AIDA and PAS are two of the most popular copywriting formulas in direct response copywriting. Start with either of these formulas for all your copywriting when you’re not sure what to write.
| AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) | PAS (Problem, Agitation, Solution) | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Guide users through a persuasive funnel toward action | Trigger emotional urgency to prompt immediate action |
| Approach | Starts with a hook, builds interest, then creates desire before CTA | Starts with a problem, intensifies it, then offers solution |
| Emotional Focus | Builds aspiration and excitement | Highlights pain and relief |
| Best For | Story-driven content like ads, emails, editorials | Direct-response content like sales pages and landing pages |
| Tone | Positive and motivational | Problem-aware and emotionally charged |
What Is AIDA?
AIDA is an older copywriting formula which can be traced back to the golden days of print marketing. Today, the AIDA formula is used in magazines, TV infomercials, radio scripts, paid ads, online editorials, email newsletters, and other mediums that heavily rely on copy and storytelling to get their message across.
The main goal of the AIDA model is to funnel consumers through four steps that help persuade them to make a purchase. These steps include:
- Attention—This is where you come up with a catchy hook to get someone’s attention and make them listen to you or read your post; headlines are excellent attention-grabbing tools to turn a passive onlooker into an active listener.
- Interest—This stage is designed to keep someone’s interest by providing an incentive for them to stay until the end of the commercial or read the entire copy; good interest-grabbing incentives include captivating facts, stories, and use cases that paint your product or service in a good light and make your prospects go “That sounds cool—I want to hear more!!”
- Desire—In the third stage of the AIDA copywriting formula, it’s all about evoking a genuine desire in your prospects to buy and use your product or service; you can achieve this by demonstrating several real-world scenarios in how your audience will benefit from owning your product or service, typically by saving time, improving their productivity, or becoming a healthier person.
- Action—In the final AIDA stage, your objective is to guide your prospects into taking a specific action and make this process as easy, frictionless, and intuitive for them as it can be. Call-to-action examples include urging customers to sign up for your email newsletter, displaying a clickable button for them to download your course on biochemistry, or offering a number on the screen for them to call and order a more traditional product such as a vacuum cleaner.
What Is PAS?
PAS is a newer copywriting formula that consists of three stages: Problem, Agitation, and Solution. It’s used to write effective and persuasive copy in order to motivate consumers to action through emotional urgency. You can run into the PAS model on various landing pages, sales letters, and infomercial scripts, but the framework itself is so simple and powerful that it can be adapted for most popular mediums and copy-dominant marketing campaigns.
Let’s break the PAS formula down even further:
- Problem—This is the stage where you identify, describe, and emphasize the consumer’s pain points; often, consumers aren’t aware that a problem exists in the first place, so you have to be very diligent in your research stage if you want to make them pay attention to your initial message.
- Agitation—Once you’ve identified the problem, it’s time to push it to a point where it reaches its logical extreme so consumers can understand the full extent of the problem’s negative influence on their lives; in this stage, try to avoid writing copy that sounds too sales-like or pushy, since prospects will become disillusioned with your pitch and will likely abandon the funnel before you have a chance to offer them a solution.
AIDA vs PAS: Comparing Formulas With the Same Example
Now that you know the specific ideas behind both copywriting formulas, let’s use them in practice. First, I’ll leverage the AIDA formula to try and convince a consumer to buy a mountain bike. Then, I’ll rewrite it with PAS to emphasize the copy’s strongest aspects and drive the point home.
AIDA
Often, it’s hard to stare at a blank page and come up with a unique copy that sells. Thankfully, the AIDA formula features a blueprint that tells me everything I need to write and the order I need to write it. Let’s try it out.
Attention: Pedal to the Gravel: Study Finds Mountain Biking NOT NEARLY As Dangerous As First Thought
Hey John, are you up for the adventure of your lifetime? You know how most of us are trapped in gray cubicles in body and spirit alike, dreaming about conquering forgotten hillsides and pushing the limits of human endurance day in and day out? Buckle up and fasten down: what you’re about to hear might knock your socks clean off!
Interest: Turns out, the dangers of mountain biking were blown out of proportion all along, making our collective fears of a windy, adrenaline-fueled two-wheeling trekking misplaced and critically misconceived. A recent study considered more than 220,000 mountain bike mishaps and found the majority of them resulted in nothing more than mild scratches and bruises of low severity, AND, even more importantly, weren’t justifiably strong reasons enough to push both enthusiasts and newcomers away from the sport.
In fact, PhD candidate and lead author of the study, Paul Braybrook, found it MORE BENEFICIAL for people to engage in this so-called extreme activity compared to sitting on your bum 24/7 and waiting for your lipid levels to break records and reach new heights.
Speaking of reaching new heights…
Desire: With some motivation, the proper gear, and a quality bike, mountain biking has the power to rejuvenate your mind and keep your body in top shape. This type of activity can:
- Improve your cardiovascular fitness
- Increase your stamina and endurance
- Improve your memory
- Reduce the risk of high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, and type 2 diabetes
- Make you feel amazing after a ride
Not to mention that you can save $50 monthly in gas money if you take your bike to work at least once a week.
Action: Mountain biking veterans, rooks, and other practitioners of the craft—rejoice! We’re offering you a unique opportunity to try out our brand-new Wheelie-ON mountain bikes in person and we’re taking you—yes, YOU TOO JOHN… along for the ride.
Call 111-RAW-POWR to enlist and become eligible to win 100+ free goodies on the spot, including our newest Wheelie-ON camo model with specialized suspension, slide-proof tires, and state-of-the-art disc brakes as the grand prize.
P.S. It’s what the doctor ordered.
PAS
Now that we have the foundations of a good sales page, I can use the PAS copywriting formula to distill it even further and introduce a sense of emotional urgency to the copy. Remember: the goal is to sell our new Wheelie-ON mountain bike by identifying, amplifying, and solving a problem.
Problem: A sedentary lifestyle is monotony’s little cousin, and both are considered silent killers. Our workplaces, schools, homes, cars, and public spaces have all been re-engineered to minimize human movement as much as humanly possible—and the irony isn’t lost on anyone who can think for themselves.
These recent changes have restricted people’s ability to move. And people are made to move. Defying this fact of nature introduces mounting heaps of health-related problems that stunt our muscles and put a limit on our imaginations. It also KILLS OUR DREAMS about conquering forgotten hillsides and prevents us from pushing the limits of human endurance to their breaking point.
But, it’s worse than you might think.
Agitation: Today, people spend the majority of their days in sedentary positions or light activities, and spend almost no time performing moderate or vigorous exercises such as running, swimming, or riding a bike.
A sedentary lifestyle is highly correlated to:
- Reduced cardiovascular fitness
- Decreased stamina and endurance
- Memory lapses
- Increased risks of high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, and type 2 diabetes
- Generally feeling worse after not being physically active for a while
If this trend continues, we’re looking at grim future outcomes for a significant chunk of the sedentary population. Thankfully, all is not lost for those individuals willing to push against the gravel.
Solution: To counteract a sedentary lifestyle, experts recommend engaging in a novel, vigorous, and popular activity where you can work your muscles, stimulate your imagination, and make up for lost time. One such activity is mountain biking.
If you feel like that’s too much for you, a recent study by PhD candidate Paul Braybrook demonstrated that mountain biking is NOT NEARLY as dangerous as people’s perception of the sport. Most trail mishaps resulted in mild scratches and low-severity bruises, while the positives of mountain biking far outweighed the cons.
Mountain biking helps you:
- Break the monotony of everyday life
- Improve and fire up your imagination
- Keep your body in top shape
- Rejuvenate and calm your mind
- Make new friends on the trail
Want to have the adventure of your lifetime? Call 111-RAW-POWR to find out more and enlist for a test ride. Our newest Wheelie-ON mountain bike model is there for the taking, and you have a chance to win it FOR FREE!
Which is the best formula? AIDA or PAS?
Which one is better will mostly depend on the situation you’re going to be using them in.
AIDA Is Better for Longer and More Complex Copy
AIDA is the perfect choice to get into that direct-response headspace where you can grab the reader’s attention, build a sufficient interest, create a burning desire for them to own your product or service, and cultivate the desire to the point of incentivizing action.
This is one of the main reasons why AIDA is considered THE CLASSIC copywriting formula in direct-response copywriting. It’s also why its structure continues to work in the age of digital marketing and persists in capturing leads amidst decreasing audience attention spans.
To get a better understanding of AIDA, let’s consider the formula from a historical context. The AIDA framework was first outlined back in 1898 by a true marketing pioneer and a legend of the craft—Elias St. Elmo Lewis. Back then, marketing funnels weren’t conceptualized yet in the form that we recognize them today. Almost all marketing campaigns were done in print (for obvious reasons), while the concept of radio transmission was slowly starting to take shape. TV was 30 years away from discovery.
More than 50 years later, David Ogilvy comes bursting onto the marketing scene. By that time, he and his team of copywriters had perfected their own version of the AIDA formula and were creating what’s known today as the most popular written advertisements in the period between the 1950s and the 1970s.
In “The man in the Hathaway shirt”, Ogilvy stops readers dead in their tracks by including a mysterious, well-clad man wearing an eyepatch made of black leather. This is how it gets your attention.
Then, the beginning paragraph is carefully written to create interest and keep you reading until the end: “At long last American men are beginning to realize that it is ridiculous to buy good suits and then spoil the whole effect by wearing a cheap, mass-produced shirt.”
Very effective for its time, would you agree?
Next, the ad describes the shirt in great detail to evoke desire: “The whole shirt is cut more generously, and is therefore, more comfortable. The tails are longer, and stay in your trousers. The buttons are made of mother-of-pearl—very big and masculine. Even the stitching has an antebellum elegance about it.”
Finally, it ends with a clear call to action: “If you want the name of the nearest store where you can buy a Hathaway shirt, send a card to C.F. Hathaway, Waterville, Maine.”
PAS Is Simpler and Easier to Understand for Copywriters of All Skill Levels
On the other hand, the PAS copywriting formula is simpler, easier to understand, and far easier to implement as well. You can even exclude the agitation part and reduce the model to just two stages: problem and solution.
For example, you can describe the problem and then talk about the solution without re-emphasizing the problem twice in a row. One of the drawbacks of this approach is that it probably won’t give you a world-class copy, but it’s extremely easy to remember and use this refined PAS model in a real scenario. Plus, it can be put into practice by anyone regardless of their experience in the field.
A great example of a simplified PAS formula comes from Lemon.io, a full-stack developer-sourcing business with one of the most creative landing pages you’ll encounter today.
First, the headline gets your attention: “Delivering miraculous devs to your startup.” Getting attention is not the primary part of the PAS formula, but it serves a very specific purpose in the context of Lemon.io’s page.
Then, the copy identifies the most important problem that startups often face in a single sentence: “Wasting time and money hiring delinquent devs?” Note how the agitation part of the PAS framework is excluded from this copy. The alliteration play at the end is a nice bonus.
Next, it proposes a solution by keeping the same format: “Get devotees to build your vision—diabolically fast.”
Lastly, Lemon.io deliberately places a call to action: “Match me with a dev,” thus completing its take on the PAS formula and coming full circle.
What I Use Most Often: PAS
Over the years, I’ve read dozens of old-school copywriting books. Some were good, others were eye-opening, and a small number of them I still use as improvised monitor stands to get a better viewing angle with a cheap solution. Let’s just say those hardcover copies will be happier in their new home compared to their original raison d’etre.
On top of that, I’ve also worked with many world-class copywriters. I’ve looked at their copy and marveled at how clean, simple, and effective it was. But, even though I like to write, I’ll likely never be as good as them. Unless I accidentally hit my head in the right spot and with the exact amount of Newtonian force, chances are I won’t be able to write a genius-level copy like they can.
However, what I excel at is using a copywriting schematic like AIDA to get the job done. It’s usually overkill for the things that I’m trying to achieve, especially for copy I need that’s short and fast.
In those cases (which represent the majority of my projects), I’ll simply default back to PAS. PAS gives me everything I need to know to write copy that is just good enough to get my projects going. I can always come back and tweak it later.
One of the rare exceptions, when I prefer using the AIDA framework, is when I have to compose an extremely important sales page that I know will be elaborate and lengthy. But I rarely come across those types of projects lately, so I’m kind of saving the AIDA copywriting formula for a rainy day.
My Recommendation in Most Situations: Use PAS Over AIDA
PAS is a simple formula and very easy to remember: Problem, Agitation, Solution. You identify a problem, you agitate the reader, and you offer them a solution. PAS is so easy to implement that anyone can use it, regardless if they’re a writer or come from a different professional background.
Lastly, PAS can get your copy to a “good enough” state quickly and reliably, something like the manufacturing industry equivalent of a minimum viable product. And, sometimes, a copywriting MVP is all you need to kick things into high gear.
