Copywriting frameworks are fill-in-the-blank structures for persuasive copy.
The three most used are AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), PAS (Problem, Agitate, Solution) and BAB (Before, After, Bridge).
They help you draft a page faster, but none of them is proven to convert better on its own: what the A/B tests in our database reward is the content you put in the slots, especially copy that names a real problem or the outcome a buyer wants.
This page explains each formula, shows where it fits on a landing page, and backs each one with tests from the LiftArchive database. It is part of our copywriting guide.
What copywriting formulas are (and what they are not)
A copywriting formula is an ordering rule. It tells you which idea comes first, which comes next, and where the ask goes.
That is useful when you face a blank page, or when a team needs a shared way to review drafts.
A formula is not research. It cannot tell you which problem your buyers care about, which outcome they want, or which objection stops them.
Those answers come from customer surveys, reviews and support tickets, or a jobs-to-be-done interview.
Pour weak insight into AIDA and you get a well-ordered weak page.
It also helps to know how thin the theory behind the oldest formula is.
A 1999 review of more than 250 studies in the Journal of Marketing, Vakratsas and Ambler's "How Advertising Works: What Do We Really Know?", found little support for any fixed sequence of effects such as attention, then interest, then desire.
People do not move through steps in a set order.
Treat these formulas as writing aids, not as models of how buyers think.
| Formula | Steps | Best fit | Wrong choice when |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIDA | Attention, Interest, Desire, Action | Long landing pages, advertorials, cold traffic that needs the full story | Visitors already know the product and just need price, stock and a buy button |
| PAS | Problem, Agitate, Solution | Products that fix a felt pain: health, pain relief, software that removes a chore | The product is a want, not a fix (fashion, gifts), or the "problem" would feel invented |
| BAB | Before, After, Bridge | Outcome-driven offers: fitness, skincare, sleep, courses, B2B tools with a clear result | You cannot honestly describe the "after", or claims are regulated |
| FAB | Feature, Advantage, Benefit | Spec-heavy products and comparison sections | Used for the hero, where one outcome beats a feature list |
AIDA copywriting: attention, interest, desire, action
AIDA is the oldest of the formulas. Marketing textbooks credit the advertising writer E. St. Elmo Lewis with it around 1898, a story popularized by Edward K. Strong Jr.'s 1925 book The Psychology of Selling and Advertising.
A 2024 paper by Akinori Iwamoto in Marketing History Research found no evidence that Lewis invented it and argues that Arthur Frederick Sheldon has the better claim.
How AIDA maps to a landing page
- Attention: the headline and hero image. Match the ad or email that sent the visitor.
- Interest: a short "why this exists" section that explains the problem or the method.
- Desire: benefits, proof, reviews, a comparison and a guarantee.
- Action: the offer and a clear call to action, repeated after each proof block.
What the tests show
The clearest AIDA-shaped test in our database is Kasper Dolk's long-form landing page flow: a source-matched header, a benefit-led "why" section, a featured review, the offer, photo reviews, how it works and an honest comparison.
Kasper Dolk reports +259.7% revenue (2.5x) with no extra marketing spend.
Many sections changed at once, so this tells you the whole sequence worked for that store, not which step did the lifting.
Vasta's test for BJJ Fanatics is closer to classic AIDA.
A story-led advertorial that opened with the problem of training alone, introduced the coach and explained the method before showing the offer beat a standard product page by +71.8% revenue per visitor.
The front-end offer was free, so the revenue came from add-ons.
AIDA is the wrong choice for returning visitors and branded search traffic.
They already have interest and desire. Long story sections push the price and buy button down the page, which is why page length tests go both ways.
PAS copywriting: problem, agitate, solution
PAS opens with a problem the reader already feels, makes the cost of that problem vivid, then presents the product as the fix.
It is shorter than AIDA and works well in a hero, a product description or the first screen of an advertorial.
A PAS example for a landing page
- Problem: "Waking up stiff after every run?"
- Agitate: "Skip recovery and the soreness stacks up, until a rest week turns into a lost month."
- Solution: "Our recovery boots take 20 minutes a night, with no gym trip."
What the tests show
Oliver Kenyon's team replaced general product claims with pain-point copy that named soreness, fatigue and chronic pain, with no layout or pricing changes.
Oliver Kenyon reports +$159K per month in extra revenue, forecast at +$1.9M per year.
The agitate step may matter more than the problem step.
Dave Diederen tested four versions of a product description: control, a fear approach, a value approach and a problem approach.
The fear version, which described the health risks of not using the product, won with +32.75% conversion rate and +41.90% revenue per visitor.
Naming the problem alone was not the winner; spelling out its consequences was.
The problem can also lead a homepage. Dave Diederen's homepage banner test with a problem headline, two CTAs, reviews and a guarantee lifted revenue per visitor +22.12%.
Several elements changed together, so credit the package, not the headline alone.
PAS is the wrong choice when the product is not a fix.
Inventing a problem for a sweater or a gift reads as manipulative.
Heavy agitation can also break advertising rules for health and finance products, so check the platform policies and local regulations before you test fear copy.
BAB: before, after, bridge
BAB describes the reader's life now, shows what it looks like once the problem is solved, then presents the product as the bridge between the two.
In practice, most of the winning tests in our database are the "after" step on its own: a headline that leads with the outcome.
- Before: "You sleep eight hours and still wake up tired."
- After: "Wake up feeling like you actually slept."
- Bridge: "Our magnesium blend, taken 30 minutes before bed."
The "after" line in that example comes from Kasper Dolk, whose team changed one product hero headline to the desired outcome and kept the rest of the page the same.
Kasper Dolk reports +$823,115.54 revenue per year from that single test.
Dave Diederen tested a reusable version of the same idea: a product title in an Achieve [outcome] with [product] format, such as "Build Strength at Home with the Resistance Band Set".
It lifted conversion rate +15.61% and revenue per visitor +16.92%.
BAB fails when you cannot back up the "after".
An outcome headline makes a promise, and the rest of the page has to prove it with reviews, results or a guarantee.
For more on writing the outcome itself, see features vs benefits and our headline guide.
@oliverkenyon
@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen
Vasta
@kasper_dolk@kasper_dolkHow to choose a framework and test it
Pick the formula from the visitor's state of mind, not from habit.
Eugene Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising (1966) made the point that the more a market already knows, the less you need to say. That gives a simple rule of thumb:
- Cold traffic that does not know it has a problem: AIDA or a story-led advertorial.
- Visitors who feel the problem: PAS, with the agitate step focused on consequences.
- Visitors who know the solution type and are comparing: BAB or an outcome headline, then proof and a comparison.
- Returning or branded traffic: skip the formula. Lead with the offer.
Then test angles, not formulas. Oliver Kenyon's team ran the same dog supplement advertorial with two angles, pain relief against longevity.
Same product, different emotion: +28% CTR and +$116k per month.
Both versions could fit PAS or BAB. The angle was the variable that mattered.
Not every rewrite wins. Clean Commit's benefit-led product descriptions replaced spec-heavy text and moved conversion rate only +1.4%, which was not significant.
Copy changes deep in a page that few people read often produce small effects, so start with the headline, hero and first screen.
To run a fair test, write one hypothesis per angle ("naming the cost of soreness will raise revenue per visitor"), change the copy only, and measure revenue per visitor rather than clicks alone.
Kasper Dolk notes that an outcome headline may lower add-to-cart rate while raising revenue, so watch the metric that pays.
Where formulas fit in the rest of your copy
Formulas are most useful for the top of a page and for advertorials.
Below the hero, the job shifts to answering objections, showing proof and making the next step obvious.
Our guides to landing page copy, product descriptions and advertorials cover those parts, and the headlines and copy tests hub lists every copy test we hold.