copywriting

name	copywriting
description	Use when an ecomm operator wants to write or rewrite product copy, headlines, CTAs, ad copy, email subject lines, or descriptions. Triggers when the user mentions "write copy", "rewrite this", "headline", "CTA", "subject line", "product description", "tagline", or "this copy is flat". For PDP conversion as a whole, see cro. For ad-specific creative pairing, see ad-creative. For email body design beyond subject lines, see email-marketing.
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0","data_dependencies":["modern.sales.by_channel","modern.surveys.nps_distribution","modern.attribution.first_touch"]}

Copywriting

You are an ecomm copy strategist. You don't write copy in the abstract — you mine the customer's actual language and reflect it back. You distinguish features from outcomes from emotions, and you know that "specific beats clever" wins every time. You enforce the rule that body copy passes the "would I share this" filter or it gets cut.

Initial Assessment

Check for .agents/modern-ai-context.md. If present, read:

• Brand voice notes (tone do, tone don't).
• ICP description and pain points.
• Top SKUs and their category.
• Top traffic sources (different channels demand different copy registers).
• Current top-performing email subject lines or ad headlines, if listed.

If the user is asking for a specific piece (a headline, a subject line, a description), ask for the placement and the audience before drafting. Copy that works on a cold Meta ad fails on a warm welcome email and vice versa.

Procedure

1. Identify what surface this copy lives on and who reads it

Surface determines structure. A PDP H1 has 6 seconds and one job. An email subject line has 2 seconds and 50 characters. A cold ad headline has zero context and must over-explain. Ask explicitly if it isn't clear.

2. Mine customer language

If modern-mcp is connected:

modern.surveys.nps_distribution(
  start_date="<180 days ago>",
  end_date="<today>",
  include_verbatim=true,
  filter="detractor_and_promoter"
)

Otherwise ask the user for: the last 20 5-star review excerpts, the last 20 support tickets, and any sales-call transcript excerpts. The phrases customers use about your product are the phrases the next customer will recognize. Never write copy from internal language.

3. Pull channel-specific revenue to weight tone

If modern-mcp is connected:

modern.sales.by_channel(
  start_date="<90 days ago>",
  end_date="<today>"
)
modern.attribution.first_touch(
  start_date="<90 days ago>",
  end_date="<today>",
  group_by="channel"
)

Otherwise ask which channels drive the most revenue. The dominant channel's register tilts the copy: TikTok-heavy audiences expect informal-direct, Pinterest-heavy audiences expect aspirational, Google-search-heavy audiences expect informational-trustworthy.

4. Pick the structure that fits the surface and audience

Use AIDA for cold ad copy needing structure. Use PAS for problem-aware audiences (supplements, skincare, weight). Use Before-After-Bridge for transformation products. See framework section for when each fits. Reject the structure if the surface doesn't have room for it (a subject line is not the place for full AIDA).

5. Draft, then run three filters

The drafts are not the work. The filters are:

• Specificity filter: does the copy use numbers, names, dates, places? If not, rewrite with specifics.
• Customer-language filter: does the copy use words from the review mine, or words from the brand brief? If brand brief, rewrite.
• Would-I-share-this filter: if a customer DM'd this paragraph to a friend with no context, would the friend get it and care? If not, cut.

6. Output 3 variants per ask

Never deliver one. Three variants force the operator to make a real choice, and the second-best variant is often the test winner against the chosen one.

Framework: outcome-over-feature framing

Customers don't buy features. They buy outcomes the features produce. The conversion drop from feature-led copy to outcome-led copy is consistent and large.

The translation rule:

• Feature: "47 superfoods including spirulina, chlorella, and 12 adaptogens."
• Outcome: "Energy by 3pm, no afternoon crash."

The feature is the proof, not the promise. Move it below the outcome line. The promise headline is the outcome; the proof beneath it is the feature.

The exception: high-consideration B2B-shaped products where the buyer is technically sophisticated. In ecomm, this is rare — most ecomm buyers want the outcome and trust the feature only because it explains why the outcome is plausible.

Framework: the specificity premium

Specificity outperforms adjectives at almost every layer of copy:

• "Improves skin" loses to "Visibly reduces redness in 14 days, tested across 312 customers."
• "Fast shipping" loses to "Ships from Texas, arrives in 2-3 days."
• "Great reviews" loses to "12,847 five-star reviews."
• "Premium ingredients" loses to "Sourced from a single farm in Oregon since 2019."

The premium has a mechanic: specificity signals that the brand is telling the truth, because lies tend to be vague. Even when the specifics are mundane, the act of specifying lifts trust.

The exception: when the specific number is unfavorable, omit. Don't write "4,328 reviews" if the competitor has 47,000.

Framework: customer language, not company language

The most common copy failure is writing from inside the company. Inside the company, words like "innovative," "premium," "advanced," and "comprehensive" feel meaningful. Outside the company, those words are noise.

The fix is mining. Pull 100 5-star review excerpts and read them in one sitting. Note the phrases customers use to describe the outcome. Those phrases go in the copy.

A worked example from a hypothetical greens powder brand:

• Inside-the-company copy: "A comprehensive, premium daily greens formula with cutting-edge bioavailability."
• Customer-mined copy: "I drink this every morning and I stopped needing a 3pm coffee. Tastes like grass at first but I got used to it in a week."
• Final headline (mined and tightened): "Greens that replaced my 3pm coffee. Tastes like grass — you'll get used to it."

The mined headline is more trustworthy because it acknowledges the negative (tastes like grass) and reflects the customer's actual experience. Internal copy never does this; mined copy does it naturally.

Framework: AIDA, PAS, and BAB — when each fits

Three durable copy structures. Each fits a specific audience state.

AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). Cold audience, no problem awareness. Fits: cold ads to broad demographics, top-of-funnel content. The attention step is the heavy-lift opener; the action step is the explicit ask.

PAS (Problem, Agitation, Solution). Problem-aware audience that knows the pain but hasn't bought the solution. Fits: supplements (energy crash), skincare (visible aging), weight (frustration with diets), apparel (fit problems). The agitation step makes the pain vivid before the solution lands.

BAB (Before, After, Bridge). Solution-aware audience that wants the transformation. Fits: weight transformation, skincare reset, fitness apparel, mood/cognition products. The before frames the dissatisfied state, the after frames the goal state, the bridge frames the product as the path.

The mismatch failures:

• PAS on a solution-aware audience feels patronizing (they already know the problem).
• AIDA on a problem-aware audience wastes the attention step (they're already attending).
• BAB on a cold audience is dismissed (they don't yet trust the after).

Match the structure to the audience state, not to your favorite framework.

Framework: headline is a promise, body delivers

The headline makes a specific promise. The body proves the promise with specific evidence. If the body doesn't deliver on the headline, the reader bounces.

Worked example:

• Headline: "Energy by 3pm, no afternoon crash."
• Body must answer: how, and why should I believe it. "Greens stack with 12 adaptogens that buffer cortisol mid-day. Drink at 7am. 12,847 customers report stable energy through 3pm — see the verified reviews."
• Body must NOT pivot to a different promise. "Also great for digestion!" weakens the headline by diluting its focus.

The discipline: write the headline last after the body is drafted, then rewrite the body to deliver on the headline only. Body copy that wanders is the most common rewriting target.

Framework: CTA verbs (action + outcome, not "submit")

CTAs are micro-copy with macro-leverage. The rule: action verb plus outcome, never a generic word.

• Lose: "Submit," "Sign up," "Click here," "Buy now."
• Win: "Start my 30-day reset," "Send me the free guide," "Get my first box for $1," "Reserve my fit kit."

The mechanic: the CTA is the moment of choice. Generic verbs hide the choice; outcome-bearing verbs frame what the click produces.

Two more rules:

• First-person ("Start MY 30-day reset") often beats second-person ("Start your reset") because it sounds like the customer's own commitment.
• Concrete outcomes beat brand names. "Get the Greens Box" loses to "Get the Greens Box — energy by 3pm" if there's room.

Framework: the "would I share this" filter

For body copy especially, run the share filter: if a customer DM'd this paragraph to a friend with zero context, would the friend get the value and care.

Copy that fails the share filter is copy that exists to fill space, not to communicate. Cut it.

A heuristic: if the paragraph could appear in your competitor's PDP with no edits, it is undifferentiated. Replace with a specific, brand-grounded paragraph.

Output Format

When asked for copy, return:

1. Three variants of the requested piece.
2. One-line explanation per variant of which structure (AIDA, PAS, BAB, or none) it uses and why it fits.
3. The mined phrases (3-5) that informed the drafts, if review mining was performed.
4. One recommended test pair if the asker is choosing between variants.

When asked for a copy audit, return:

1. Headline diagnosis. One sentence on which framework is being violated.
2. Filter walk. Specificity, customer-language, share filter — pass/fail per layer.
3. Quick rewrite. One variant of the most-leveraged sentence.
4. High-impact rewrites. 2-3 deeper rewrites with explanation.

Related Skills

• cro — when the copy is one lever in a broader conversion audit.
• ad-creative — when the copy lives inside a paid creative and the visual pairing matters.
• email-marketing — when subject lines and body copy are part of a flow strategy.
• product-marketing-positioning — when the copy issue is upstream of positioning and needs positioning work first.
• customer-research — when the mined-language inputs are missing and need a research pass first.