The four pillars of copywriting

What is copywriting and what is it for?

Writing to encourage action does not mean pressuring someone to buy. It can help them ask for information, book an appointment or rule out an unsuitable service. Good copy explains the offer clearly and supports an informed decision.

In the original article I proposed four criteria: urgency, uniqueness, usefulness and specificity. They remain a practical checklist for headlines and service pages. You do not need to force all four into every sentence or expect a formula to guarantee sales.

Before asking whether a sentence sounds good, ask whether it helps your customer understand something important.

1. Urgency: a genuine reason to act

A deadline can help someone decide when it reflects something real: registration closing, an application period or specific availability. A countdown that restarts every time someone opens the page makes no sense.

A service website often does not need urgency. You can explain a current problem and offer a clear next step without inventing scarcity. Making contact easy is different from telling people to buy now or miss out.

2. Uniqueness: explain what you do differently

“Quality, commitment and innovative solutions” could appear on thousands of websites. It does not explain how you work or why that matters to the reader. Differences usually lie in facts: a specialism, a specific process, direct contact or what the service includes.

Rather than trying to sound completely different, explain a difference you can demonstrate. If you work directly with each client, say so. If you have a defined review process, describe it. There is no need to invent an advantage nobody can verify.

3. Usefulness: turn features into something that matters

Saying a website includes a form describes a feature. Explaining that people can request information without hunting for your email shows its usefulness. The benefit must relate to what that person needs, rather than a grand promise.

Try completing this sentence: “This helps you to…”. If your answer is another feature or just “sell more” without explaining how, it needs more thought. Useful copy also answers questions that could stop an enquiry: scope, price, timing or how you work.

4. Specificity: replace adjectives with details

“Fast support” leaves the reader guessing what fast means. “A first response within one working day” sets an expectation. Use a figure like that only if you can deliver it, and distinguish a response from resolving the problem.

Specificity does not mean filling every paragraph with numbers. It means explaining who the service is for, what it includes, what it excludes and what happens next. Avoid improvement percentages, testimonials or results you cannot substantiate.

An example: from a generic statement to a clear offer

Imagine an IT support business serving small companies. The following copy is fictional and illustrates the change; it does not promise any particular service.

The second version identifies the customer, explains the work and asks for a clear action. It needs neither a “best in the business” claim nor artificial urgency. Actual scope and conditions could make it more specific still.

What we can learn from Ogilvy, Hopkins and Schwartz

These writers offer complementary perspectives for reviewing copy. Their ideas need not become rigid rules, and the four criteria in this article should not be attributed to them.

David Ogilvy

His career and Ogilvy on Advertising emphasise research. For your website: listen to actual customer questions before writing. Ogilvy on Advertising.

Claude Hopkins

Scientific Advertising devotes a chapter to specificity. On a service page, replace vague praise with verifiable details. Scientific Advertising.

Eugene Schwartz

Breakthrough Advertising addresses buyer awareness. Distinguish someone still understanding a problem from someone already comparing suppliers. Breakthrough Advertising.

StoryBrand: organise the message around the customer

Donald Miller’s StoryBrand approach makes the customer the protagonist and the business the guide. The brand understands the problem, offers a plan and makes action clear. This can complement the four pillars when structuring a full page.

Reference: Your Brand Is Not the Hero, by StoryBrand.

For a service website, start with three questions: what does this person want, what is getting in the way and how can you help? Then explain a simple process and use a button that describes what happens next.

Instead of opening with “We have been a leading company for twenty years”, explain what you solve for the customer. Experience still matters as evidence supporting your help, without invented results. This is an application example, not an official StoryBrand template.

In my book La página web perfecta (in Spanish) I explain this method applied to small businesses and adapted to web design: how to bring StoryBrand into the sections of your website, with a clear message and calls to action.

A practical check before publishing

1. Does the opening explain whom you help and what you offer?
2. Do benefits answer real questions, or only talk about you?
3. Can you substantiate your differences, figures and promises?
4. Is the service scope and what happens after contact clear?
5. Is the copy readable on mobile, without endless paragraphs?

Show the page to someone unfamiliar with your business and ask what they think you offer. If they need you to explain it, improve clarity first. Then measure enquiries and their quality; clicks alone do not guarantee sales.

Common questions about website copy