dry-three-copy-tests git:20261002.46ac0a1A

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---
name: dry-three-copy-tests
description: "Write and revise marketing copy with Harry Dry's three tests for concrete imagery, checkable claims, and brand specific truth. Use for ads, headlines, landing pages, emails, and copy critiques."
---

# Harry Dry's Three Copy Tests

Based on Harry Dry's public method. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Harry Dry.

## When to use

Use this skill to write or critique copy whose job is to make a particular reader understand an offer and take a next step. It is especially useful when an ad, headline, landing page, email, or call to action sounds polished but could belong to almost any company. Apply the three tests to the main selling lines, then check whether the whole message makes a believable case. [S1][S2][S3]

## Procedure

### 1. Find the sentence worth writing

1. Identify the intended reader, the action the copy should prompt, and the one benefit the reader would care about. Record the product's actual mechanism, an observable customer outcome, the strongest available proof, and the main objection. If those facts are missing, ask for them or work from supplied evidence; a clever line cannot repair an empty proposition. Dry describes the writing problem as knowing whom you address, having something to say, and saying it well. [S1][S3]

2. Collect language from customers before inventing a voice. Look for repeated descriptions of the problem, specific moments of frustration, and words customers use for the desired result. Prefer an actual customer phrase when it is clear and accurate. Dry's Design Academy example shows how recurring answers to one question can replace a generic description with copy that addresses a recognizable person. [S4][S5]

3. Write a plain working sentence that says what the offer does for that reader. If the product itself is unusual, explain it directly. If it looks like several alternatives, look for a real hook in an objection, a distinctive audience, a mechanism, or a result. Keep the promise legible before adding wit or rhythm. [S3][S6]

### 2. Test whether a reader can visualize it

4. Read the sentence and close your eyes. Name the object, person, action, place, or moment it makes you picture. If you can only name a category such as growth, transformation, quality, or convenience, mark the line as abstract. Dry's first test treats a vivid mental image as a way to make a sentence stick. [S1]

5. Zoom in on each abstract word by asking, "What exactly would I see if this happened?" Move from a broad benefit to an action or scene, then to a concrete detail that belongs in that scene. A product capacity can become a familiar thing a person carries or uses; a vague fitness promise can become a route from a couch to a race. Stop when the reader can picture the outcome without needing to decode the industry term. [S1]

6. Choose a detail that helps the sale, not a random image added for color. The object or scene should show the product in use, make a benefit tangible, or expose a customer problem. On a landing page, pair the line with the real product or the product in action when a visual is available. Decorative stock imagery cannot make an abstract promise concrete. [S3]

7. Beware vivid copy that conceals the offer. Ask a reader unfamiliar with the product to say what is being sold and what changes for them. If they can picture the scene but cannot answer, add a simple explanatory line or replace the image. Dry's landing page standard is rapid understanding of the value, followed by a more specific explanation of how it is delivered. [S3]

### 3. Test whether the claim can be falsified

8. Ask what observation could show the sentence to be true or false. A claim such as "world class service" has no clear test; a claim about a defined response time, number of steps, ingredient, or visible action does. When the line has no possible counterexample, replace the label with a fact, a bounded outcome, or a concrete example. Dry uses falsifiability to reject broad, uncheckable claims. [S1][S2]

9. Trace every number, comparison, testimonial, and product promise to supplied evidence. Check the unit, time period, audience, and conditions. Do not turn an aspiration into a measured result or invent precision to make a line pass the test. If proof is unavailable, narrow the claim to what can honestly be observed, describe the mechanism, or flag the proof gap for the user. Dry's advice to avoid exaggeration and use specific claims depends on those claims being real. [S2][S6]

10. Make the proof visible near the promise. A customer example, product demonstration, review count, or feature that explains the outcome can give a reader a reason to believe. Pick proof that supports this exact claim; a large but unrelated metric does not do the job. On a landing page, let the title promise value, the subtitle explain the mechanism, and nearby proof substantiate it. [S3]

11. Distinguish a concrete claim from a persuasive one. A feature specification may be checkable but mean little to the reader. Translate it into the action or result the reader gets while preserving the factual basis. Dry's value based messaging asks what the product does for the person, and his call to value makes the next step point to that result. [S2][S3]

### 4. Test whether nobody else can say it

12. Put a competitor's name above the line. If the sentence still sounds natural and truthful, look for a truth tied to this product, its customers, process, evidence, scope, or point of view. "Nobody else can say it" is a test of earned specificity, not a request to declare the brand unique without evidence. Dry contrasts copy that any advertiser could sign with copy grounded in a particular brand's reality. [S1]

13. Look for a useful difference in the facts already gathered. It might be who actually uses the product, an unusual contrast among its users, a specific problem it solves, a choice the company makes, or an objection it can answer unusually well. State that difference plainly. If no meaningful difference is documented, surface the gap and write the clearest supportable line rather than manufacturing a proprietary claim. [S1][S3]

14. Check whether the distinction matters to this reader. A quirky fact about the company may pass the competitor test while doing nothing to help a decision. Tie the distinctive detail back to the reader's desired outcome or objection. Dry's copy advice keeps the selling purpose ahead of showing off the writer's cleverness. [S3][S6]

### 5. Rewrite and deliver

15. Draft several lines with different concrete angles, then score each important line against the three questions: Can I picture it? Could evidence prove or disprove it? Would it become false or odd under a competitor's name? A line that fails all three needs a new idea, not a synonym swap. A line that passes one or two tests may need a supporting sentence, a better fact, or a sharper choice of scene. Prefer three yes answers for the main promise when the available evidence permits them. [S1]

16. Edit with an eraser. Remove inflated adjectives, vague adverbs, jargon, and stock landing page verbs that carry no fact. Read the line aloud as if telling one person across a table. If it sounds like a sales announcement rather than a person, use the customer's words and a more natural sentence. Preserve personality when it helps the reader remember a truthful point. [S5][S6]

17. Check the copy in its actual context. A headline must be understandable with its subtitle and visual; a call to action should indicate the value of clicking; a longer page should make the opening promise concrete with features, objections, and proof. Do not treat a single striking sentence as a substitute for the rest of the sales case. [S2][S3]

18. Deliver the finished copy first, then a compact audit of the main line with the image it creates, the evidence behind its claim, and the fact that makes it specific to this offer. List any unsupported claim or missing differentiator as an open item. If the user asked only for final copy, keep that audit brief or omit it, but perform the checks internally. [S1][S2][S3]

## Illustration: a neighborhood tool library

This is an invented example. Suppose a local tool library lends equipment to members. Its draft headline is "Empowering sustainable home improvement." No person or action comes to mind, "empowering" has no clear pass or fail condition, and another tool library could say it. The agent asks for facts and learns that members can borrow a drill for seven days, but has no evidence for a claim about cost savings or environmental impact. [S1][S2]

An illustrative rewrite is: "Need a drill for one Saturday? Borrow ours for the week." The reader can picture a weekend job and a drill. The seven day loan can be checked against the library's terms. The line still needs a local or operational detail if nearby competitors offer the same loan, so the agent should inspect the actual offer before treating it as distinctive. A supporting line might name the neighborhood pickup point if that is true and useful to members. [S1][S3]

## Sources

1. [S1] David Perell, "Learn Copywriting in 76 Minutes - Harry Dry" (interview with Harry Dry), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUMjnmfsPeM
2. [S2] Harry Dry, "7 practical ways to write copy that converts," https://marketingexamples.com/copywriting/conversion
3. [S3] Harry Dry, "My step-by-step guide to landing pages that convert," https://marketingexamples.com/copywriting/guide
4. [S4] Harry Dry, "Let your customers write your copy for you," https://marketingexamples.com/copywriting/customers
5. [S5] Harry Dry, "My guide to conversational copywriting," https://marketingexamples.com/copywriting/conversational
6. [S6] Harry Dry, "17 tips for great copywriting," https://marketingexamples.com/copywriting/tips