Copywriting: definition, techniques and examples

What is copywriting?

Copywriting means writing text meant to make a reader act: buy, sign up, request a quote, download a resource. Each text aims at one action, and is judged by the share of readers who take it.

So the word has nothing to do with copying an existing text. In France, the job profiles of Onisep and Apec also use “concepteur-rédacteur”.

Copywriting is also used outside advertising, wherever a text has to win a decision: sales page, sign-up form, email subject line, button. In an editorial strategy, it comes in when the reader has to move from content to action. The principles of content marketing set the rest: target, topics, distribution.

Copywriting and SEO writing: what is the difference?

SEO writing writes to be found on a query; copywriting writes to get an action once the text is read. The two meet on the elements visible in search results.

The boundary is porous. Google says meta descriptions are “like a pitch that convince the user that the page is exactly what they’re looking for” (Google Search Central, updated on April 20, 2026). That is a copywriting task within an SEO deliverable.

Conversely, Google favors “people-first” content, written primarily for people and not to manipulate rankings (page updated on December 10, 2025). A text stuffed with keywords serves neither the SEO goal nor the conversion goal.

Which copywriting techniques should you use?

Copywriting methods are frameworks for ordering a text. None of the sources consulted for this article compares their effectiveness: the choice depends on the format and on what the reader already knows.

Start from an action and a benefit

A conversion text starts with a decision: which single action do you expect from the reader? Next comes turning features into benefits. The FAB framework (feature, advantage, benefit) formalizes this: the feature describes the product, the advantage says what it makes possible, the benefit says what the reader gains.

Fictional example, for invoicing software: “synced mobile app” (feature), “the quote is written on the job site” (advantage), “the customer can sign before you leave” (benefit).

The AIDA method

AIDA splits a message into four stages: grab Attention, spark Interest, create Desire, trigger Action. It suits texts that present an offer to a reader discovering it: sales page, advertisement, cold email.

Its origin is less clear than often claimed. The attribution to E. St. Elmo Lewis in 1898 rests on a sentence by the psychologist E. K. Strong, published in 1925 without a reference. In a 2023 paper presented at the CHARM conference, Akinori Iwamoto (Kansai University) finds no such writing by Lewis around 1898. He does, however, find the four stages in the work of Arthur Frederick Sheldon, in 1910, and considers him the origin of AIDA.

The PAS method

PAS follows three stages: name the reader’s Problem, Agitate it by showing what it costs them, present the Solution. It suits readers who already know their difficulty, for example in a follow-up email or a service page. We found no verifiable original source: it is presented here as a practice.

Agitation describes a real cost; it does not invent a threat or a deadline (see the limits below).

Write for a reader who scans

On the web, readers scan. Jakob Nielsen estimates that users have time to read at most 28% of the words on an average page, and more likely 20% (NN/g, May 5, 2008).

The study dates from 1997 and covers 51 users and a single site. It shows what readers reject: inflated marketing jargon. The objective tone alone already improved the score by 27%. For a copywriter, persuading therefore means precise facts rather than superlatives.

In practice: headings that state the essentials, short paragraphs, lists for comparable items, numbers rather than adjectives.

Proof and story

A stated benefit remains a promise until it is proven: a dated figure, a demonstration, a verifiable customer review, a guarantee. A story also makes a benefit concrete, by showing a customer’s situation before and after. The storytelling techniques detail how to build this.

Where should you apply copywriting?

Copywriting applies to every text that comes before a decision. On a website, the first texts concerned are often the shortest.

The title carries a lot of weight. According to Google, “it’s often the primary piece of information people use to decide which result to click” (Google Search Central, updated on December 10, 2025). The same page recommends descriptive, concise text, distinct for each page, without keyword stuffing.

For a downloadable resource, copywriting works at two moments: the page that makes people want to request it, then the document that must keep its promise. The landing page of a lead magnet carries the first; the method to write a white paper covers the second.

Copywriting examples, with comments

The three examples below are fictional: they were built for this article around invoicing software for tradespeople, with no link to a real brand. They illustrate a method, not a measured result.

Title and meta description in Google

Fictional example: the search result of a home page, before and after rewriting.

The rewritten title follows the Google guidelines quoted above; for length and structure, see how to write a title tag. Google may still rewrite the title link from other elements of the page, and it builds the snippet mainly from the content.

Landing page

Fictional example: the header of a page offering a quote template to download.

Read through the AIDA framework, the “after” version attracts with its heading (Attention), details the content (Interest), shows the use with the completed example (Desire) and reduces the effort of clicking (Action).

Email subject line and button

Fictional example, built with the PAS method for an email sent to subscribers.

A before / after cannot be judged by eye. On a real website, the rewritten version is tested against the old one, with comparable traffic, on a metric set in advance: click-through, sign-up or conversion rate. The conversion rate optimization approach describes how to run this test.

What are the limits of persuasive writing?

Commercial persuasion has a legal limit: deception. The European Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices regulates two levers that are tempting in copywriting: urgency and disguised content.

Under its Article 6, a practice is misleading if it contains false information. It is also misleading if its overall presentation deceives the average consumer, even when each piece of information is accurate. Clever wording can therefore deceive without lying.

Its Annex I lists practices banned in all circumstances. Two directly concern writing:

• falsely stating that a product will only be available for a very limited time, to obtain an immediate decision (point 7);
• passing off content paid for by the trader as editorial without making this clear: the undisclosed advertorial (point 11).

In France, language also matters. The law of August 4, 1994, known as the Toubon law, makes French mandatory in “any written, spoken or audiovisual advertising” (Article 2). The French Ministry of Culture specifies that registered trademarks and slogans are exempt. Before keeping an English tagline in France, check its status.

Copywriter: a profession in its own right

The copywriter, whom Onisep, the French public career information agency, presents under the name “concepteur-rédacteur”, writes a brand’s advertising and conversion copy, at an agency, in-house or freelance.

The Onisep job profile, published on May 29, 2026, sums up the role: translating a commercial strategy into a simple, strong and concise idea, for all media. It sets the minimum entry level at two years of higher education (bac + 2). Starting salaries begin at €2,000 gross per month, varying with location and status.

The Apec “Writer” job profile, modified on July 17, 2026, lists “copywriter” among its job titles. In the job offers published on Apec, the French executive employment agency, 80% of gross annual salaries range from €24k to €48k, with an average of €35k. These figures cover the writer profession in the broad sense, in offers aimed at managers and professionals.

As for background, Apec mentions a “desired” degree from bac + 2/3 to bac + 5 (two to five years of higher education). Two years of experience are frequently required, but some positions remain open to recent graduates.