5 Best Copywriting Formulas and Examples to Frame Your Message

As a copywriter, I know how hard it is to come up with a persuasive message. The truth is, you don’t have to be ultra-creative to get it right. It’s all about really understanding your audience and your product as David Ogilvy always said. And that’s the hard part. The good news? Organizing your message for maximum impact is actually the easy part. Why? Because copywriting has been around long enough to develop tried-and-true “best practices” that work every time—copywriting formulas or frameworks. With these in your toolkit, you can approach any blank page with confidence, knowing you’ve got the structure to make your message shine.

Before I share my favorite copywriting formulas, here’s an important heads-up: as I teach in my copywriting course, ditch the one-size-fits-all mentality when writing copy. Don’t expect a formula to magically produce a message that converts prospects on its own. Formulas are just tools for organizing your thoughts. The real work—copywriting research—comes before you even start writing and takes up about 60% to 80% of the process. That part is all on you!

Once you’ve done the legwork, you can use copywriting formulas to edit your ideas and speed up your writing process.

The five formulas for copywriters below all come from my book "From Reads To Leads." It talks about 11 principles of writing content people will read and respond to. You can buy it on Amazon, and other bookstores.

Now back to the formulas or copywriting frameworks. Guess which one we’ll talk about first?

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AIDA (Attention–Interest–Desire–Action)

One of the oldest marketing formulas, AIDA helps you persuade your readers to take the next step by making them want whatever you have to offer.

AIDA was invented by American advertising and sales pioneer E. St. Elmo Lewis, who said that “the mission of an advertisement is to attract a reader so that he will look at the advertisement and start to read it; then to interest him, so that he will continue to read it; then to convince him, so that when he has read it he will believe it. If an advertisement contains these three qualities of success, it is a successful advertisement.”

The AIDA formula works in the following way:

• Attention: Get the reader’s attention by showing something that stands out.
• Interest: Engage the reader’s curiosity by sharing information that’s interesting, fresh, and appealing.
• Desire: Show the benefits of your product, service, or idea and give the reader some facts that prove what you say.
• Action: Ask the reader to take the next step.

Here’s how Apple does it:

Attention: iPhone SE

Interest: Lots to love. Less to spend.

Desire: Starting at $399.

From $9.54/mo. or $229 with trade-in.

Action: Learn more >  Buy >

And here’s how the design agency Sumit Hegde uses AIDA on their home page:

Attention: Your SaaS website is stopping you from doubling your MRR

Interest: I can help you change that.

Desire: I help SaaS businesses convert visitors into customers through powerful positioning and crystal-clear messaging.

Action: Book a free Clarity Call now / Or learn how I do it!

Here is a fun example of an advertisement that also follows AIDA by a company called Surreal. They sell cereal.

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Attention: ROI

Interest, Desire, Action: Now that we've got the attention of people who work in marketing, please buy our cereal.

Their LinkedIn post follows the same structure:

Attention: If you DON'T work in marketing PLEASE DON'T READ THIS POST. THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. THIS IS ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO WORK IN MARKETING

Interest, Desire, Action: If you work in marketing, please look at these adverts and then buy our cereal. If you don’t work in marketing WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS? WE TOLD YOU NOT TO. IS NOTHING SACRED ANY MORE?

These guys are hilarious. You can't but get curious about their product. Especially if you work in marketing :)  

For most of us, marketers, the most difficult part of AIDA is Attention. To be able to say something that appeals to your audience, you need some insights about them.

For example, in Sumit Hegde’s message “your SaaS website is stopping you from doubling your MMR,” MMR is monthly recurring revenue—the money a startup expects to bring in every month. This is one of the most important metrics that helps a startup define whether they’re doing well or failing. If you’re a copywriter who doesn’t know anything about metrics used in the startup world, you might never come up with a message like that.

You need to deeply understand your market and your positioning before putting words on paper. That's why I say "Get better at marketing. Writing isn't enough." Especially now, that AI is taking over.

The biggest competitor of AIDA is PAS. What's the difference between AIDA and PAS?

PAS (Problem–Agitation–Solution)

One of the most reliable approaches to selling anything to anyone is to start with a problem. Unlike the AIDA formula, which starts with grabbing Attention, the PAS formula focuses on identifying and addressing a problem. That said, a problem can also serve as the hook for your Attention—just like in the example: "Your SaaS website is stopping you from doubling your MMR." Here, the problem itself captures attention and drives the message.

Copywriters use the PAS formula to start blog posts, emails, social media ads, and landing page messages. It always looks good and works well.

• Problem: Identify a problem and present it to your reader.
• Agitation: Intensify the problem so it feels even worse than it seemed at first.
• Solution: Present your solution to this problem.

Here’s an example of how I used the PAS formula to talk about a marketing audit service:

Problem:

We’ve all been there. In the rut. Your business is doing okay but not great. You have enough clients today, but the number of new leads is growing slowly. Your marketing team is working hard to produce content, do SEO, and improve conversions, but your growth seems to have plateaued.

Agitation:

You’re looking at what others do and feel like your business isn’t harnessing the newest marketing tactics. You’re overwhelmed with ideas about what you should and shouldn’t be doing. The truth is, after thousands of dollars spent on marketing, you can’t even pinpoint your own marketing strengths and weaknesses.

Solution:

Being stuck sucks. We get it. So let’s get you unstuck.

By running a marketing audit, you’ll be able to turn your marketing strategy upside down, exposing what works and what doesn’t. You’ll gain new insights on what to improve and where to go next in line with your core business goals.

The PAS formula is also great for your article leads. In this case, though, instead of presenting the Solution after the Agitation in the lead, you should push your readers to read on so they can find the solution in the body of your article. Here’s an example of how this works:

Problem:

Did you know that almost 40 percent of IT projects fail because of bad requirements?

Agitation:

You can’t build anything on time and within budget if you don’t have good requirements to work from. When bad requirements happen to good people, they can’t build something great. No matter how hard they try.

Transition to the Solution:

Do you want to become another failure OR do you want to learn a lesson or two on how to document the “what” and the “how” of your project? If you would prefer the second option, this guide is for you.

Let's see a few more examples of PAS.

HeyFriends is a company that provides a full team to create educational videos for YouTube. They have a clear problem on their homepage: "Making it big on YouTube is harder than you think." And they break it down with animated graphics highlighting everything that goes into it—editing, titles, research, storytelling, animation. If you’ve ever made YouTube videos (I did), you instantly feel the struggle. It’s a smart way to speak directly to the creators who know just how much effort it takes.

You can skip the Agitation part of the PAS formula and just show a Problem and Solution as I did here for a graphic design subscription company called TodayMade.

I simply listed lots of problems that marketers at tech startups have to deal with every day: design delays, campaign overload, thumbnail dilemma, design uncertainty, and process dysfunction, and showed how the company can solve each one of them.

The most difficult part of the PAS formula is the problem. You need to truly understand what pain your readers are in to be able to write a compelling message.

Before–After–Bridge

This formula opens the reader’s eyes to the present situation by pinpointing a certain problem. Then it shows what the world could be like if that problem were solved. The bridge between is a pathway to the possible future.

Here’s how it works:

• Before: Your present situation sucks.
• After: Imagine how your life could be better if this problem were solved.
• Bridge: Here’s how to get there.

Kevan Lee, Buffer’s VP of marketing, knows how to use the Before–After–Bridge formula in a simple tweet:

Here is one more example from the homepage of a company called Blue Triangle that provides a conversion optimization solution:

• Before: Friction is stealing your revenue.
• After: Blue Triangle shows you exactly where customers are getting stuck, how much revenue it’s costing you, and what to fix first.
• Bridge: We'll show you where.

Unlike the PAS formula, which emphasizes the problems readers suffer from, the Before–After–Bridge is about revealing problems readers might not even know exist. It’s also a great way to communicate with brevity.

Promise–Picture–Proof–Push (PPPP)

This formula is attributed to Henry Hoke, an American author, only in his version the Picture goes before the Promise. Some copywriters substitute Push with Pitch (Damien Elsing) or Push with Proposal (Ray Edwards) to make the Push feel less aggressive. I’m used to calling things what they are, so I’ll use the word Push because it describes exactly what we’re trying to do here—push the reader to act now. Here’s how the PPPP formula works:

• Promise: Promise something to your readers in the headline or the introductory copy of your article. Your promise should declare how your product, service, or idea will change the reader’s life.

• Picture: Paint a picture that shows the reader how their life will change. Your picture needs to be specific and realistic. This is a great place for sensory words, which I have a video about.

• Proof: Back up your promise with cold hard facts. By providing support for your promise, you’ll get the reader’s thinking brain on your side. What can serve as proof? Figures, testimonials, research results, case studies, product demos—anything that can prove your promise.

• Push: Ask your reader to commit. When your reader’s emotional and thinking brains agree that your solution is what they need, the reader will be ready to take action when you ask them to. If you have free bonuses, discounts, limited-time offers, or guarantees, roll them out here.

This is how I used the PPPP formula when writing copy for the website of a software testing company:

Promise:

Become a high-performing organization with a team of QA experts by your side.

Picture:

Imagine you could spend 22% less time on unplanned software development thanks to proper software testing procedures. Imagine you could have 200x more frequent code deployments. Imagine you could reduce user churn and have more people recommend your product to others. With a QA company like ours, you get all that and even more.

Proof:

“They saved us this year! We had a short deadline and a complex product to be tested and they gave us big support. Even the fact that our product is entirely in Portuguese didn’t take these guys off track. So glad we found you! We have been working together for 11 months and I know I can always count on you.”

Eliza, PM at Round Pegs [client testimonial]

Push:

Have a problem that needs solving? You can always count on us

Contact us →

This copy looks like a big part of the landing page, doesn’t it? If you want something that could work for an entire page, the next formula is for you.

AICPBSAWN

I know, it looks… um… long. But here’s how Buffer explains it:

• Attention: Biggest benefit, biggest problem you can solve, USP
• Interest: Reason why they [readers] should be interested in what you have to say
• Credibility: Reason why they should believe you
• Proof: Prove what you are claiming is true
• Benefits: List them all (use bullets)
• Scarcity: Create scarcity to incentivize people to take action fast
• Action: Tell them precisely what to do
• Warn: What will happen if they don’t take action
• Now: Motivate them to take action now

If we fit this into a landing page structure, it will look like this (as explained by CopyHackers):

Hero section

Attention: Headline

Interest: Subhead and paragraph or bullets

Credibility: Testimonial and row of client logos

Screenshot block A

Proof: Crosshead, paragraph, captioned screenshot

Benefits

Screenshot block B

Proof: Crosshead, paragraph, captioned screenshot

Benefits

Screenshot block C

Proof: Crosshead, paragraph, captioned screenshot

Benefits

Close

Scarcity: Limited beta, etc.

Action: CTA or button

Warn: Single click trigger below CTA

Now: Short testimonial from a person who’s glad they acted fast

I bet you’ve seen a bunch of landing pages with this structure. Next time you stumble upon one, pay attention to Scarcity, Warn, and Now—these sections can work wonders in influencing the reader’s decision to act.

The best copywriting frameworks are built on contrasts

You've just learned five best copywriting formulas:

• AIDA (Attention–Interest–Desire–Action)
• PAS (Problem–Agitation–Solution)
• Before–After–Bridge
• Promise–Picture–Proof–Push (PPPP)
• AICPBSAWN

Each of these formulas helps structure persuasive messaging, but at their core, most copywriting frameworks revolve around five fundamental contrasts:

Old vs. New

Highlight the innovation—how your product or service offers something fresh compared to the old way of doing things.

"Tired of managing your sales pipeline with outdated spreadsheets? Switch to our AI-powered CRM and automate your workflow with just a few clicks."

Before and After

Show the transformation. Paint a picture of how life improves before and after your audience engages with your solution.

"Before Dropbox, sharing files meant dealing with email attachments and USB drives. Now, with Dropbox, you can instantly share large files and collaborate in real time from anywhere in the world."

Problem vs. Solution

Identify your audience’s pain points, then present your offering as the perfect fix.

"Struggling with messy email threads? Slack is a new way to communicate with your team. It's faster, better organized, and more secure than email."

Positive vs. Negative

Use emotional appeal—contrast the negative consequences of not taking action with the positive outcomes they’ll get by choosing you.

"Without proper data backups, one hardware failure could cost your business thousands. Our automated backup system ensures your files are safe and recoverable anytime."

Common vs. Personal

Take a common belief and go against it with your personal opinion that challenges the status quo.

"Most people looking for homepage copy hire a $200 copywriter on Upwork. But then they end up with weak copy that doesn’t sell. The real problem isn’t the copy—it’s your positioning and messaging. Instead of following the crowd, what you really need is a product marketer."

These contrasts are powerful because they tap into basic human psychology. At their core, they address the key triggers that push someone to act—whether it’s solving a problem, achieving a goal, or avoiding a negative outcome.

Use formulas, but know your stuff

Copywriting formulas provide structure, so even when your muse takes a break, you know exactly how to craft compelling copy. Just frame your message in a way that resonates deeply with your audience’s experiences and desires.

But don’t get too excited about copywriting formulas. They do make it easier for you to write, but you still need to know your audience to make them work. Messages based on insights work great even without any formulas. Consider this one:

Relax. Your customer support is automated.

There is no formula in this message. But it’s incredibly powerful. If you’ve ever dealed with customer support for your product, you’ll get it.

Want to get better at copywriting?

Check out my course on writing sales pages. It's a self-paced video course that helps you find the sweet spot between what you do best, what your audience values most, and what your competitors fail to deliver and turn this all into compelling copy for your sales page. I created this course with my sister, a UI/UX designer, and in the final module, she’ll share tips on designing a high-converting sales page using Webflow.

Click here to take the course.