The AIDCA copywriting method is one of the best formulas for building high-performing sales copy. Whilst it’s not a formally recognized method, selling online has forced copywriters to find ways to build trust.
If you want epic results with your landing pages, emails, ads, or direct mail (if you’re old school) you need to apply this method. Whilst it’s similar to the AIDA copywriting formula the distinct difference is the conviction piece. A huge focus of the copy is to reduce the risk for the reader and reassure them they’re making the right decision.
The AIDCA method
Attention
Stealing your reader's attention is the most important part of your sales copy. If you can't nail this step then you have zero chance of selling anything. The first step is to understand who you’re speaking to. Ask yourself:
- What do your readers care about most?
- What keeps them up at night?
- What do they hate?
Once you can answer these questions it’s usually pretty easy to come up with a statement or question that grabs attention. For example,
- “Healthy cereal that tastes too good to be true” – Magic Spoon
- “Even grown-ups sleep like babies on a Sunday mattress” – Sunday Rest
Interest
Once you’ve stolen your reader's attention the only goal now is to keep them reading. You don’t want them to lose momentum at any point. To do this you need to reflect on the questions you asked above. A great way to keep them interested is to ask a question, tell them to stop doing something, or present scary statistics that get them thinking. For example,
“Ditch your 500-year-old toothbrush and get a 21st century clean with the brush adults love and kids WANT to use.” – AutoBrush
Desire
The only effective way to get your reader to desire your product or service is to translate the features into benefits. You want your reader to picture themselves being better off with your product or worse off without it.
Kin Fertility offers a supplement that improves the mother and baby’s health throughout the pregnancy. Instead of saying “our supplements contain omega 3 and vitamin B12” they say “healthy brain development for your baby”. Instead of saying “we also include vitamin k”, they say “give your baby stronger bone development”.
These are all features being translated into very clear benefits. The reader (moms) can easily identify how their lives will be better off.
Conviction
Reassuring your reader that they can trust you is hard. Especially if they’ve never of you before. The easiest way to do this is by reducing the risk associated with your product or service.
Money-back guarantees, reviews, and testimonials should all be used together to achieve this.
If the product doesn’t suit your reader they can take comfort in knowing they’ll get their money back. Furthermore, if they see other people similar to them leaving reviews or testimonials they’ll feel more compelled to purchase.
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Action
Getting your reader to take the desired action should be easy if you nailed the other steps. However, you need to be super clear with what you’re asking. If you want your reader to leave their email you need to be explicit. Likewise, if you want them to purchase your product or share it with a friend.
An easy way to kill your whole sales page is by not being clear enough. You’ll confuse the reader and they’ll lose focus on what's important.
How to build conviction
The only difference between the two copywriting methods is the conviction piece. However, you can’t do this unless you have strong customer reviews, guarantees, or social proof. The reader needs reassurance that the decision they’re making is low-risk. Beginner copywriters should pay particular attention to reassuring the reader.
This is especially important when trying to convert cold traffic from paid social or search traffic. Readers are going to be unfamiliar with your brand and in some cases might not even have any intent to buy from you at the time of reading.
If you nail the attention, interest, desire, and action piece it usually won’t be enough. The reader needs to be convinced the best decision for them is the purchase from you.
The AI copywriting space is pretty hot right now. New players are appearing every couple of months. The barriers to entry are pretty low. Any switched-on developer can start building a tool that more or less does the same thing. However, there is a couple of stand-out companies that capture market share.
Even amongst the two dominant players, Copy AI and Jasper, Jasper has one of the strongest landing pages I’ve seen in a while.
Copy.ai is one of the leaders in the ai writing space. However, the conviction piece of their sales page isn’t strong at all. It feels a bit random since the videos don’t play on their own – it almost defeats the purpose of having it there.
When compared the Jasper, we instantly know that people love this tool. It’s rated five stars on three of the most important review platforms. There’s also a scrollable list of real customer testimonials that seem very compelling.
The conviction Jasper creates makes setting up an account low risk. If thousands of other people have had a five-star experience, you can expect the same result. It makes sense to try the tool.
The crazy part is the two tools do the exact same thing. There might be a few differences in the user experience or results but for the most part, it’s the same thing. This goes to show how important building conviction is.
Five resources every copywriter needs in their toolbox
➡️ Copy That: 10-day copywriting challenge taught by Sam Parr with resources & swipe material.
➡️ Marketing Examples: Contains copywriting examples to help generate ideas.
➡️ Swipe File: Contains copywriting examples to help generate ideas.
➡️ SubReddit Stats: Use this for Problem identification & user research.
➡️ Anvaka Reddit Tool: Use this for problem identification & user research.
➡️ User Testing: Use this for problem identification, customer interviews & user research.
13 Secret Copywriting Hacks
