3 Writing Frameworks for High-Impact Intros

All copywriter tested and approved

Tired of readers clicking on your post, then clicking away without reading it?

It’s frustrating to spend hours working on the perfect post if nobody cares. You’re probably starting to wonder if this whole writing thing is worth it.

The problem is that you’re fumbling your intros.

I know, headlines are important. But headlines only get readers to click — your job as a writer isn’t done.

The intros to your posts (whether a social media post or a Medium story) are where you build trust with your reader. They’re still looking for a reason to click away, so immediately showing them why they should care is the best way to hold their interest.

Professional copywriters figured this out a long time ago. Lucky for us, their strategies work whether you’re writing a sales page or a blog post.

Let’s take a look at some of the best frameworks for writing your intros.

Problem, Agitation, Solution

The Problem, Agitation, Solution (PAS) Formula is one of my favorites.

Why? Because it works.

Everybody has problems. Everyone is looking for a solution to those problems. If you can provide a solution to a problem, you’ll have no issue gaining readers.

Here’s how it works:

• Open by acknowledging your reader’s problem (the one you plan to help them solve).
• Agitate the problem my highlighting the consequences.
• Hint at the solution you’re going to provide.

This is easier to understand with an example:

“Have you ever wanted something so badly you’d do anything to get it?

Chances are, the harder you tried to get a specific outcome, the further away it felt. The more you chased, the more they ran. The more you gripped, the more it slipped through your fingers.

This need to control every outcome in life — to always get what you want — increases your anxiety…”

It’s one of life’s ironies that you often have to detach from something to get it.

In this example, the problem is that the reader wants a specific outcome but can’t get it.”

Then I agitate the problem by talking about how the more they try, the less likely they are to get the result they want.

Finally, I hint a solution: detaching from what you want to get it.

I spend the rest of the post talking about how to detach from specific outcomes.

The PAS formula works because everyone has problems they want to fix.

The Three Nod Technique

If you can get your reader to agree with you once, they’ll keep reading for a few lines.

Do it three times and you’ll hook them until the end.

The Three Nod Technique is a series of three questions you ask in your intro. The goal is for your reader to respond “yes.”

Here’s an example from a recent post I wrote:

“Do you constantly struggle to communicate your thoughts clearly in writing?

Are you tired of readers losing interest before getting to the end?

Are you at a total loss for how to fix your problem?

You’re not alone.

Many writers, eager to impress readers with their cleverness, wait too long to get to the point.”

My target audience for this post was newer writers, so I was confident they’d answer “yes” to each of my opening questions.

The key here is to keep your questions simple. Don’t make them divisive or confusing — you’re aiming for agreement.

If your readers answers “no” to any of your questions, it will break the spell.

Future Pacing

This is the most advanced technique.

To write a future pacing intro correctly, you need to know your reader’s before and after state. That means you need to know:

• Their problems and challenges are before reading your post.
• Their ideal out after reading your post and implementing it.

You need to be able to describe your reader’s ideal outcome in vivid, concrete language. It should reflect what their lives will look like once their problem gets solved.

Here’s an example of an intro that uses future pacing:

“Imagine waking up on Monday morning, excited to go to work.

You walk into your kitchen, pour your coffee, eat your breakfast, and start your morning routine. After thirty minutes of meditation and journaling, you open your laptop to start your day.

In your email, you see five notifications about new customers who have paid you for your digital course overnight. You just made $5k while you were sleeping. Not bad.”

In this post, the reader is probably someone who doesn’t like their current job and wishes they could work from home and make money.

In a few lines, we walk through what their ideal morning would look like — from waking up to finding their overnight sales.

Future pacing can be effective, but it takes practice. I recommend mastering the PAS formula and the Three Nod Technique first.

Start With One Framework

Mastering your intros is an essential skill for holding your reader’s attention. Luckily, you can do it using some tried and true methods.

The most important thing is to understand your reader’s problem and how you can solve it for them. If you’re clear on those two things, you can write about pretty much anything you want.

The next time you sit down to write a post, pick one of these methods and try it. Then for your next post, try it again — but improve on it. Incremental improvement will benefit you more than trying to master all these frameworks at the same time.

Have fun writing!