The P.S. in marketing originally came from direct mail promotions. Prospects would often go straight to the bottom of the sales copy to find the price before reading the letter. By inserting a powerful P.S., the marketers were often able to pull people back into the copy and read the entire message.
Today we use P.S.’s in online sales letters and emails, but the purpose has changed slightly. After all, we usually don’t put a price in an email, and the price in an online sales letter is often hidden in the copy. If your sales letter does prominently display the price at the end of the letter just prior to the P.S., then I highly encourage you to use what we call the Recap P.S., where you recap the greatest benefits to your offer. Again, this should draw them back into reading your sales message.
When the price does not appear at the end of your sales message, such as in an email, you have much more flexibility in what you place inside your P.S. Make no mistake – the P.S. is still very powerful and people will sometimes scroll straight to the end of the letter and thus read the P.S. first. But now you can use it to different purposes besides recapping the greatest benefits. Here then are 10 different P.S.’s to consider using. And no matter which kind you choose, always follow it with the link you’re promoting.
1. Use a testimonial. A testimonial is a great way to overcome your readers’ doubts and get them to click the link. And it can also be a sneaky way to restate a benefit at the same time.
For example: “P.S. Since using the abc product my life has changed dramatically. I now have total confidence that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. In the last month I’ve received a promotion and a big fat raise, and I negotiated a very favorable deal on a brand new house that saved me $80,000 off the market value.”
2. “Oops I forgot.” This can be almost anything you want, so long as it’s important.
Examples: “P.S. Oops, I forgot to tell you, this is a dimesale and the price is rising rapidly.”
“P.S. Oh, forget to tell you that everyone who orders by midnight gets to have lunch with The Guru.”
“P.S. Hey, I forgot to mention that this is the exact same information I used to get the phone numbers of 17 beautiful women in one evening.”
3. The extra discount. You’ve given them the benefits in the email, now get them to take action with a discount offer.
“P.S. The next 5 people get a 25% discount just for opening this email. How cool is that?”
“P.S. When you order by midnight tonight and you use discount code BBB, you get $20 off the sale price. But you must order by midnight and you must use the discount code, no exceptions.”
4. The treasure hunt. Tell them exactly where to find a golden nugget of information or the biggest benefit of all.
“P.S. As soon as you’re on the page, read the headline and then scroll to the big yellow box with the cherries. Third cherry down – that’s the exact method I used last week to earn $4,390 in 22 minutes.”
5. Give them a visual to look for. If you have something really enticing on the page, tell them to go find it – in a round about way. Yeah, I know this one is hokey – but it flat out works.
“P.S. Did you see the treasure chest above on this page? Well, that was just to alert you about the 10 money saving tips you’d be crazy not to review right now and make sure you’re taking advantage of.”
6. Bait the hook. Use your P.S. as bait, emphasizing the greatest benefit or main selling point from a different angle. Let’s say your product teaches people how to make money online.
“P.S. While this product will make you an absolute money magnet on the Internet, it will also instill a new confidence in you that carries over into every facet of your life, making you more successful in everything you do.”
7. Urgency. We touched on this in earlier examples. If the price is increasing or the product is about to be pulled, you’ve got a reason for them to hurry over to the url or order page.
“P.S. The price is rising with every sale.”
“P.S. Only 99 of these will be made available, and 82 of those have already sold.”
“P.S. Donate by midnight tonight and every dollar you send will receive a matching donation, doubling your contribution and enabling us to help twice as many kittens.”
8. Don’t Decide Guarantee. The most difficult part of making a sale can be getting them to DECIDE to buy, right? So remove that step altogether with your guarantee and emphasize it in the P.S. Your goal is to remove all risk from their decision making, so that it appears they really aren’t deciding anything today. Highly effective.
“P.S. Remember, there is no need to decide today. Try our miracle wax product free for 30 days and if you’re not thrilled with your car’s shine, you’ll pay nothing.”
9. The Bonus. Use your email to cover the product, and then in the P.S. you introduce the bonus you’re offering when they purchase from you.
“P.S. Take action today and I’ll personally send you The Giant Offline Marketing Course for free. This is the exact same course I sell for $197 (show proof of where you sell it) and I will not be offering it for free ever again.”
10. More Proof. Are you making a claim that’s difficult to believe? Offer some kind of evidence or proof.
“P.S. Don’t take my word for it – Harvard’s 5 year excitability study shows abc product outperforms its closest competitor by 71%.”
“P.S. Millie Walker of Hope Springs Eternal, N.J., tried abc product and her sunflowers were 3 times the size they were the previous year.”
The P.S. is one place you can get creative, have fun, and even be silly. Some marketers tell a quick joke in the P.S. Some use more than one P.S., using a P.P.S and even a P.P.P.S.
The one thing to keep in mind:
The P.S. is valuable real estate
– use it wisely.
P.S. This P.S. left intentionally blank. 🙂
