Ecommerce copywriting formulas give you the scaffolding to write product descriptions, email campaigns, and landing pages that convert. Rather than staring at a blank page wondering where to start, these proven frameworks let you slot your messaging into templates tested over decades by direct response marketers.
Changing just three letters in a button from “your” to “my” delivered 90% higher click-through rates for Unbounce. That single data point shows why the precise arrangement of copy matters. Below, I’ve broken down the formulas I return to most often when writing for ecommerce clients.
If you’d prefer to hand off copy creation entirely, Mint SEO’s ecommerce content writing service produces conversion-focused product descriptions, category content, and landing pages built on these frameworks and tailored to your brand voice.
AIDA: The Foundation Every Marketer Should Master
American advertising pioneer E. St. Elmo Lewis developed AIDA around 1898, making it the oldest copywriting formula still in active use. The acronym breaks down into four stages: capturing interest, maintaining it, building desire, and prompting action. It maps directly to how customers move through a purchase decision.
How AIDA Breaks Down
The first stage demands you stop the scroll. Headlines, hero images, and opening lines carry this burden. Once you have eyeballs, you shift into building Interest by expanding on your initial hook with relevant details that keep readers engaged.
Desire takes over when you connect your product’s benefits to what the reader actually wants. This differs from simply listing features. The final stage, Action, tells people exactly what you want them to do next and removes friction from doing it.
Applying AIDA to Product Pages
Consider how this plays out on a product page for running shoes. Your headline captures reader interest by speaking directly to a runner’s goal. The opening paragraph builds on this by addressing the specific problems they face during training. Benefit-focused copy about cushioning and support creates desire. A prominent “Add to Basket” button with reassuring delivery information provides the call to action.
I find AIDA most useful when I need to write longer-form content where I can take readers through each stage deliberately. The sequential nature makes it less suited to short social media copy, where you often need to compress everything into a single punchy line.
PAS: Lead with the Problem
Problem, Agitation, Solution flips the script on AIDA by opening with pain rather than bold promises. You name a problem your audience faces, twist the knife by making them feel that problem more acutely, then present your product as the relief.
Why Problem-First Copy Converts
When someone reads copy that accurately describes their frustration, they feel understood. That recognition builds trust before you’ve mentioned your product once. The agitation phase amplifies urgency. By the time your solution arrives, readers are primed to receive it as rescue rather than sales pitch.
PAS in Action
Moom, a women’s health platform, executes this formula well on their about page. They open with the problem of one-size-fits-all supplements failing women with different needs. The agitation comes through describing the frustration of having no resources to explore alternatives. Their subscription-based personalised supplement programme enters as the solution.
For ecommerce, PAS shines in email marketing and abandoned cart sequences. You can remind customers what pain point brought them to your site, remind them that problem hasn’t gone away, and position completing their purchase as the fix.
| Stage | Purpose | Ecommerce Example |
|---|---|---|
| Problem | Identify the pain point | “Tired of skincare products that promise results but deliver irritation?” |
| Agitation | Intensify the frustration | “Every new product means another gamble with your sensitive skin. Redness, breakouts, wasted money.” |
| Solution | Present your offering | “Our dermatologist-developed range was formulated specifically for reactive skin types.” |
The compact nature of PAS makes it versatile. You can stretch it across a landing page or compress it into a three-sentence Instagram caption.
FAB: Turn Features Into Sales
Features, Advantages, Benefits tackles the common mistake of listing product specifications whilst expecting customers to figure out why they should care. The framework forces you to translate technical details into language that resonates emotionally.
A feature describes what your product has or does. An advantage explains why that feature matters compared to alternatives. A benefit connects the advantage to what the customer actually gains in their daily life.
The Translation Process
Take a smartphone camera with 48 megapixels. That specification means nothing to most buyers. The advantage is that images remain sharp even when cropped or printed large. The benefit is that holiday photos of the kids can hang on the wall rather than staying buried on a phone.
This formula excels for product descriptions where you need to convey technical information accessibly. Apple uses FAB consistently across their product pages. They mention the feature, explain its advantage over previous models, and paint a picture of how that translates into real-world use.
FAB Pitfalls to Avoid
The most common error I see is stopping at advantages. Writers will explain that a jacket uses Gore-Tex fabric and that Gore-Tex keeps water out. They fail to get to the benefit: staying dry and comfortable during an unexpected downpour instead of cutting your hike short.
Benefits often carry emotional weight that features and advantages lack. That emotional connection is what moves people from “this seems good” to “I need this.”
BAB: Paint the Change
Before, After, Bridge focuses entirely on change. You describe the reader’s current painful reality, show them what life could look like once that pain disappears, then reveal your product as the bridge between those two states.
Framework and Psychology
The Before section must resonate immediately. Get this wrong, and readers won’t continue. You’re holding up a mirror and saying “I see you, I understand your situation.” The After paints the promised land in vivid detail. Readers need to visualise themselves there, feeling the relief or excitement.
Your Bridge doesn’t dump features. It positions your offering as the vehicle that carries customers from Before to After. The psychology here taps into aspiration rather than pain, distinguishing BAB from PAS despite surface similarities.
Where BAB Excels
Weight loss products and fitness programmes favour this formula because the before-and-after narrative maps so clearly onto their value proposition. Before and after photos are BAB visualised.
For broader ecommerce applications, BAB suits products that represent lifestyle upgrades or significant changes. High-end cookware, home office furniture, and hobby equipment all benefit from helping customers imagine their improved future. My experience suggests BAB performs best when your product genuinely delivers a noticeable difference in how customers live or operate day-to-day.
4Ps: The Long-Form Persuasion Engine
Promise, Picture, Proof, Push builds on simpler formulas by adding explicit social proof and a stronger call-to-action element. The framework emerged from long-form direct response copywriting, where pages of text needed to guide readers toward a purchase.
Breaking Down Each P
Promise hooks readers with a bold claim about what you’ll deliver. This needs specificity. “Better sleep” is weak. “Fall asleep in under ten minutes” is a promise people can evaluate.
Picture uses sensory language and storytelling to make the promise tangible. Readers should visualise themselves experiencing the benefit. Describe mornings where they wake refreshed rather than dragging themselves out of bed.
Proof shifts from emotional appeal to logical validation. Customer testimonials, case studies, statistics, and certifications all belong here. 37% of top-performing landing pages feature testimonials, suggesting proof elements matter for conversions.
Push creates urgency and tells readers exactly what to do. Limited-time offers, scarcity messaging, and friction-free checkout processes all support this final stage.
When to Deploy 4Ps
This formula suits high-consideration purchases where customers need extensive persuasion. Subscription services, course sales, and high-ticket products benefit from the thorough approach. The length required makes 4Ps less practical for quick product descriptions or social posts.
| Formula | Best For | Length | Primary Appeal |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIDA | Landing pages, email sequences | Medium to long | Sequential journey |
| PAS | Email, social, ads | Short to medium | Pain resolution |
| FAB | Product descriptions | Short | Benefit clarity |
| BAB | Before/after products | Short to medium | Aspiration |
| 4Ps | Sales pages, high-ticket items | Long | Complete persuasion |
Matching Formulas to Ecommerce Contexts
The framework you choose should depend on where your copy appears and what action you want customers to take.
Product Pages
FAB tends to perform best here because customers have already shown intent by clicking through to a specific product. They want information that helps them decide, not a lengthy story about change. Quick benefit-focused copy with clear specifications gives them what they need.
Category Pages
AIDA provides useful scaffolding for category page introductions. You capture reader interest with a compelling hook about the category, build on this through highlighting what makes your range different, create desire by emphasising key benefits, and push toward action by making it easy to filter and find specific products.
Email Campaigns
PAS and BAB both adapt well to email, though they suit different campaign types. Abandoned cart sequences benefit from PAS because you can remind customers of the problem they were trying to solve. Welcome sequences and promotional campaigns often perform better with BAB’s positive before-and-after framing.
Testing across your specific audience remains essential. Formulas give you starting points, not guaranteed winners. What converts for fashion may fail for electronics.
The Personalisation Layer
Every formula above performs better when combined with personalisation. 202% better conversions await marketers who personalise their CTAs versus those using generic alternatives. This applies whether you’re running AIDA, PAS, or any other framework.
Personalisation extends beyond inserting someone’s first name into emails. Segment-specific pain points make PAS more effective. Tailored benefits make FAB resonate. Product recommendations based on browsing history strengthen every formula’s action stage.
The formulas provide scaffolding. Your customer data provides relevance. Combining both creates copy that reads as if written specifically for each reader, because in some ways, it was.
Testing Your Copy Systematically
A formula only matters if it produces results. A/B testing gives you data on whether your AIDA-structured landing page outperforms your PAS version.
Start by testing formula against formula on high-traffic pages. Once you know which framework performs best for a particular context, test within that formula. Experiment with different hooks for the opening stage or alternative ways of agitating the Problem.
Veeam Software discovered that changing “Request a quote” to “Request pricing” delivered a 166.66% increase in click-through rates. Both versions could fit within any formula. The lesson is that formula selection matters, but so does the specific language within that framework.
Putting These Formulas Into Practice
Knowing these frameworks intellectually differs from using them fluently. The bridge between theory and execution comes through deliberate practice.
Choose one formula and rewrite your three worst-performing product descriptions using it. Track the results over two weeks. Move to the next formula. Build a library of your own examples that you can reference when facing new copy challenges.
These copywriting formulas aren’t rigid templates requiring exact replication. They’re thinking tools that shape how you approach blank pages and struggling copy. Once internalised, they become invisible scaffolding that makes persuasive writing feel natural rather than laboured.
