Digging through the archives recently, I came across a good article by Jerry Huntsinger, the self-proclaimed “Dean of Direct Mail Fundraising.”
In “You’ll Have to Excuse Me, I Got Ds in Grammar” Jerry offers many useful tips. For now, I’d like to address #5: Be careful with periods.
Jerry says “A period brings a thought to an end, and that’s what you want to avoid, unless you want to merge into a new thought. Notice I use the word ‘merge’. You must always keep your letter moving.”
True all that. But I’ll take this counsel a step further.
Outside the USA, a period is often called a “full stop.” And that’s they risk I see in periods in many positions.
On a carrier teaser, I’d NEVER end with a period.
The “full stop” essentially tells the recipient to STOP READING. This is not the visual cue we want to deliver!
In a letter overline, let’s not tell our reader to come to a “full stop.”
If memory serves (and it doesn’t always) David Ogilvie preached avoiding periods in space ads. He advocated a single line of copy and a huge graphic image. But when the line ends in a period, the reader is NOT encouraged to continue.
The “full stop” risk is why God gave us ellipses … which Huntisinger mentions in #10 in the aforementioned article.
An ellipsis tells the reader that something more is coming. Our species seeks closure. An ellipsis leaves us hanging … lacking closure … until we read on to find out how this ends.
So, I always end carrier teasers with an ellipsis.
Ditto overlines (AKA Johnson boxes).
And, like Jerry Huntsinger, I often end the opening paragraph of a letter with an ellipsis …
… buying that next ounce of readership that pulls the donor along to the next engaging thought.