evidence-based-copywriting

# Evidence-Based Copywriting ## Overview **A claim that cannot be traced to a source you fetched or to the project's own documents does not ship.** That single rule is also US law for advertisers: the FTC requires a "reasonable basis" for objective claims *before* they are disseminated, not after a challenge (see `references/evidence-standards.md`). This skill turns that standard into a working pipeline: ground → research → write → verify → ship. The output is not just copy. It is copy plus its audit trail: a fact base, per-section annotations with labeled sources, flagged open decisions, and a checklist a reviewer can falsify. ## The two failures this skill exists to stop Baseline testing shows capable writers (human and model) rarely invent logos or testimonials anymore. They fail in two subtler ways: 1. **Citation without verification.** Real-sounding statistics with plausible URLs, written from memory, never fetched — sometimes shipped with a "verify before launch" note. Stats go stale, get superseded, or never said that. A TODO is not substantiation. 2. **Capability and terms fabrication.** Invented product mechanisms ("agentless sensor", "read-only connector", "syscall baselining"), commercial terms ("rate locked for life", "source-code escrow"), and architecture details that no document establishes. These *feel* like copywriting latitude. They are unsubstantiated claims — the FTC doctrine covers implied claims, and invented terms become contract disputes. If you...