AIDA Model.

The model is attributed to the American advertising pioneer Elias St. Elmo Lewis, who formulated it for sales conversations at the end of the 19th century. The idea: a message first has to win attention, then arouse interest, turn that into desire and finally lead to action. If one stage is missing, the chain breaks.

Online, AIDA translates directly to a landing page. Attention: a headline that hits the visitor's problem. Interest: concrete information on how the offer solves that problem. Desire: evidence, examples, before-and-after, prices that reduce uncertainty. Action: a clear call to action such as 'Request a quote', clearly visible and without unnecessary form fields.

An example of a search ad for a locksmith: Attention, 'Locked out in Zurich?'. Interest, 'On site in 30 minutes, opening without damage'. Desire, 'Fixed price before work begins, 7 days a week, 24 hours'. Action, 'Call now'. Four lines, four stages. Important: every statement has to be true, otherwise the ad wins clicks and loses trust. (Illustrative example.)

The criticism of the model: it assumes a straight path that rarely exists in reality. People jump between the stages, compare, postpone and come back through a different channel. For planning a single ad or page, AIDA remains useful; for the whole path to a purchase, the customer journey is the more fitting picture. Extensions such as AIDAS add a fifth stage, Satisfaction. Landing pages can be built on the same pattern, as conversion rate optimisation shows; the same applies to ad copy in Google Ads, only in very short form.