Best Problem Section Design

We scored 11 problem sections from SaaS companies across conversion best practices. The table below shows how widely each element is adopted. The lower the number, the bigger your edge by adding it.

Persona-specific pain is the most common best practice (82% use it), but the biggest gap is quantified pain. Only 45% of problem sections put a number on the cost. The best-in-class section does. Saying “you waste time on manual data entry” is weaker than “your team loses 12 hours per week on manual data entry.”

The surprise: before/after setup, the format most people associate with problem sections, doesn’t appear in the best-in-class at all. Equals scores 100 without it. The data suggests that stacking four other best practices matters more than the before/after visual.

Our AI conversion agent evaluates every problem section against a weighted checklist that spans three dimensions. Each best practice gets a pass or fail based on the actual page content and screenshot.

• Copywriting, persona-specific pain, quantified pain, cost of inaction
• Psychology, emotional resonance, before/after setup
• Specificity, real numbers, named roles, concrete scenarios

Not every best practice carries the same weight. Quantified pain and cost of inaction pull the score up more because in our dataset, problem sections with those two create more urgency than sections that rely on vague emotional appeals alone.

Sections flagged best-in-class are hand-picked by our team from the highest-scoring sections. A high score gets you on the list. Best-in-class means the copy and psychology work together to make the visitor feel the pain and want the fix.

1 problem section in our library is flagged best-in-class: Equals, with a perfect 100. It stacks 4 out of 5 conversion best practices.

What makes it work: the section doesn’t describe the problem in the abstract. It names the persona, puts a number on the pain, shows what happens if you ignore it, and makes the reader feel it.

1. Names the persona and their specific frustration. Not “teams struggle with data.” More like “finance teams stuck reconciling spreadsheets at month-end.” The visitor immediately knows this section is about them.
2. Puts a dollar amount or time cost on the problem. “12 hours per week” or “$4,200 per month in lost deals.” The pain has a price tag. 45% of problem sections skip this entirely.
3. Shows the cost of doing nothing. What happens next month, next quarter, if you keep doing it the old way? 73% of all problem sections use this, but only the best combine it with quantified pain.
4. Triggers emotional recognition. The copy uses language the visitor has said to themselves: “frustrated,” “stuck,” “drowning in.” 55% of all problem sections do this, but the best do it alongside the numbers.

The lowest-scoring problem sections in our library aren’t wrong about the problem. They just don’t go deep enough.

A problem section scoring 33/100 typically has 2 conversion best practices: persona-specific pain and emotional resonance. The section acknowledges who the visitor is and that they’re frustrated. But it stops there.

The most common gap: no quantified pain. 55% of all problem sections don't put a number on the cost. “Manual data entry is tedious” vs. “Your team wastes 12 hours per week on manual data entry.” The first is a complaint. The second is a business case.

Second: no cost of inaction. 27% of problem sections skip this entirely. The visitor reads about the pain, nods along, and thinks “yeah, but I've lived with this for months.” Without showing what the problem costs them over time, there's no urgency to act now.

The fix is straightforward. Add one stat that quantifies the pain. Add one sentence about what happens if they don’t fix it. Two additions that separate a 33 from a 67 in our scoring.

Want to know which best practices your problem section is missing? Run a free audit →