Copywriting – The Eye Is A Creature of Habit

How to make your copy easy to read… Give the eye what it’s used to. Let’s start with the Headline…the most important part of your sales letter. Have a look at these examples:-
HOW TO LOSE A STONE IN ONE WEEK…or…How to Lose a Stone in One Week
Which is easiest to read? Because they have no ascenders or descenders to help you recognise the word, capital letters are difficult to read. The eye is a creature of habit and we are used to reading lower case type in magazines and newspapers. Another common mistake is to superimpose the headline over a picture, again this makes it extremely difficult to read. If it’s difficult to read it won’t get read.
A Full Stop…Never put a full stop at the end of a headline. A full stop tells the reader to stop reading, which is not what you want to happen. You will notice in newspapers there are never any full stops at the end of headlines. If your page is set too wide or too narrow this will make it harder to read. Most newspapers are set at about 40 characters wide, most sales letters online are set at abut 600 pixels. Give the eye what it’s used to.
Typeface…What typeface should you use? Again what typeface people are used to? Our eyes are accustomed to reading a serif typeface such as arial or times new roman. Of course with a lot of copywriting now on websites the combination of colours is endless. Bear in mind however…Give The Eye What It’s Used To! The Eye is a Creature of Habit, it finds it much easier to read Black typeface on a White background.
Does size matter? Well in copywriting it certainly does. I think you’d soon stop reading if the type was too small and you had to squint, whereas if it was far too big, only a few words show per line of text then this again is not what the eye is used to. Generally speaking your type needs to be about 11-12 point in size.
You might think it’s not that important how your copy is set out but something as simple as line spacing between paragraphs can increase readership by an average of 12 percent. All the research and hard work will be for nothing if no one can read your copy so do yourself a favour and “Give the eye what it’s used to”