The AIDICA Framework: How to Use It In Sales Copywriting

Good sales copywriting uses insight into the customer behaviour and the customer buying journey. At Cambray, we use the AIDICA framework to ensure that our copy remains customer-focused in order to encourage conversion.

This article explains why using the AIDICA framework is so important in developing effective sales copywriting. It also provides some information on how to use AIDICA to create sales copy that converts.

What is AIDICA?

AIDICA is a psychological copy framework based on research into customer buying behaviour. It provides a really useful structure for any sales copywriting to make sure that readers are given the right information at the right time. This increases the likelihood of conversion - i.e. that the customer will want to buy from you after reading your sales copy.

AIDICA focusses on the six separate stages in the buying process, which are summarised below:

Taking each of these in turn:

Awareness

The first section, 'Awareness', is designed to make the reader aware of your brand, product or service.

You should provide a top-level description of the product/service in a clear and concise way. When writing this description, you should try and remain customer-focused. Instead of just listing features, try to relate this top-level description to the benefits the customer will receive, or the problems your product/service will solve for the customer.

Remember that readers are always more likely to engage with customer-focused content.

Interest

The next stage of the framework, 'Interest', is to spark the interest of the reader.

You should describe the pains and problems the reader is likely to be facing. The goal is to encourage the reader to think, 'I'm having that problem,' 'That relates to me,' or, 'I can see myself in that statement.'

Below is a snippet from the SEO landing page of the Cambray website.

Problems that are likely to be faced by the reader are presented in clear, 'I' statements. This encourages the reader to relate to our content and persuades them to read on to find the solution.

Desire

The 'Desire' section presents the solution to the problems described in the previous section.

You should be able to clearly position your product or service as the solution for the reader and write in a customer-focused way. Instead of just listing the features that your company provides, explain the benefits that a reader will receive, so that they can readily identify what they stand to gain from your product or service.

Intent

The intent section presents the solution to the reader. This is where you can focus more on the features of your company, product or service, although the reader should still be able to tell how they benefit from these.

This section should encourage the reader to think, 'I need this.' It should also prove that the benefits of your product/service outweigh the pain of action - the time taken for the reader to fill in a contact form, or give up their email address.

Conviction

The 'Conviction' section is designed to de-risk the purchase for the reader.

When making a purchase, particularly an online purchase, the buyer needs to be absolutely sure that the product or service will work for or benefit them. If they doubt this, they will be unlikely to purchase from you.

The main objective is to provide the reader with proof that the product or service will work for them. Try presenting some case studies of satisfied clients, some customer reviews, or even a 'money-back guarantee.'

All of this content will de-risk the buying process for the reader.

Action

Finally, you should clearly present the action you would like the reader to take and make it both easy and straightforward to complete.

For example, this could be to add a product to a shopping cart, to fill in a contact form, or to book a phone call with one of your representatives.

Whatever your desired call to action may be, the reader should quickly be able to determine what they need to do to take the next step in the process.

AIDICA example

For an example of AIDICA in action, take a look at our Cambray SEO page.

Our copywriters used the AIDICA process to create the copy for this page.

How can we help?

Cambray are a specialist digital marketing agency based in Cheltenham.

Our copywriters and editors have used the AIDICA process many times for our clients with proven results.

Knowledge of AIDICA is just one reason why you should hire a specialist. sales copywriter. For more reasons to work with an external copywriter, check out our article about sales copywriting.  

For more information on sales copywriting, or to book a free 20-minute consultation to find out how we can help you to increase your sales, contact Cambray today.