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 when marketing copy needs to help a particular reader understand an offer and take a next step. It suits both new drafts and revisions, especially polished sentences that hide the product behind abstractions or could fit almost any advertiser. The deliverable is finished copy accompanied, when useful, by a brief explanation of its imagery, evidence, and distinctive truth. [S1][S2]

Apply the tests most closely to the main selling promise. Supporting lines can explain the mechanism, substantiate the promise, and answer objections. A button or factual label need not carry an entire sales case. Adapt the scope to the requested channel and length; use this as a writing method rather than a requirement to redesign every page. [S3]

Before drafting, read the relevant sections of references/method.md. The examples illustrate decisions, not reusable claims. Source citations identify the public advice behind the method; they are never evidence that a user's product delivers a particular result.

Procedure

1. Define the assignment. Record the reader, channel, desired action, length, and reader's most important problem. Use the brief fields in templates/output-template.md. Choose one primary promise so the copy has a clear job; do not silently widen a headline request into a full campaign.
2. Gather usable facts. Inventory the actual offer, mechanism, constraints, proof, and objections. Separate supplied evidence from assumptions and missing information using references/method.md, section "Build the evidence base." Ask for a fact only when it changes the promise; otherwise draft within what is known.
3. Listen for customer language. Extract recurring frustrations and desired outcomes from supplied interviews, reviews, or support notes. Follow "Build the evidence base" in references/method.md. Preserve meaning without inventing testimonials or making one comment represent everyone. If no customer material exists, label audience assumptions. [S4]
4. Write a plain proposition. State what the reader gets and how the offer supplies it. Follow "Choose the selling angle" in references/method.md. Explain an unfamiliar product directly; for a familiar category, consider a supported objection, audience, or mechanism as the hook. [S3]
5. Find the visible moment. Replace abstract benefits with relevant objects, actions, or situations. Use "Test 1: Picture" in references/method.md, and compare the tool-library illustration in examples/worked-examples.md. Keep the scene connected to the offer rather than adding decoration.
6. Identify the truth test. For each important assertion, describe what observation would confirm or contradict it. Follow "Test 2: Check" in references/method.md. Replace untestable praise with a bounded fact or observable mechanism. A number without evidence remains unusable.
7. Find earned specificity. Substitute a plausible competitor's name and inspect whether the line remains natural and true. Follow "Test 3: Belong" in references/method.md. Use meaningful facts about the actual offer; if no difference is established, record that limitation instead of inventing exclusivity.
8. Compare concrete angles. Draft a few materially different options, such as a use moment, an objection, or a product mechanism. Apply the three tests separately using the audit fields in templates/output-template.md. Choose the strongest truthful option; a memorable but unsupported line cannot win.
9. Make the whole unit understandable. Read the headline with its subtitle, proof, visual, and next step where those elements exist. Follow "Context and channel" in references/method.md. Show how the offer works and ensure the button describes a next step it actually provides. [S3]
10. Edit for a human reader. Read aloud and remove inflated wording, repetition, and unnecessary modifiers without stripping useful personality. Apply "Voice and explicit warnings" in references/method.md. Retain qualifications that keep the promise accurate. [S5][S6]
11. Review and repair. Run checklists/review-checklist.md. Revisit facts when the idea fails all three tests; rewrite the relevant line when a local weakness remains. Record unresolved evidence or specificity gaps explicitly. Stop when further edits add style without improving clarity, support, or relevance.
12. Deliver the requested copy first. Use templates/output-template.md for the handoff. Include a concise audit and open items when the user wants reasoning. For final-copy-only requests, perform the audit internally and return only supported copy in the requested format.

Files in this skill

• SKILL.md: Entry point, usage scope, and the agent's drafting and revision loop.
• references/method.md: Detailed tests, evidence rules, channel decisions, edge cases, and warnings.
• references/sources.md: Numbered register of the six public sources actually fetched.
• examples/worked-examples.md: Invented before-and-after illustrations with rule audits.
• templates/output-template.md: Fill-in copy deliverable and field-by-field guidance.
• checklists/review-checklist.md: Pass/fail review, common failures, and targeted fixes.