Latest / The Copywriting Podcast with Fexingo: Sales Letters, Headlines, and Persuasive Writing / How a Postscript in the Middle of a Sales Letter Lifted Conversions
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this direct-mail legend from the 1980s I've been meaning to bring up. A financial newsletter publisher named Phillips Publishing ran a test on a subscription letter for their gold-investment advisory. Standard format: headline, opening, benefits, offer, close, and then a postscript at the very bottom. Control package pulled a 2.1 percent response rate, which was already solid. Luna: Okay, so what did they change? Lucas: They moved the postscript. Instead of putting it after the P.S. — sorry, after the signature block — they inserted it right after the third paragraph, before the reader even hit the bullet points. Same exact postscript text. And response jumped to 2.67 percent. That's a 27 percent relative lift, just from repositioning one element. Luna: Wait — a postscript that's not at the end? Isn't the whole point of P.S. that it's a post-scriptum, something added after the main body? This feels like it breaks the grammar of the letter. Lucas: It does break the grammar. And that's exactly why it works. The reader's brain treats a P.S. as a second thought from the writer — a spontaneous afterthought that carries extra weight because it feels unscripted. When you put that afterthought in the middle of the letter, it reads like the writer was so excited they couldn't wait until the end. It amplifies the urgency. Luna: I can see that. It's like a friend leaning in mid-conversation and saying, 'Oh, and one more thing — this is the really important part.' Lucas: Exactly. And there's a readability angle too. By the time a reader reaches the bottom of a long sales letter, they're fatigued. The P.S. at the end often gets skimmed or skipped. But mid-letter, the reader is still engaged — they haven't made the decision to bail yet. So that second thought lands in a more receptive moment. Luna: Before we go deeper — I want to mention something. If you find these copywriting conversations valuable enough to apply in your own work, and you'd like to see the show stay ad-free and independent, listeners can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small way to keep these deep dives coming without sponsorships. Lucas: Yeah, it really helps. And we appreciate everyone who's chipped in over the years. It gives us the freedom to pick offbeat angles like this mid-letter P.S. thing instead of chasing trending topics. So, back to the test — there's a second layer to this that makes it even more interesting. Luna: What's that? Lucas: The P.S. didn't repeat the main offer. It added a specific new detail: a free bonus report on gold coin grading, available only if they subscribed within ten days. So it wasn't just a summary of the letter — it was new information that created a deadline. That's crucial. If the P.S. just restates the headline, it's wasted space. But if it introduces a fresh reason to act, it earns its place. Luna: So the mid-letter P.S. works best when it's additive, not redundant. I'm thinking about how this translates to email. Most email sequences put the P.S. at the bottom, if they use one at all. Have you seen any modern tests? Lucas: Yes — a SaaS company called ConvertKit, back when it was still called that, ran an A/B test on a three-email onboarding sequence. The control had a standard P.S. at the end of each email. The variant moved the P.S. to the middle of the second email, right after the problem statement. They saw a 19 percent lift in click-through to the free trial. Not as dramatic as Phillips's 27 percent, but still meaningful. Luna: Nineteen percent on a digital audience is huge. Did they change the P.S. content too, or just the position? Lucas: Just the position. Same text: 'P.S. — Most creators spend weeks setting up their email system. We've pre-built templates that get you live in ten minutes.' That's additive — it's a new benefit not mentioned in the main body. And placing it mid-email meant readers were still scrolling, not yet clicking away. Luna: I'm wondering about the psychological mechanism. Is it purely about novelty and placement, or is there something about the word 'P.S.' itself that signals importance? Lucas: It's both. The letters 'P.S.' are a visual flag — they break the pattern of the paragraph. Readers have been conditioned to treat a P.S. as the most important takeaway, because writers traditionally save their strongest closing argument for it. So when you see those two letters mid-letter, your brain thinks, 'This must be really important — the writer couldn't hold it until the end.' Luna: That conditioning comes from decades of direct mail. But younger audiences — say, Gen Z — may not have that same reflex. Have you seen any data on age-based differences? Lucas: I haven't seen a controlled test, but anecdotally, I've noticed that younger readers respond better to a 'P.S.' that's framed as a 'quick note' or 'one more thing' rather than the formal 'P.S.' label. One e-commerce brand I consulted for tested 'P.S.' vs. 'Oh, and one more thing…' in a post-purchase email. The casual version outperformed by about 12 percent on click-through for their under-30 segment. But the 'P.S.' version still won for over-45. Luna: So the principle holds, but the label might need to match the audience's expectations. What about the length of the P.S. itself? Does a longer P.S. still work mid-letter? Lucas: That's the tricky part. The Phillips test used a single sentence — 22 words. ConvertKit's was 18 words. If you stretch it beyond two sentences, you start to lose the 'afterthought' feel. It starts reading like a second main body paragraph, which defeats the purpose. I'd say keep it under 30 words, and make sure it's one complete thought, not a list. Luna: One thing I want to clarify: this technique is for long-form copy, right? A sales letter or a long email. Would it work in a short email of, say, three paragraphs? Lucas: No — it backfires in short copy. If an email is only three paragraphs, inserting a P.S. in the middle feels forced. The reader can see the whole message at once, so the illusion of spontaneity collapses. The mid-letter P.S. only works when the reader has to scroll or turn a page — when they don't know how much more is coming. That's why it's primarily a direct-mail and long-email technique. Luna: That makes sense. In a short email, the natural break is the end. So the P.S. belongs there, if at all. But for landing pages or sales pages, the middle might be the sweet spot. Lucas: Right. And I want to add one more nuance from the Phillips test. The original control letter actually had a P.S. at the bottom as well as the mid-letter P.S. — they tested having two. And it hurt response. The winning version had only the mid-letter P.S., no bottom one. So you can't double up. One P.S., placed strategically, beats having two. Luna: That's counterintuitive. You'd think more urgency signals would be better. But maybe two P.S.s just looks cluttered or gimmicky. Lucas: Exactly. The reader starts to feel manipulated. One P.S. feels like a genuine afterthought. Two feels like a formula. So if you're going to test this, pick one placement and commit. Luna: So for someone writing a sales page today, what would you recommend? Should they test moving the P.S. from the bottom to somewhere in the middle? Lucas: Absolutely. But I'd test two specific placements: right after the problem statement, and right before the offer. The Phillips test put it after the third paragraph, which was after the problem statement. The ConvertKit test put it after the problem statement too. But I've seen other tests where placing it right before the call to action button actually lifted conversions more. It depends on the flow. Luna: So there's a Goldilocks zone. Not too early, not too late. Lucas: Exactly. Too early, and the reader hasn't bought into the problem yet — the P.S. feels disconnected. Too late, and they're already deciding, so the P.S. is an interruption. The sweet spot seems to be right after you've established the pain but before you've presented the solution. That's where the reader is most open to a secondary reason to act. Luna: I also want to mention that this technique isn't just for sales. I've seen it used effectively in nonprofit fundraising letters. One charity I worked with moved their 'P.S. — Your gift will be matched dollar for dollar' from the end to the middle of the letter, and average gift size increased by 15 percent. Lucas: That's a great example. The matching-grant detail is perfect for a mid-letter P.S. because it's a time-sensitive bonus that doesn't fit neatly into the main narrative. It's the kind of thing you'd want to blurt out mid-conversation. Luna: Okay, so we've covered the history, the psychology, the modern tests, and the caveats. What's the single takeaway you want listeners to remember? Lucas: Don't treat the postscript as an afterthought — treat it as a strategic placement. Move it out of the footer and into the body, keep it under 30 words, make it additive, and test it against the control. It's one of the cheapest changes you can make to a piece of copy, and the data suggests it works across decades and media. Luna: And maybe, just maybe, your next headline could be 'P.S. — This is the most important part of the letter.' But I'll leave that to the professionals. Lucas: I wouldn't go that far. But I would say this: the next time you write a sales page, try writing the P.S. first, then build the body around it. That way, the P.S. is the core message, not an afterthought.