All too often you can feel like the plain kid when trying to woo your readers through copywriting. But used well, the ellipsis (a set of three dots . . . ) can be your secret weapon − the equivalent of a ‘7 stone weakling to Charles Atlas’ makeover.
That’s because inserting an ellipsis elicits. . . anticipation.
It will help you break up large chunks of text or even take the place of bullet points to make your body text less intimidating to read. So you can use an ellipse to insert white space into the paragraph . . . like this . . . and this.
The reader can’t resist reading on when presented with an ellipsis
It’s a trail of breadcrumbs designed to make them imagine what comes next. You see the ellipsis is a tease . . . a seductress who likes to leave you wanting more. So you can use it like a ‘wink’ to get your reader to follow. Try breaking up long copy with transitions like:
Just imagine going from nought to 60 in six seconds . . .
But let me explain . . .
And that’s not all . . .
Places to seduce your reader by using an ellipsis
Try using an ellipsis at the end of a page to get the prospect to turn over, or even at the end of a paragraph to get them to read the next one. Use it to get them to imagine or reflect on what you mean. Use it to signal that something good is coming up (a bit like a pre-commercial break trailer).
Use it to make them complete a headline.
An ellipsis begs a response . . . gets your reader involved . . . and it’s something they won’t be able to resist. An ellipsis invites the reader into the conversation. In fact it makes your whole tone more conversational, because it allows for breathing space.
How to type an ellipsis and other places to use one
An ellipsis is three dots, each separated by a space and both preceded and followed by a space. So you should type [space].[space].[space].[space]. You can also use an ellipsis to indicate the fact that you’ve removed parts of a quote – although you should never alter the original meaning. An ellipsis can be followed by a question mark or an exclamation mark or by a further full stop when indicating the end of a sentence which you’ve edited.