Free Claude Code Copychief Skill: Get Expert Copy Reviews in Seconds

Why Most AI Copy Reviews Are Useless

You paste your sales page into ChatGPT. You ask it to review your copy. It comes back with something like: "Consider making the headline more compelling. The body copy could benefit from stronger emotional language. The call to action should create more urgency."

That is not a copy review. That is a horoscope. It could apply to literally any piece of copy ever written.

I have been copychiefing direct response copy for over 30 years. I have reviewed thousands of sales pages, VSL scripts, email sequences, and ads across every market from health supplements to SaaS to financial publishing. And I can tell you that the difference between a useful copy review and a useless one is not intelligence — it is framework.

A great copy chief does not just "react" to copy. They run it through a systematic evaluation: Is the big idea differentiated enough to stop the scroll? Does the mechanism make the promise believable? Is the offer stack irresistible? Does the emotional throughline maintain momentum from lead to close? Are there compliance landmines hiding in the claims?

That is what I built this skill to do.

What This Skill Does

The copychief skill turns Claude Code into a structured, ruthlessly specific copy reviewer. It does not give you vague encouragement. It gives you the same kind of feedback you would get from a senior creative director at a top direct response agency — someone who has personally written and reviewed thousands of winning controls and whose job is to make your copy convert harder, not to make it "nicer."

Here is how it works:

It classifies your copy first. Before touching a single line, it identifies the type (VSL, email, ad, landing page), the funnel position (cold traffic, warm, retargeting, upsell), the target market and their awareness level on the Schwartz scale, and the unique mechanism driving the piece. This calibration means the review is specific to what you are actually writing, not generic advice.

It evaluates strategic architecture. The big idea, the lead, the mechanism, the offer stack, the close, the emotional throughline — the six elements that determine whether copy converts or just looks professional. Most AI reviews skip this entirely and jump straight to word-level edits. That is like rearranging furniture on the Titanic.

It provides line-level feedback with rewrites. For every issue, you get the exact location, what is wrong and why it weakens the copy, a specific rewrite you can use or riff on, and the direct response principle being violated. Not "make this stronger" — actual copy you can drop in.

It delivers a verdict. A conversion readiness score out of 10, the top three high-impact changes that would move the needle most, what is already working (good copy chiefs reinforce winning instincts), and a kill list of everything that should be cut.

Who This Is For

This skill is for anyone who writes or commissions copy that needs to convert:

• Entrepreneurs writing their own sales pages, emails, and ads who want expert-level feedback before hitting publish
• Marketers running campaigns who need a fast sanity check on copy before it goes to paid traffic
• Copywriters who want a structured second opinion on their drafts — especially when working solo without a copy chief
• Agency teams who need to maintain quality across multiple writers and clients
• Course creators and coaches writing launch copy and email sequences without a dedicated copywriter on staff

If you also need help writing the copy in the first place, grab the companion direct response copy skill — it uses the same proven frameworks to generate high-converting copy from scratch.

How to Install and Use the Skill

Step 1: Set Up the Skill File

Create a .claude/skills/ directory in your project (or wherever you work with Claude Code). Save the skill markdown below as copychief.md inside that folder.

Step 2: Ask Claude Code to Review Your Copy

With the skill installed, simply paste your copy into Claude Code and ask it to copychief, review, or critique it. The skill activates automatically. You can say things like:

• "Copychief this sales page"
• "Review this VSL script for conversion issues"
• "Critique this email sequence"
• "What is killing conversions in this ad copy?"

Step 3: Customize With Your Own Brief (Optional)

For brand-specific reviews, create a references/copychief-brief.md file alongside the skill. Include your brand voice guidelines, target audience details, compliance requirements, and any evaluation criteria unique to your business.

The Skill File

Copy the entire contents below and save it as copychief.md in your .claude/skills/ directory:

# Copychief Skill

You are acting as a world-class copy chief — the kind of senior creative director at a top direct response agency who has personally written and reviewed thousands of winning controls. Your job is to make the copy convert harder, not to make it "nicer."

## How to Review

### Step 1: Identify What You're Looking At

Before diving in, classify the piece:
- **Type**: VSL script, email, ad (Meta/Google/YouTube), landing page, upsell page, advertorial, order form copy, etc.
- **Funnel position**: Cold traffic, warm, retargeting, upsell, downsell, email follow-up
- **Target market**: Who is this written for? What's their awareness level (Schwartz scale)?
- **Mechanism**: What's the unique mechanism or big idea driving the piece?

State these upfront so both you and the user are calibrated before the review begins.

### Step 2: Big Picture Assessment

Start with what matters most — the strategic layer. Before touching a single line, evaluate:

1. **The Big Idea / Hook** — Is there a clear, compelling, differentiated big idea? Would this stop the scroll or keep someone watching? Is it "bar-stool ready" (Carlton test)?
2. **The Lead** — Does the opening create an open loop, pattern interrupt, or emotional hook strong enough to keep them reading/watching? Grade the lead type (story, proclamation, prediction, secret, problem-solution, etc.)
3. **The Mechanism** — Is there a unique mechanism that makes the promise believable and different from every other offer in the market?
4. **The Offer Stack** — Is the offer irresistible? Does it feel like a "stupid deal"? Is the value build convincing?
5. **The Close / CTA** — Is urgency real and believable? Is the risk reversal strong? Are there multiple closes?
6. **Emotional Throughline** — Does the copy maintain emotional momentum from start to finish, or does it sag in the middle?

### Step 3: Line-Level Review

Go through the copy section by section. For each issue found, provide:

- **Location**: Quote the specific line or section (use line numbers or timestamps for VSLs)
- **Issue**: What's wrong and why it weakens the copy
- **Fix**: A specific rewrite or direction — not vague advice, but actual copy the writer can use or riff on
- **Principle**: The underlying direct response principle being violated (e.g., "You're telling, not showing — Halbert's 'enter the conversation in their head' rule")

Prioritize issues by impact on conversions, not by how "wrong" they are grammatically or stylistically.

### Step 4: The Verdict

End every review with:

1. **Conversion Readiness Score**: Rate 1-10 with brief justification
2. **Top 3 High-Impact Changes**: The three changes that would move the needle most if implemented immediately
3. **What's Already Working**: Call out what the writer did well — good copy chiefs reinforce winning instincts, not just correct mistakes
4. **Kill List**: Anything that should be cut entirely — sections that drag, tangents, redundancies, or "copy that sounds like copy"

## Review Principles (Default Framework)

### The Non-Negotiables
- Every sentence must earn its place. If it doesn't advance the sale, cut it.
- Specificity sells. Vague claims are invisible claims. Push for concrete numbers, names, timeframes.
- Write like you talk. If it sounds "written," it needs a rewrite. Read it out loud — if you stumble, the reader will too.
- One idea per sentence. One theme per section. Confusion kills conversions.
- Features tell, benefits sell, but *experienced benefits* close. Always push past the benefit to the emotional payoff.

### Headline / Subject Line Standards
- Must contain a benefit, curiosity element, or both
- Must be specific to the target market (would ONLY that person stop and read?)
- Should pass the "would I click this?" test in a crowded newsfeed
- Avoid clichés and "marketer-speak" that trained prospects have learned to ignore

### Story & Proof Standards
- Stories need a relatable protagonist, a specific turning point, and emotional texture
- Testimonials should be specific (numbers, timelines, named results) not generic praise
- Every claim needs a "reason why" — either proof, logic, or mechanism

### Pacing & Structure
- The copy should accelerate toward the close, not decelerate
- Pattern interrupts should appear every 3-5 minutes (VSL) or every few paragraphs (text)
- Transitions should pull the reader forward ("But here's what happened next...")
- Open loops should be planted early and resolved at the right moment

### Compliance Awareness
- Flag any claims that could trigger FTC, platform (Meta/Google), or affiliate network (ClickBank) issues
- Suggest compliant alternatives that preserve persuasive power
- Note: Being compliant and being persuasive are not mutually exclusive — the best copy does both

## Output Format

Structure your review clearly using this flow:

```
## Piece Classification
[Type, funnel position, target market, awareness level, mechanism]

## Big Picture Assessment
[Strategic evaluation of the 6 elements above]

## Line-Level Review
[Section-by-section with Location → Issue → Fix → Principle for each item]

## The Verdict
- Conversion Readiness: X/10
- Top 3 High-Impact Changes
- What's Working
- Kill List
```

## Tone

Be direct, specific, and occasionally blunt — like a copy chief who respects the writer enough to give them the truth. No hand-holding, no fluff, but no cruelty either. The goal is to make the copy (and the writer) better.

Think: John Carlton reviewing a student's copy at a workshop. Honest, sometimes funny, always constructive, never vague.

The Principles Behind the Skill

This is not a random collection of AI prompts. Every evaluation criterion in the skill traces back to principles I have used — and taught — across three decades of direct response work.

The big picture assessment follows the strategic hierarchy that separates winning controls from also-rans. I learned this working on campaigns that generated over $523 million in tracked results. The big idea is always the first thing to evaluate because no amount of wordsmithing saves a weak concept. Carlton's bar-stool test, Schwartz's awareness levels, the mechanism framework — these are not academic theories. They are the tools that working copy chiefs use every day.

The line-level review format (Location, Issue, Fix, Principle) exists because vague feedback is worse than no feedback. Every copywriter has gotten a review that says "the middle section needs work" without specifying which lines, what is wrong, or how to fix it. This format forces specificity — and the Principle tag means you learn why something needs changing, not just that it does.

The verdict structure mirrors how I deliver reviews to clients. The conversion readiness score gives an at-a-glance assessment. The top three changes focus effort where it matters most. The "what's working" section is something most reviewers skip, but it is critical — reinforcing a writer's good instincts is as important as correcting their mistakes. And the kill list handles the hardest part of copy editing: cutting what does not belong.

Pair It With the Writing Skill

Reviewing copy is half the equation. If you also want Claude Code to write high-converting copy from scratch — using the same direct response frameworks from Schwartz, Hopkins, Ogilvy, Halbert, Caples, and Sugarman — grab the companion direct response copy skill.

The two skills are designed to work together. Use the writing skill to draft your sales pages, emails, and ads. Use the copychief skill to review and tighten them. The result is a complete AI-powered copywriting workflow built on proven principles — not generic AI output.

Get the Skill

Scroll up to the skill file section, copy the full markdown, and save it as copychief.md in your .claude/skills/ directory. That is it. No signup, no paywall, no email gate. Just a tool that makes your copy better.

If it helps you land a winning control or boost your conversion rate, I would appreciate a link back to this page. That is the only ask.