Latest / The Copywriting Podcast with Fexingo: Sales Letters, Headlines, and Persuasive Writing / How a Handwritten P.S. Outperformed Five Rewritten Headlines
Transcript
- Lucas: You spend three hours on a headline. You test twelve variations. You pick the winner, build the body copy, tweak the call to action. And then, right before you hit send, you scribble a single sentence at the bottom—and that sentence outperforms the entire rewrite. Luna: That sounds like a statistic from the 1980s, but I have a feeling you're about to tell me it's from something much more recent. Lucas: Last year. B2B SaaS company, selling a project management tool for mid-market firms. They sent a direct mail piece to five thousand decision-makers. Control was a classic four-page letter with a strong headline, bullet points, a guarantee. Test version was identical—except they added a handwritten P.S. in blue ink. Luna: Handwritten like, literally a person wrote it? Lucas: Digitally simulated handwriting, but the effect is the same. The P.S. said: 'I took the liberty of setting up a demo account with your company email—no password needed. Click the link, see if you agree it's faster than what you're using now.' Luna: Wait—they pre-created a demo account? That's a lot of faith. Lucas: It is. But the result: the P.S. version lifted response by 217 percent. That's more than any headline change they had ever tested. And it cost them nothing extra—just a few lines of copy. Luna: So the P.S. isn't an afterthought. It's probably the most-read part of the letter. Lucas: Exactly. Eye-tracking studies from the 1990s showed that readers often skip from the salutation to the signature, then scan the P.S. before reading the body. That pattern hasn't changed. The P.S. is the second most-read element after the headline. Lucas: The thing is, most copywriters treat the P.S. as a recap. 'P.S. Don't forget to order by Friday.' That's wasted real estate. The P.S. should feel like a private, unguarded thought—something the writer added at the last second because they really want you to take action. Luna: There's a psychological principle there. I think it's called the recency effect—people remember the last thing they read most clearly. Lucas: Right. The P.S. benefits from both recency and the fear of missing closure. If the letter builds a logical case but doesn't repeat the call to action at the bottom, the reader feels unfinished. The P.S. closes that loop. Lucas: So here's a structure I've seen work across dozens of tests. First sentence: a surprising specific benefit. Second sentence: a low-friction next step. Third sentence: a tiny reassurance. Fourth sentence: a friendly nudge. That's it. Luna: Four sentences. Do you have an example that isn't the B2B one? Lucas: Sure—a nonprofit that tested their year-end appeal. Control had a standard P.S.: 'Thank you for your support.' Test version: 'Your gift of $35 provides a week of meals for a family of four. You can give online in under two minutes. Your credit card is processed securely. And honestly, every gift makes a difference.' Response lift: 89 percent. Luna: The first sentence is a concrete number. The second is a time commitment. The third is trust. The fourth is emotional. That's a mini sales letter. Lucas: And it's personal. 'Your gift.' 'You can.' 'Your credit card.' 'Every gift.' The pronoun shifts from 'you' to 'your' to 'every'—but it's all directed at the reader. Lucas: Now, the question is: does this work in email? Because email doesn't have a physical P.S. line. But you can simulate it—by putting a postscript after your signature, or by using a 'P.S.' header in the body. Luna: I've seen that. Some marketers swear by the 'P.S. in email' technique. Does it hold up? Lucas: A 2024 test by an e-commerce brand: they sent two versions of a cart abandonment email. Control had a standard body with a CTA button. Test had the same body, then a line: 'P.S. Your 20 percent discount expires in 4 hours.' Click-through rate doubled. Luna: So urgency plus a P.S. is a powerful combination. Lucas: It is. But you have to be careful. If the P.S. contradicts the main message, it creates confusion. The P.S. should reinforce the core promise, not introduce a new one. Luna: Let's talk about the handwritten element. Do you think the simulated handwriting made a difference in the B2B test? Lucas: I think it added a layer of personalization. But the same principle works even in plain text. The key is the content, not the font. That said, if you can simulate handwriting—blue ink, slight slant—it does increase perceived effort. The reader thinks someone actually took time to write to them. Lucas: And that's a theme we've touched on before: effort signals commitment. A typed P.S. says 'this is part of the template.' A handwritten P.S. says 'I really want you to read this.' Luna: So the P.S. is a kind of trust shortcut. It bypasses the skepticism that readers have toward the main letter. Lucas: Exactly. The main letter is the official argument. The P.S. is the whispered aside. And whispers are harder to ignore. Lucas: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used—a headline tweak, a guarantee rewrite, maybe even a P.S.—that's the whole point of this show. We deliberately don't run ads on these. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it keeps us independent and focused on what works, not what pays. Lucas: So back to the P.S.—one thing I want to emphasize: don't save your best argument for the P.S. The main body has to earn the read. The P.S. is the closer, not the opener. Luna: That's a common mistake, isn't it? I've seen letters where the P.S. is more compelling than the entire body. Lucas: Right. And that usually means the body is weak. The P.S. should be the cherry on top, not the whole sundae. If your P.S. is the only interesting part, rewrite the letter. Lucas: Let me give you a quick checklist for writing a P.S. that works. One: start with a specific benefit—a number or a time frame. Two: make the next step easy—one click, one call, one reply. Three: remove one objection—money-back guarantee, free shipping, no commitment. Four: add a personal touch—'I hope you'll give it a try' or 'I'd love to hear your feedback.' Luna: That's a formula you could teach someone in five minutes. Lucas: And they could apply it in ten. The P.S. is the lowest-effort, highest-impact change you can make to any piece of direct response copy. And most people skip it. Luna: So the takeaway: write your headline, write your body, then spend ten minutes on the P.S. — because that's where the reader's attention lands last. Lucas: Exactly. And if you want to test it, pick a piece of copy you're about to send. Add a P.S. that follows that four-sentence structure. Run it against the control. I'll bet you see a lift. Luna: And if you do, let us know—maybe we'll feature it in a future episode. Lucas: That's a good idea. Alright—head down, write that P.S.