Landers & Funnels — Cheat Sheet

The 3 dials that decide everything

Awareness (prospect): colder = more indirect lead, more education, bigger bill.
Sophistication (market): saturated = need new mechanism (Stage 3) or bigger claim (Stage 4) or identity/proof (Stage 5).
Demonstrability (offer): showable result (before/after) → skip mechanism, win on visual proof + identity.
Invisible result (e.g. face wash that makes other products work) → mechanism must carry the whole argument.
Units required = f(awareness, sophistication). Cold + sophisticated = long ad, long page, long VSL — forced, not stylistic.

Each surface has an attention cap: in-feed ad = low, clicked page = more, watched VSL = highest.
Never dump more units on a surface than its attention can hold — capacity collapses, units don't land.
Clicks are warming filters: a teaser spends curiosity + qualification units to hand the next page a warmer person.
Front-load: webinar/long-VSL-as-ad → thin page. Back-load: clickbait → VSL direct. Distribute: story ad → advertorial → VSL (SH default).
Failure 1 — overpay the bill: selling past the sale adds length that loses the already-sold. Match total to actual awareness.
Failure 2 — misplace units: 2,000-word benefit ads flop because in-feed capacity is gated by hook + story pull, not word count.
Long ads only work as STORY (continuous curiosity earns every word), never as 'longer = more selling.'

Lead TYPE = how you open, driven by awareness. Sophistication MOVE = claim level, driven by saturation. Choose independently, then combine.
Offer lead — lead with the deal. Most/Product aware, hottest, most direct.
Promise lead — lead with the big result. Product/Solution aware.
Problem-Solution — agitate then solve. Solution/Problem aware. Middle.
Secret — tease hidden info / curiosity gap. Problem aware.
Story lead — narrative, indirect. Unaware. Coldest. Can wrap ANY sophistication move (Story + Stage-3 mechanism works).
A Story lead can carry a fresh Stage-3 mechanism; don't conflate 'Story' with 'Stage 5.'
Proclamation lead — bold prediction or shocking claim. Problem-aware to Unaware, Stage 4. Sits between Secret and Story.

Value prop clear in 5 seconds: what, who for, why it matters. Fail = bounce.
Lead with specific pain/outcome, not features. USP front and center.
Put quick-hit proof above the fold: star ratings, review counts, trust logos, a number.
Offer-to-visitor match: page must confirm the ad/email/search intent immediately. Mismatch = bounce.
CTA copy = benefit-driven ('Get My Free Guide'), never 'Submit'; contrasting color that breaks the page scheme.
8-second hook formula for advertorials: [Benefit] + [Timeframe] + [Objection Handle].
Strip navigation and exit links; cut form fields to minimum — every link and field is a leak.

Under $50 = Direct Response: Headline → Quick Benefits → Trust → Problem → Solution → Proof → Offer.
$50-200 = Problem-Solution: Problem → Failed Solutions → Root Cause → Solution Bridge → Proof.
$200+ = Educational: Hook → Mechanism Dive → Solution Bridge → Comprehensive Proof.
Page length tracks awareness: Most Aware = short (just the deal); Unaware = longest (reveal problem first).
One primary CTA per page; repeat it at every decision point (after value props, proof, objection handling).
Single-column beats multi-column. Simplify before adding persuasion — removing friction wins more than adding elements.

Proof Pyramid, strongest first: Authority (named doctors, cited studies) > Statistics (92% noticed…) > User testimonials (the volume base).
Perfect testimonial = situation → struggle → discovery → skepticism → usage → transformation → current life.
Pre-empt objections in section headlines: 'Why Glucosamine Doesn't Work — And What Actually Does.'
4 objection types: Price (daily-cost breakdown), Time (quick/easy), Skepticism (why others fail + proof), Prior experience ('not your fault').
Feature → Advantage → Benefit → Deep Benefit: ask 'So what?' until you hit emotion.
Final CTA stack = button + guarantee + urgency + social proof + shipping info, together.
Mobile is 58%+ of traffic: 1-3 sentence paragraphs, 16px+ body, 44px+ tap targets, CTA near bottom of screen.
Page speed is a conversion lever: ~1s delay = ~7% CVR drop. Compress images, cut scripts, fix LCP before adding persuasion.
Pain amplification: Physical → Emotional → Life → Future impact — escalate the cost of inaction before the solution.

Optimize Earnings per Session (EpS) = CVR × AOV, not CVR alone. Discounting that tanks AOV is a trap.
Test in impact order: Headlines → Lead/above-fold → Hero image/video → CTA → Price presentation.
Test significantly different approaches, not word swaps; one variable at a time; wait for significance.
2% → 3% CVR = 50% more sales from the same spend. Small CVR gains compound at scale.
Two golden survey questions: 'What almost stopped you from buying?' (objections) and 'What made you buy?' (real USPs).
Mine customer language verbatim — they describe your value better than you do; put their words on the page.

Ad flopping despite long copy → it's not story-shaped; either shorten to a hook or rebuild as a cinematic-crisis narrative.
Don't know page length → check awareness: Unaware = longest, Most Aware = just the deal.
Page converts low → run the 5-second test and check offer-to-visitor match against the ad that drove the click.
Choosing an angle → pick lead type by how cold they are, sophistication move by how saturated the market is, then combine.
Result is showable → drop the mechanism, win on visual before/after + identity (TPS model).
CVR up but revenue flat → you're optimizing CVR not EpS; check what happened to AOV.