Checking Your Sales Page Order with the AIDA Model

Does your sales page follow the order of a reader's mind?

AIDA is a framework that describes the path to a purchase in four steps: attention, interest, desire, and action. It dates to the late 1890s and is generally credited to E. St. Elmo Lewis. If you want to check whether your sales page follows the order in which a reader's thinking moves, it is a handy lens.

Who first proposed it, and in what exact form, is a matter of some debate. It is better understood as a rule of thumb handed down through practice than as a theory tested in rigorous experiments, and that is how we use it here.

The four steps

• Attention: the reader notices you
• Interest: the reader sees it relates to them and keeps reading
• Desire: the reader wants it or wants to try it
• Action: the reader signs up, asks a question, or buys

Readers do not always move through these in order, but splitting the page this way helps you find where people leave.

Marking up the page

Read your sales page from the top and mark the part that does each job.

Attention. Can someone tell what the page is about on the first screen? Does the headline speak to a specific person with a specific problem?

Interest. Is there a reason to keep reading? Does the page mention the reader's situation, or does it open with a description of the product?

Desire. Can the reader picture life after using it? Are there concrete things to look at, such as actual deliverables, steps, or answers to common worries?

Action. Is the next step a single clear thing? Can someone find the button or contact method without hunting? Does the form ask for too much?

Wherever a step is thin or the order breaks down is a candidate for revision. A page might push for sign-up before building any desire, or spend the attention step on a long self-introduction.

Changing the order for different readers

The right order depends on the reader. Someone who already knows your product needs only a short attention and interest section, and an action prompt up front suits them. Someone seeing you for the first time needs more time on interest.

If you cannot build separate pages for each source of traffic, one option is to put the call to action in several places. On a long page many readers never reach the bottom.

Limits

AIDA assumes the buyer moves in a straight line. In practice people go back to compare, or consult someone else. For expensive contracts or work that depends on trust, four steps are not enough. Use it as a frame for the review, and confirm where people actually drop off through access records and conversations with customers.

Sentence length and placement

The shorter the lines in each step, the more likely they are to be read. On the first screen, a headline, one supporting sentence, and a single button are often enough.

The desire section can run a little longer. Still, break it up with bullet points and subheadings so that someone skimming can pick up the main points. Many readers look at your page on a phone, for a short time.

Place the call to action in the middle as well as at the end, so the button is in view at the moment the reader is convinced.

Record the results of your review in writing rather than relying on feel. A line on which step you fixed and what changed afterward spares you the same doubts in the next round of improvements.

You will also miss things when reading your own page. Ask an acquaintance to read it fresh, and ask where they paused. That shows concretely which step is weak.

What to do next

1. Print your sales page or scroll through it, and mark the four steps.
2. Pick the thinnest step.
3. Rewrite that part in your customer's own words.
4. Count the steps between landing and the sign-up button, and look for fields you can remove.
5. After the change, record the number of inquiries for one month.