This week’s series is written by Parker Worth—email copywriter and creator of Email 365. He helps entrepreneurs build an email list that earns $2–$5 per subscriber, every single month.
Full transparency:
I try to avoid saying the same thing as everyone else…but this framework?
It works.
Because it taps into human psychology so easily.
Some big wig marketers like Neil Patel use this framework with only 100 words. And yet it drives millions in sales. You can use this framework and write freaking 6-8 sentence emails. And still get sales.
What is it?
The ol’ P.A.S. framework.
Here’s how it works:
P: Start with the problem
The first thing you want to do is brainstorm the challenges, frustrations, and pains your target audience is facing.
Problems get attention. We’re wired to notice discomfort and look for a way out. That’s why starting with the problem works.
If you’ve been following along the last 2 days…
You’ve already completed this part of the framework!
You can get caught fast by running this Pain Finder prompt with Perplexity.AI or ChatGPT deep research. You’ll get the top 10 biggest problems your market is facing in minutes (if not seconds).
📍 Grab my full "Mad-Scientist" library of ChatGPT research prompts at the end of this email. These are the 15 prompts I use to keep a fresh list of painful problems and situations I can talk about in my daily emails.
Once you have your list of problems, read through them and see which one gives you inspiration.
You want to focus on the problems you’ve solved and you have the solution to. And if you’re feeling the evil writer’s block giving you mental paralysis? Write stories about people or businesses that solved the problem.
Which (pro tip here) you can simply reply to your AI chat:
“These are great. Can you provide stories about businesses or people solving these problems with a specific solution?
For context, I am a (job, person, business owner i.e. marketer) who is (performing action i.e writing an email about dogs)”
You’ll get a buttload of examples.
Congrats. Now you have a valuable idea because it’s around a relatable problem. And now you have examples of people that solved the problem. Be the bridge that connects the solution to your audience. They’ll love you for it.
But you’re not done yet.
A: Agitate the problem
Agitation is one of the most powerful forms of copywriting you can learn.
Get it right and you’ll hit the emotional hot buttons in your reader. Making them fork out their credit cards in desperate need of a solution.
But be careful…
If you get this wrong you’ll seem salesy, and even kinda like a jerk. I’ve seen many rookie email marketer’s spam fear based emails with agitation copied all over the place. In the short term? Yes they made sales. Now? They can’t get one sale from their list.
This next lesson is super important:
Write down the negative consequences of the problem.
Say you’re in the health niche. And you see that people have a problem with brain fog. They can’t focus at work…
What are the negatives of this? Flesh em’ out:
Lack of productivity
Losing money
Getting fired
Crashing your car on the way to work
Yadda yadda yadda….
See how that works? Share personal stories of people who still struggle with brain fog. Highlight their challenges and experiences. This makes the issue more relatable and real. The worse the consequences the better. Humans are stubborn and react to extremes. So you get extra credit for finding the extreme consequences and putting it into your copy.
Here’s an example I used for my client.
He’s in the fitness niche and sells fitness coaching to executives, CEOs, and business owners.
I used a story about Oscar Munoz who is the CEO of United Airlines. Oscar was a vegan triathlete who was in excellent shape for a 57 year old right?
Wrong.
Because just a couple months into starting as the CEO, he had a heart attack. And woke up to the news that he needed a heart transplant.
Do you see how powerful that is? I’m not lying, that's a real story about a real person that the target audience can relate to. This agitation made a lot of sales and got a lotta engagement.
Creating a sense of urgency is one of the best sales tricks out there. But you need to strike a balance between urgency and being dramatic or manipulative.
The solution?
Be honest and find stories or examples that actually happened.
Let’s keep going.
S: Provide a solution
The solution is where you offer the emotional payoff.
By using the past 2 steps you’ve caught attention and showed what’s at stake if your reader doesn’t take action.
Now you’ve gotta show them the way.
All you have to do in the solution is show you provide the pain killer. The medicine that removes the pain.
The best way is to show the benefits of your product or service. Highlight the positive results people can achieve by taking action. Make it easy for them.
And there you have it.
Problem. Agitate. Solve.
Let’s look at an example so you can see all 3 pieces working together.
Problem: Are you tired of spending hours each week on little tasks that should be automated?
Agitate: That time adds up. Consider the chances you're losing due to the stress of managing many small tasks at once.
Solution: With my new software you can automate those tasks. Freeing you time and energy to focus on what really matters.
See how simple this is?
It’s only 5 sentences.
And all it takes is 5-minutes to write.
Want help?
Here’s a prompt that turns ChatGPT into your PAS email writing partner:
You are an experienced direct response email marketing specialist. You've written thousands of high-converting emails and understand the psychology behind opens, clicks, and conversions.
But for this task, you're not here to write for me.
You're here to help me write with you.
I want to write a ready-to-send email using the PAS (Problem, Agitate, Solution) framework.
We’re doing this one step at a time.
At every step: Don’t write the full email for me (unless I ask).
Guide me with questions, examples, and suggestions so I can shape the message. Act like a writing partner—not an over-eager copy machine.
Ask me one question at a time.
Wait for my response before moving on.
# Here Are The Steps
Step 1: Outline:
- Answer guided questions to help me build the outline (collaborative)
Step 2: Expand Once the outline is ready, help me expand it step-by-step.
For each section:
- Ask follow-up questions
- Offer phrasing suggestions
- Wait for my input before writing anything full-length
Keep the tone plainspoken, punchy, and clear.
Got it?
If so, let's begin.
Start by asking me what I want to write about.
Send at least one of these emails every week and you’ll become a persuasion powerhouse in no time.
That’s all for today.
Catch ya tomorrow for Day 3 of the Email 365 series,
Parker
P.S. Want the “Mad-Scientist” research intelligence library?
I’m a nerd when it comes to doing research for my emails, so I put together a library of my best prompts specifically for Write With AI premium subscribers.
You can grab all 15 prompts here for FREE:
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