Online Copywriting Courses
Copywriting Research & Strategy Course
Most copy that flops, flops before a word is written. This copywriting strategy course teaches the research and targeting decisions that make the writing practically do itself.
- 6 Modules
- 42 Lessons
- 8.5 hrs
- Certificate of completion
- 100% online
Copywriting course01of 6
Industry recognised certifications with
OpenAI
Anthropic
HubSpot
Google
W3C- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- HubSpot
- Google
- W3C
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- HubSpot
- Google
- W3C
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- HubSpot
- Google
- W3C
Overview
A Practical Online Copywriting Strategy Course
Learn The Strategy Behind Copy That Sells
The Copywriting Research & Strategy Course is the first of our six copywriting courses, and the one that decides whether the rest work. Before frameworks, headlines or hooks, you learn the decisions the legends made first: voice of customer research, pain and desire, Eugene Schwartz's awareness ladder and market sophistication, Gary Halbert's starving crowd and the one big idea. It sits alongside our online digital marketing courses as the natural copywriting course for beginners.
Why does it matter? Because almost every piece of copy that flops, flops here, long before anyone writes a headline. Wrong reader, wrong pain, wrong claim for the market. This copywriting training fixes all of that upstream, then pulls it together into a one-page strategic spine that makes the writing feel like filling in the blanks. When you're ready, How To Sell With Words turns your strategy into persuasive copy.
Who It's For
Who This Copywriting Course Is For
- Complete beginners who want to learn copywriting online, starting with strategy
- Business owners who write their own website, emails and adverts
- Marketers whose copy reads beautifully but somehow never sells
- Anyone who stares at a blank page with no idea where to start
🚧
The problem it solves
Almost every piece of copy that flops, flops before a word is written: wrong reader, wrong pain, wrong claim for the market.
🎯
What you'll be able to do
Research any market, place your reader on the awareness ladder and build a one-page strategic spine that makes writing easy.
⭐
Best for
Beginners, and writers whose copy reads beautifully but doesn't sell.
What You'll Learn
What You'll Learn On This Copywriting Course
- 1Foundations of CopywritingWhat copywriting actually is — and why most people get it wrong before lunch on day one
- 2Know Your Reader — Market Research & Voice of CustomerThe unglamorous work that the highest-paid writers swear is 80% of the job
- 3Targeting — Pain, Desire, Emotion & MarketWhere you learn to press the precise buttons that make a reader unable to look away
- 4Awareness — Meeting the Reader Where They Are (Eugene Schwartz)The Schwartz framework that, on its own, separates copy that converts from copy that confuses
- 5Market Sophistication — How Many Times Have They Heard It? (Eugene Schwartz)The second Schwartz framework — the one that explains why claims that used to print money suddenly stop working
- 6Mass Desire & The Big Idea — The Engine of Every Great Piece (Schwartz, Collier & Ogilvy)Where strategy crystallises into the one idea your whole campaign hangs on
Course Content
Inside The Copywriting Research & Strategy Course — Every Module
All 6 modules and 42 lessons, with a taste of what each one hides. Click any module to open it up.
1Module 1 — Foundations of Copywriting
What copywriting actually is — and why most people get it wrong before lunch on day one.
Lesson 1.1 — What Copywriting Really Is
- Why “good writing” and “good copy” are almost opposites — and which one of them actually pays your rent.
- The single mental shift that separates a copywriter from someone who just types words in a row.
- What you're really selling on every page (here's a clue — it was never the product).
Lesson 1.2 — How People Actually Buy
- The slightly embarrassing truth about why humans hand over money — and no, it isn't logic.
- The split-second decision your reader makes before they've read a single word of yours.
- Why the calm, rational, comparison-shopping buyer is a myth that's quietly costing you sales.
Lesson 1.3 — The Anatomy of Persuasive Copy
- The hidden skeleton sitting inside every piece of copy that's ever sold anything, anywhere.
- The handful of jobs every sales message must do — skip one, and watch the whole thing fall over.
- How to look at a dud sales page and spot exactly why it isn't converting, in under a minute.
2Module 2 — Know Your Reader — Market Research & Voice of Customer
The unglamorous work that the highest-paid writers swear is 80% of the job.
Lesson 2.1 — Why Research Decides Your Copy
- The reason the best copywriters spend more time reading than writing — and why it pays so well.
- Why “I'll just write it off the top of my head” is the most expensive sentence in the business.
- The myth of the “naturally gifted” writer, and what's really going on behind the curtain.
Lesson 2.2 — What to Hunt For (and Who to Target)
- The exact things to go looking for in your market — most people don't even know to search.
- Why aiming at “everyone” is the fastest way to persuade absolutely no one.
- The one person you should be writing to — and how finding them makes the words easy.
Lesson 2.3 — The Research Goldmines — Where to Find It
- The free, public places your customers are already confessing their deepest frustrations.
- The goldmine hiding in your competitors' worst reviews (and why you should be grinning).
- Where to dig for the exact words your buyers use — so your copy reads like their own thoughts.
Lesson 2.4 — Asking Directly — Questions, Surveys & Interviews
- The handful of questions that pull buried buying triggers straight out of a customer's mouth.
- The survey question that quietly reveals what people will actually pay for — not what they say.
- Why the way you ask decides whether you get gold or get politely useless answers.
Lesson 2.5 — Organising the Gold — Your Research Toolkit
- The simple system for turning a chaotic pile of research into copy that writes itself.
- How the pros file away “swipe-able” customer language so it's there the second they need it.
- The difference between hoarding research and actually being able to use it.
Lesson 2.6 — Finding the Real Problem & Reading the Market
- Why the problem your customer says they have is almost never the one they'll pay to fix.
- How to read a market's mood and meet it — instead of shouting the wrong thing loudly.
- The buried, deeper problem underneath the obvious one — and why that's where the money is.
Lesson 2.7 — From Research to Copy — Synthesis & Process
- The exact bridge from “a folder full of notes” to “a first draft,” step by quiet step.
- How to know when you've done enough research — and when you're just hiding from writing.
- The repeatable copywriting process that takes the terror out of the blank page, forever.
3Module 3 — Targeting — Pain, Desire, Emotion & Market
Where you learn to press the precise buttons that make a reader unable to look away.
Lesson 3.1 — Why Pain Pulls Hardest & the Pain Dump
- Why pain out-pulls pleasure almost every time — and how to use that without being cruel.
- The “pain dump” exercise that hands you more hooks than you'll know what to do with.
- The reason readers will sit through a long page about their problem but skim one about your product.
Lesson 3.2 — The Five-Question Pain Filter
- The five questions that sort a “meh” pain from one a reader will pay anything to escape.
- How to tell, before you write a word, whether a pain is even worth building copy around.
- The filter that stops you wasting a brilliant page on a problem nobody really cares about.
Lesson 3.3 — Pressing the Pain & Leading With It
- How far to twist the knife — and the exact point where agitation tips into off-putting.
- Why leading with the pain (not the promise) hooks the right reader in the first line.
- The subtle art of making a reader feel seen rather than attacked.
Lesson 3.4 — Pain vs Desire & Selling the Identity
- When to lead with the wound and when to lead with the dream — and how to know which.
- Why people don't buy products, they buy a version of themselves — and how to sell that.
- The identity shift hiding inside your offer that's worth more than every feature combined.
Lesson 3.5 — The Desire Process
- The step-by-step way to take a faint “that'd be nice” and stoke it into a real craving.
- Why most copy describes the destination but forgets to make the reader ache to be there.
- How to channel a desire that already exists instead of trying to manufacture one (you can't).
Lesson 3.6 — Worked Desire & Desire-Matched CTAs
- A desire built from scratch in front of you, line by line, so you can steal the moves.
- Why a “buy now” button that doesn't match the desire you built will kill the sale stone dead.
- The trick to making your call to action feel like the obvious next step, not a sudden demand.
Lesson 3.7 — The Emotion Lives in the Problem
- Where the real emotion in any piece is actually hiding (almost everyone looks in the wrong place).
- Why “logical” copy leaves money on the table — even for “rational” B2B buyers.
- How to find the feeling underneath the facts, and put it back into your copy.
Lesson 3.8 — Choosing the Emotion Precisely
- Why “make them feel something” is useless advice — and what to do instead.
- The specific emotion that sells your thing — and how picking the wrong one quietly repels buyers.
- How a single, precisely-chosen feeling can carry an entire sales message.
Lesson 3.9 — Deploying Emotion Through the Piece
- Where to raise the emotional temperature and where to cool it — the rhythm that holds a reader.
- The “emotional rollercoaster” the masters build on purpose, and how to lay the track.
- Why flat, even-toned copy is forgettable copy — and the fix.
Lesson 3.10 — The Starving Crowd
- The Gary Halbert question that's worth more than any clever headline you'll ever write.
- Why the market matters more than the copy — and what that means for where you point your copywriting skills.
- How to spot a “starving crowd” before you write, so the words barely have to work.
Lesson 3.11 — Qualifying the Demand
- How to tell hungry buyers from tyre-kickers — before you waste a campaign on the wrong one.
- The difference between a market that wants and a market that will actually pay.
- Why some red-hot-looking niches are quietly impossible to sell to.
Lesson 3.12 — A-Pile Copy, Niching & Reading the Market
- The “A-pile” test that decides whether your copy gets read or binned in half a second.
- Why niching down feels terrifying and makes you far more money — at the same time.
- How to read a market so well that you're saying what they're already thinking.
4Module 4 — Awareness — Meeting the Reader Where They Are (Eugene Schwartz)
The Schwartz framework that, on its own, separates copy that converts from copy that confuses.
Lesson 4.1 — The Awareness Ladder
- The five-rung ladder that decides whether your reader is ready to be sold — or ready to bolt.
- Why pitching a hard sell to the wrong rung is like proposing on the first date.
- The most expensive mistake in copywriting, and the single idea that prevents it.
Lesson 4.2 — Stage One: The Unaware Reader
- How to sell to someone who doesn't yet know they have a problem (and won't admit it if you ask).
- The sideways opening that gets a stranger nodding before they realise they're being sold to.
- Why this is the hardest reader to win — and the most profitable when you crack it.
Lesson 4.3 — Stage Two: The Problem-Aware Reader
- What to say to a reader who feels the pain but has no idea a solution exists.
- The exact moment to introduce your fix — too early and you lose them, too late and they wander.
- How to be the one who finally names what they've been suffering through.
Lesson 4.4 — Stage Three: The Solution-Aware Reader
- How to stand out to a reader who knows solutions exist but has never heard of yours.
- The one thing you must prove before this reader will even consider you.
- Why “we're the best” is the weakest possible thing to say here — and what works instead.
Lesson 4.5 — Stage Four: The Product-Aware Reader
- What's really stopping a reader who already knows your product but hasn't bought.
- The specific doubts living in this reader's head, and how to dissolve them one by one.
- How to tip a “maybe later” into a “yes, now” without a discount.
Lesson 4.6 — Stage Five: The Most-Aware Reader
- The shortest, easiest sales copy you'll ever write — if you know what this reader actually needs.
- Why over-selling to a ready buyer can actually talk them out of it.
- The tiny nudge that turns a warm prospect into a paying customer.
Lesson 4.7 — Putting Awareness to Work
- How to diagnose any reader's awareness stage in seconds — and pick your angle instantly.
- The way a single offer needs different copy for different rungs of the ladder.
- The cheat sheet that makes “where do I even start this page?” disappear.
5Module 5 — Market Sophistication — How Many Times Have They Heard It? (Eugene Schwartz)
The second Schwartz framework — the one that explains why claims that used to print money suddenly stop working.
Lesson 5.1 — Market Sophistication: How Much Has the Market Already Heard?
- Why the exact same claim can mint millions one year and get ignored the next.
- The five stages of a market's “been there, heard that” — and how to read which one you're in.
- The reason your competitors' tired claims are secretly your biggest opportunity.
Lesson 5.2 — Stage One: First to Market
- The dead-simple claim that works like magic — but only if you got there first.
- How to recognise a virgin market, and why the writing is almost embarrassingly easy.
- Why most writers never get to enjoy this stage (and how to spot it when you do).
Lesson 5.3 — Stage Two: Enlarge the Claim
- What to do when your basic claim stops landing — and bigger, bolder takes over.
- How far you can push a promise before the market stops believing it.
- The escalation game your competitors are playing, whether they know it or not.
Lesson 5.4 — Stage Three: The New Mechanism
- The move that resurrects a tired market: a fresh “how” the reader hasn't heard a thousand times.
- Why the mechanism — not the promise — becomes the whole sale at this stage.
- How a new mechanism makes an old, doubted claim suddenly believable again.
Lesson 5.5 — Stage Four: Elaborate the Mechanism
- What to do when even the new mechanisms start to blur together in the reader's mind.
- How to make your mechanism feel bigger, faster, easier — without changing the offer.
- The art of out-mechanism-ing a market that's heard every angle.
Lesson 5.6 — Stage Five: Identify with the Reader
- The final stage, where claims are exhausted and connection becomes the only thing that sells.
- Why, in a burnt-out market, who you are beats anything you could promise.
- How identity and belonging quietly out-sell every feature when everyone's heard it all.
Lesson 5.7 — Putting Sophistication to Work
- How to place any market on the sophistication scale before you write a line.
- The way awareness and sophistication stack together to hand you your exact angle.
- The strategic move that lets you sidestep a crowded market entirely.
6Module 6 — Mass Desire & The Big Idea — The Engine of Every Great Piece (Schwartz, Collier & Ogilvy)
Where strategy crystallises into the one idea your whole campaign hangs on.
Lesson 6.1 — Mass Desire: You Channel It, You Don't Create It
- The Schwartz truth that humbles every clever marketer: you can't create desire, only channel it.
- Where the real force in your market already lives — and how to point it at your offer.
- Why trying to talk someone into wanting something is a fool's errand (and what to do instead).
Lesson 6.2 — Entering the Conversation Already in the Reader's Mind
- The Collier secret: join the conversation already running in your reader's head.
- How to start a piece so it feels less like an ad and more like you finishing their thought.
- Why the best opening line was never written at the reader — it was written from inside them.
Lesson 6.3 — The One Big Idea
- What a true “big idea” is — and why a clever headline without one falls flat.
- How a single, fresh, gripping idea can carry an entire campaign on its back.
- The difference between a gimmick and a big idea (one sells for years, one for a week).
Lesson 6.4 — The Rule of One
- One reader, one idea, one promise, one action — and why breaking this rule dilutes everything.
- How saying less in your copy reliably sells more.
- The discipline that turns a scattered, busy page into a single irresistible arrow.
Lesson 6.5 — The Unique Mechanism
- The “secret sauce” angle that makes your offer feel like the only one of its kind.
- How a unique mechanism justifies a premium price and silences “why are you more expensive?”
- Why every offer has a unique mechanism hiding in it — and how to dig yours out.
Lesson 6.6 — The Strategic Spine: Bringing It All Together
- How research, targeting, awareness, sophistication and the big idea snap into one copywriting strategy.
- The one-page “spine” that makes the actual writing feel like filling in the blanks.
- Why writers who build this spine never stare at a blank page again.
Packages
Which Package Is The Copywriting Research & Strategy Course In?
One Of 6 Online Copywriting Courses
You'll find the Copywriting Research & Strategy course inside these packages — or take it on its own as a single online copywriting course.
Learning Options
Flexible Online Learning & Friendly Dedicated Tutors
Choose between self-paced syllabus study, live weekly group coaching sessions, or intensive coaching with built-in career opportunities.
Online Self-Paced
Learn on your own schedule
Develop industry-leading skills entirely on your own schedule. Enjoy permanent access to pristine video guides and professional tutor review workflows.
Includes
- Your chosen course package(s)
- Professional, fun and easy-to-use learning platform
- Student support 7 days a week
- Tutor-marked assessments
- Official certification pathways
Most Popular
Blended Learning
Self-paced + live group coaching
Get the best of both worlds. Learn at your own pace while joining live sessions and workshops to stay on track.
Everything in Self-Paced, plus
- Lifetime access to help with real work after you qualify
- A free monthly live workshop on broad marketing strategy
- Private community access for peer support
- Voice channel for networking & work sessions
Coaching Intensive
Maximum support, tailored to you
The ultimate accelerated path. Partner directly with dedicated marketing experts to map bespoke campaigns and secure direct agency placements.
Everything in Blended, plus
- 2× live weekly intensive coaching sessions with our founder & expert coaches
- Exclusive access to a premium space for Coaching Intensive members
- Priority access to support, our founder and coaches
- Real-life job opportunities
- Real-life networking opportunities
Packages
Choose Your Copywriting Course Package
Bundle up and save versus buying courses individually. Pick the learning style that suits you — switch below to see each price.
Essentials
The core craft every copywriter needs to start selling with words.
£299£447
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
3 courses included
- 01. Research & Strategy
- 02. How To Sell With Words
- 03. Storytelling & Connection
- 04. Conviction
- 05. AI
- 06. Advanced Techniques
Most Popular
Elite
Everything in Essentials, plus Storytelling & Connection.
£399£596
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
4 courses included
- 01. Research & Strategy
- 02. How To Sell With Words
- 03. Storytelling & Connection
- 04. Conviction
- 05. AI
- 06. Advanced Techniques
Ultimate
Every copywriting course we make — the complete, no-gaps arsenal.
£499£894
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
All 6 courses
- 01. Research & Strategy
- 02. How To Sell With Words
- 03. Storytelling & Connection
- 04. Conviction
- 05. AI
- 06. Advanced Techniques
Struck-through prices show the equivalent value bought separately — courses at £149 each, plus the live coaching on Blended and Intensive — so every package saves you the same amount on all three tiers. Prices are one-off, per package.
Official Certificate Pathways
Get official certifications and bonus resources from the likes of Google, HubSpot, Anthropic and more to boost your CV and accelerate your career.
99.4%Pass Rate
5★Student rating
Hundreds ofstudents worldwide
On-going career &business support
Job opportunities& referrals
Bonus resourcesIncluded with your course
How It Works
How We Build Our Copywriting Courses
Each academy program is structured to pack pure actionable utility, combining theoretical curriculum, verified demos, and certified tutor feedback.
01
Spec Content
Professionally written lessons that are easy to understand, fun to learn, and jam-packed with valuable information.
02
Knowledge Checks
Test your skills after every lesson with exciting & challenging multiple-choice questionnaires.
03
Official Certifications
Expand your knowledge further with structured pathways to official certifications from industry-recognised leaders like Google, HubSpot, and more.
04
On-Demand Support
Messaging, community, group Q&As or Coaching Intensive — we look after everyone.
05
Marked Assessments
Do what we teach, get marked with feedback, and earn a real certificate at the end of it all.
We're Making Education Fun Again
Our Copywriting Research & Strategy Course is built like a game. You jump in for one quick lesson, and an hour later you're still going: keeping your streak alive, earning XP and unlocking achievements as you run your first pain dump, place readers on the awareness ladder and sketch the strategic spine for your next campaign. We designed it to get you hooked on purpose, because the more you want to come back, the faster you finish and the sooner your copy starts pulling its weight.
XPEarn as you learn
AchievementsUnlock your next win
LevelsKeep levelling up
FAQs
Copywriting Research & Strategy Course — Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers to the questions people ask before they enrol on this course.
More About Our Online Copywriting Courses
Is the Copywriting Research & Strategy Course online and self-paced?
Yes. It's delivered 100% online and it's fully self-paced, so you can learn copywriting strategy from anywhere in the UK or further afield and fit lessons around your week. You keep lasting access to the materials, get student support 7 days a week and join a private community of fellow learners.
Is this a good copywriting course for beginners?
Yes, it's the natural starting point. You don't need any writing experience or marketing background. It comes first in our copywriting training because it teaches the thinking that happens before the writing: what copy really is, how people actually buy, how to research a market and how to aim a message. If you can read, take notes and get curious about people, you're ready.
How long is the Research & Strategy course?
There are 42 lessons across 6 modules, adding up to about 8.5 hours of learning. Because it's self-paced, you set the speed. Do one lesson a day and you'll be through it in six weeks; clear a couple of modules over a weekend and you'll finish much sooner.
Which copywriting packages include this course?
All three. Essentials (3 courses) is £299 Online Self-Paced, £499 Blended or £1,299 Coaching Intensive. Elite (4 courses) is £399, £599 or £1,399. Ultimate (all 6 courses) is £499, £699 or £1,499. Every package also includes How To Sell With Words and Conviction, so your strategy flows straight into the writing.
Will I get a certificate for the research and strategy course?
Not with the standalone course. On the Blended and Coaching Intensive learning styles of a package, you complete tutor-marked assessments and earn a certificate of completion from The Legacy Room. Official certificate pathways with the likes of Google, HubSpot and Anthropic are also offered as bonus resources.
How much is the research and strategy course on its own?
£149, with instant access to all 42 lessons. The standalone course gives you the learning materials only; tutor-marked assessments, tutoring and certificates aren't included. If you want those, or plan to take more than one course, the Essentials package starts at £299 for three courses, including this one.
What does this cover that most copywriting courses skip?
Most training jumps straight to formulas and headlines. This one covers the strategy underneath them: voice of customer research, the pain dump and five-question pain filter, Schwartz's awareness ladder and five stages of market sophistication, Halbert's starving crowd, mass desire, the rule of one and the unique mechanism. It all comes together in a one-page strategic spine you write from.
Which course should I take after Research & Strategy?
How To Sell With Words. It takes the strategy you build here and turns it into words using the classic persuasion frameworks (PAS, AIDA, BAB, the 4 Ps, QUEST and NESB), then teaches the headlines, hooks and leads that win attention and keep it. In the full sequence, Storytelling & Connection and then Conviction follow.
Get Started
Download The Full Copywriting Curriculum
Get the complete 141-lesson breakdown across all 6 copywriting courses — every module, every lesson — sent straight to your inbox. Or enquire and we'll help you choose the right copywriting course or package.
