I first ‘met’ AIDA back in the 1980s when I was discovering sales training. AIDA is as old as the hills, but equally relevant today.
In short it’s an acronym for getting a customer from contact to cash (or card). It works across many different media, from face-to-face sales conversations to digital transactions.
Today I’m exploring landing pages.
What is a landing page?
It’s a single web-based page focused on making a sale, or getting the visitor to provide their email address in exchange for something free – and get them onto your list.
It can be a page on your website or most email marketing platforms offer this as part of the package, including the form and list hosting.
AIDA is not the only structure that works, but let’s start with that.
AIDA (Attention–Interest–Desire–Action)
- Attention: a strong headline that grabs the reader’s attention and gets them to continue reading.
- Interest: Explaining who it’s for and what is included.
- Desire: This is where you build the reader’s want for your offer and can include social proof, outcomes, and maybe a transformation story.
- Action: This is where you tell them what to do and make it easy for them to do it. A link to payment, a form to complete, etc.
But AIDA is not your only option, when it comes to a landing page structure, it’s not one size fits all!
PAS (Problem–Agitate–Solution)
- Problem: Name the reader’s pain point clearly. This means you need to know your audience really well and know what bugs them.
- Agitate: Show the cost of not solving it in time lost, credibility missed, and the cost of missed opportunities.
- Solution: Introduce your offer as the fix
There is a piece of wisdom that says people who don’t know you respond to pain (away-from motivation) better than gain. So it’s not good to lead with the benefits – they come later.
BAB (Before–After–Bridge)
- Before: Where the reader is now, their current situation, with all the pain that entails.
- After: Where they want to be, their aspirations and dreams.
- Bridge: Your product/programme as the way to get there.
This kind of landing page is often short and punchy, so if you think your audience is skimmers rather than readers, this might be a good structure to use.
The 4 Ps (Picture–Promise–Prove–Push)
- Picture: Paint the desired outcome vividly.
- Promise: State exactly what you’ll deliver.
- Prove: This is where you show off with testimonials, case studies, your credentials.
- Push: Urgency – whether this is timed deadline, special earlybird pricing, a limited number of places or bonuses. Then your call to action.
Sometimes more than one of these landing page structures can be integrated, using PAS or BAB to lead and then AIDA to provide more information and detail. This is often more effective when it’s a big ticket purchase rather than an impulse buy.
