for the real member count; benefit clarity 1pt, implied not stated; Specific Promise/Social Proof blend, 1pt formula match; total 6/8, publish range) versus the first option (1+0+1+1=3/8, rewrite range because 'tonight' alone isn't a real specificity anchor and no formula is clearly used). The second headline wins on the strength of its real, cited number.
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- All four headlines scored on all four rubric rows, not summarized qualitatively
- Character counts are computed, not eyeballed, and match roughly the counts given
- H2 is correctly identified as company-focused with no formula match and a near-bottom score (rewrite-from-scratch range)
- H3 is correctly identified as the highest scorer (8/8, publish range) with the Specific Promise formula named
- Recommendation cites at least one specific rubric row or lesson rule, not just 'H3 feels stronger'