Rules Of AI Engagement: Does AI Helping With Headlines Actually Improve CTR?

The temptation to copy-and-paste entire AI passages is one that any reputable journalist, writer, and content creator should be able to resist. 

That’s not to dismiss what genAI is capable of generating, or discount the guidance that genAI can provide within its outputs.

In fact, recent research by Chartbeat looked at how AI-assisted headlines compared to original human-made headlines when it came to engagement, finding not much difference in head-to-head battles for which had higher click-through-rate, itself serving as a “meaningful signal that the presence of AI is moving content performance in the right direction.”

“AI-assisted headlines generate a 55% CTR lift [and] non-AI headlines (from non-AI-assisted experiments) generate a 50% CTR lift,” the research says of AI’s edge amongst the “winning” headlines in their testing. In looking further at all headline tests, AI-assisted headlines generated a 32% CTR lift compared to the 6% CTR lift of non-AI headlines.

(Source: Chartbeat)

“The presence of AI testing itself appears to be beneficial for experiments,” the research says, “potentially leading teams to explore new variations or refine their instincts even if the specific AI variants don’t win.”