The Five Stages of Market Awareness
Match your headline strategy to exactly how aware your prospect is of your product
Schwartz identifies five distinct stages of market awareness, each separated by a psychological wall. The stage your prospect occupies determines what your headline should and should not say. A headline that works at one stage will fail completely at another. The five stages range from Most Aware (knows your product, knows what it does, just needs a price push) down to Completely Unaware (does not know they have the desire or need, and must be led into it through identification).
At Stage 1 (Most Aware), you simply name the product and offer a bargain price. At Stage 2 (Product-Aware but not yet wanting), you display the product name and use the headline to point out superiority. At Stage 3 (Desire-Aware), you name the desire or solution in your headline because the prospect knows what they want but not that your product exists. At Stage 4 (Problem-Aware), you name the need and its solution. At Stage 5 (Completely Unaware), you cannot mention price, product, function, or desire -- you must use an identification headline that echoes an emotion or attitude to call your market together.
This framework is critical because it prevents the most common headline mistake: using the wrong type of appeal for the market's current state. Each stage demands progressively more creative solutions and pays the copy writer proportionally more for their skill.
- Each awareness stage is separated from others by a psychological wall that determines what the headline must say
- A headline that works at one stage will fail completely at a different stage
- The headline's only job is to stop the prospect and compel him to read the second sentence
- As you move down the awareness scale, progressively more creativity is required and the copy writer contributes more value
- The headline never needs to sell, mention the product, or even mention the main appeal -- it just needs to flag down the prospect
- Markets do not stand still; they move through awareness stages over time, requiring new approaches
- Determine Your Market's Current Stage of AwarenessAsk: Does my prospect know my product by name and want it (Stage 1)? Know my product but not yet want it (Stage 2)? Know what they want but not know my product exists (Stage 3)? Have a need but not know the connection to my product (Stage 4)? Or are they completely unaware of the desire or need (Stage 5)?Pro tipResearch this through customer interviews, market data, competitive analysis, and split-testing. Do not guess -- the wrong stage assignment will doom your headline.WarningMost copy writers overestimate their market's awareness. When in doubt, assume a lower stage.
- Apply the Correct Headline Strategy for That StageStage 1: Name product + bargain price. Stage 2: Display product name + headline showing superiority (reinforce desire, sharpen image, introduce proof, announce new mechanism, eliminate limitations, or change image). Stage 3: Name the desire and/or its solution in the headline. Stage 4: Name the need and/or its solution. Stage 5: Use an identification headline that echoes an emotion, attitude, or shared experience -- mention nothing about the product.Pro tipFor Stage 5 headlines, the prospect must identify with your headline before he can buy from it. It must be his headline, his problem, his state of mind.WarningNever use a Stage 1 approach (price/product name) when your market is at Stage 3 or below. It will be invisible to them.
- Build the Bridge From Headline to ProductFor Stages 3-5, the body copy must build a steady progression of logical images: from identification with the headline, to growing awareness of the problem/desire, to realization that a solution exists, to inevitable focusing of that desire onto your product. Each paragraph must compel the reader to read the next one.Pro tipThe further down the awareness scale, the more paragraphs you need before mentioning your product. In Stage 5 ads, the product may not appear until halfway through or later.
- Track Awareness Shifts and AdaptMonitor your market's awareness over time. Markets naturally move through stages as competitors advertise, products become known, and desires evolve. What worked last year may fail this year because the market has shifted stages. Continuously recalibrate your headline approach.Pro tipWhen your response rates start declining with no other obvious cause, check whether your market has moved to a new awareness stage. This is often the hidden reason ads stop working.WarningYou never step in the same river twice. No market ever stands still. A headline approach that becomes outdated must be replaced, not amplified.
In the early 20th century, women's deodorant could not be advertised directly -- the very idea of female perspiration was socially unacceptable. A direct statement of the product's function would be rejected and never published. The copywriter solved this Stage 5 problem by starting with a universally accepted image: 'Within the Curve of a Woman's Arm -- A frank discussion of a subject too often avoided.' The ad began with poetry about a woman's arm, then gradually led into the actual problem.
The U.S. School of Music needed to sell correspondence piano lessons to a broader market than just people who already wanted to learn piano. Instead of a Stage 3 headline like 'Play Real Tunes in Five Days,' they created a Stage 5 narrative headline projecting an ultimate triumph: social admiration and surprise. The reader identifies with the desire for respect and recognition, not with the desire to play piano.
Schwartz discovered this framework through his decades of mail-order testing, where he could precisely measure the response rates of different headline approaches against the same market. He observed that markets naturally evolve through these stages, and that previously successful approaches would stop working as awareness shifted -- not because the copy got worse, but because the market moved to a new stage.