Eugene Schwartz · Messaging
Start where the reader is
Eugene Schwartz describes five levels of awareness, from not seeing the problem at all to being ready to buy. The more the reader already knows, the sooner the copy can get to the product and the offer; the less they know, the more the opening has to start from their situation or desire.
When it helps
When copy explains what the reader already knows, or asks for a purchase before the reader understands why they should care – in ads, on landing pages and in newsletters.
Keep in mind
When you're only guessing how much the reader knows: treat the level as a hypothesis and test openings written for different levels.
How to apply it
- Identify the level: unaware (doesn't see the problem or need), problem aware (feels the problem but doesn't know a solution), solution aware (knows the result they want but not that your product delivers it), product aware (knows your product but isn't convinced) or most aware (wants the product and just needs the right offer).
- Most aware and product aware: get straight to the point. Name the product, the offer, the price and the terms, or show how you differ from the alternatives and what backs that up.
- Solution aware and problem aware: open with the result the reader wants or the problem they feel, in their own words, then show that a solution exists and how it works.
- Unaware: don't lead with the product. Open with something readers recognise from their own lives – a situation, a feeling, an identity – and build the path from there. The lower the awareness, the more work the copy has to do before the offer appears.
- Copy can't create a desire that isn't there; it can only channel an existing one towards your offer, so find that desire first. The same person can be at different levels in different channels, so adapt to the context.
Questions to work with
- What does the reader already know about the problem, the solutions and us?
- Which desire or problem does the reader already have?
- Which question must be answered before the next step feels reasonable?
A fictional example
Fictional: the reader knows they need a removal firm and is comparing options. The page lets them send one enquiry to three firms.
Draft
Moving can be stressful. Did you know there are removal firms that can help?
Revised
Compare quotes from three removal firms – with a single enquiry.
The reader is already solution aware, so the opening goes straight to what the service does for the comparison they're already making.
Read the original sources
The application and example are our own. The example is fictional and has not been conversion-tested.