Levels of awareness and the Ogilvy principles

The levels of awareness are Eugene Schwartz’s five steps, from “doesn’t know about the problem” to “ready to act”. They decide where a text begins.

The reader first, then the formula

In this part you will meet a dozen copywriting formulas: AIDA, PAS, BAB, the 4 U’s and others. The most common mistake with them is to grab the first one that comes along and pour your text into it. A formula is only an order of thoughts, and an order is good only when it suits the reader. If a person doesn’t know they have a problem, the text “your problem is solved in one day” sails past them. If they are already choosing among three providers, a story of how you came to your trade will only hold them up.

So the first question is always the same: what does the reader already know? The answer comes from one of the most useful schemes in advertising.

Five levels of awareness

The American copywriter Eugene Schwartz described it in his book Breakthrough Advertising (1966). Schwartz wrote mail-order advertising, and noticed that texts work least well not because of bad words but because they begin in the wrong place: they talk about the product to people who have never heard of it, or about the problem to people who have long been looking for a price. He named five levels a reader can be at. Here they run from the unaware to the ready:

1. Doesn’t know about the problem. The discomfort is there, but the person doesn’t link it to anything solvable, or doesn’t notice it at all.
2. Knows about the problem. Feels that something is wrong, but doesn’t know what can be done about it.
3. Knows about solutions. Understands the result is within reach, but doesn’t know your product.
4. Knows about the product. Has heard of you, but isn’t sure you are right for them in particular.
5. Ready to act. Wants you, and needs only the terms and a button.

From this follows directly where to begin a text. For a reader at the first level you must first let them see the problem: a story, an observation, a surprising fact. At the second, begin with the problem itself, in their words. At the third, with the result and with how your way differs from the others. At the fourth, with your offer and the reasons for it. At the fifth, with the terms and the button. The more aware the reader, the shorter the text and the nearer to the action.

An example with the default persona, the invented Kate Alder. One service, five readers:

• 1. “The fence stands on the old posts, but on the map the boundary runs somewhere else.” The person never thought this could be a problem.
• 2. “My neighbor moved the fence: what now?”
• 3. “A boundary can be settled with a boundary plan, without going to court, if the neighbors agree.”
• 4. “A boundary survey by a licensed surveyor: how it works and what it costs.”
• 5. “Boundary survey. Book a consultation.”

See how it looks in the diagram: drag the slider and watch the first screen of an invented workshop rebuild itself. For readers at the fourth and fifth levels the button is your main action from the brief, and for the others it leads to some material.

Reader: 2. Knows about the problem

What they know

Feels the discomfort, but doesn’t know there is a fix.

Where to start

With the problem itself, in the person’s own words, as they would describe it to themselves.

How much to explain

A lot: what is going on and why, then what can be done about it.

First screen (an example: an invented bicycle workshop)

Squealing brakes? While they squeal they still work, but not for long

A squeal means the pad is worn or dirty. If it isn’t replaced, the rotor wears next, and the repair gets more expensive.

See how it is fixed

The button leads to material, not to a purchase: the person isn’t ready yet.

Check yourself: where do you begin a text for a reader who doesn’t know about the problem?

With a story, an observation or a fact that helps them notice the problem. The product and the price aren’t needed yet at this level.

How to tell the level

There is no need to guess. There are three sources.

• Where the person came from. A search for the name of the service and the word “price” means level four or five. A social media post about something they didn’t know, level one or two. A link from an acquaintance, three or four.
• What questions customers ask. Write down the first ten questions you have been asked. “How much does it cost?” says one level, and “do I even need this?” another.
• What a person finds before they reach you. Your main competitor is not necessarily another provider: it is often “wait and see” or “do it myself”.

The practical conclusion: choose one main level for the first screen, and serve the others lower down the page. For those who know less there is a section further down, “How it works”; for those who are ready there is a button at the top.

Where the ladder lets you down

Schwartz’s scheme was made for the mail-order advertising of the 1960s, and it has three weak spots.

• The boundaries are blurred. The same person may be at the fifth level on one question and the second on another. Don’t treat the levels as a questionnaire.
• Level is not intent. An aware reader isn’t necessarily ready to buy today. “Awareness” speaks of knowledge, not of a decision.
• This is about the reader, not the market. Schwartz has a second idea too, the “stages of market sophistication”, about how used to advertising a market has become. We don’t cover it here.

Ogilvy: six rules

David Ogilvy (1911 to 1999) founded the advertising agency that is today called Ogilvy, and wrote Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963) and Ogilvy on Advertising (1983). His rules became classics. Retold in our own words, they are:

1. Research first. Before writing, learn everything about what you sell and about those you sell to. That is what we did above.
2. The headline matters more than everything else. Ogilvy claimed that several times as many people read the headline as read the body. The exact number hasn’t been measured for the web, but reading research supports the conclusion: nearly everyone sees the headline and the first lines. Put your main force into it.
3. Facts, not general words. Specific information persuades better than adjectives. Ogilvy defended long copy, but only when it is full of facts. This matches the plain style of the last part.
4. Respect the reader. The reader is not stupid. Don’t deceive, don’t shout, talk to them as an intelligent person who needs help.
5. Don’t write what you wouldn’t show your family. Honesty is not politeness but practice: dishonest advertising, once it has worked, breaks trust.
6. Test. Ogilvy was a supporter of testing: try versions and see what worked, rather than rely on the author’s taste. In the part on metrics we’ll learn to do that on your own site.

Two caveats. Ogilvy wrote about print advertising of the 1950s to 1980s, and not all of it carries over to the web literally. “Long copy sells” is not a law: long text works when it holds facts and hurts when it holds filler. And “respect the reader” is no excuse for any technique: his own rule about the family forbids the manipulation we’ll discuss later.

Check yourself: name three of Ogilvy’s six rules.

For example: research the reader and the product; invest in the headline; facts instead of general words; respect the reader; don’t write what you wouldn’t show your family; test the result.

Practice

Write your project’s first screen for one reader.

1. In the note “Level of awareness” write a number from 1 to 5 and explain the choice: where the visitor will come from and what they already know. This is the main level, not all of them at once.
2. Write the headline (an h1 with the class headline): it names what the reader already knows: the problem, the result or the service. Not “Welcome” and not the company’s name.
3. Write the first paragraph (first-para) and put in it, in full, one proof from the brief.
4. Label the link cta. For a reader at level 4 or 5 it is the main action from the brief; for 1 to 3 it is some material (for example, “Read how to check a boundary yourself”).
5. Check the text against Ogilvy in the note: specifics, a fact, one reader.

The check looks at form: the level number, the explanation, the headline, a fact from the proofs, the link. Whether the headline is good in substance is for you to decide. Read it aloud and picture a person at the level you chose: would they stop?