A surprising fact. People like reading bullet points.
That’s why they’re so common. Your reader is more likely to scan or read bullet points than a paragraph.
Your article has achieved a lot so far.
The headline has grabbed your readers attention, the opening first sentence has kept it, and the subheadings have pulled your reader up to take notice.
Now it’s time for bullet points to do their magic which is to keep people reading your article or post.
The three primary functions of bullet points are:
- They’re short which makes them easy to read.
- They break-up the text by highlighting specific aspects of your copy.
- They slow scanners down to get them to read your article.
But bullet points can be so damn boring. Just think of those PowerPoint presentations you’ve had the privilege of viewing. People tune out if it’s not compelling.
The sad truth is most people don’t know how to write bullet points.
But that’s not you after reading this post. You’ll know how to write bullet points that captivate your reader to keep on reading.
The basics of writing bullet points
The hallmark of a great bullet point is brevity plus a promise.
Brevity means short bullets that can be read at a glance and keeps your reader moving through your article. A long bullet would defeat that purpose. So how short is short?
Obvious maybe, but it needs to be long enough to be readable and contain the promise. Ideally, it’s one sentence containing less than 10 words.
The promise in your bullet is the tease or hook. You’re making a promise to your reader that your product or service can benefit them. You must deliver, but not immediately – you tease your reader. Here’s an example:
Say you’re writing an article helping people deal with credit rating problems. You tell them you have a proven 10 step program over a four-week period that will substantially improve their credit rating, but you don’t tell them what those 10 steps are. Tease them, but don’t tell them the “how”.
Bullet point formatting and style
Bullets are essential for readability. They’re easy on the eye and get the reader to stop, and pay attention.
Brevity plus the promise of bullet points are essential, and so is their formatting and style.
Here’s what makes a great bullet:
- A great bullet is simple and the bullet list is simple.
- Bullets, like headlines, don’t need to be complete sentences. They can be fragmented.
- Where possible, they should contain a reader orientated benefit. Consider them as mini-headlines. Give your reader a meaningful benefit.
- Bullet points should be symmetrical meaning each bullet is one line or two lines. This makes for easier reading.
- Avoid bullet clutter. What this means is having bullets, then sub-bullets, or worse, sub-titles. Bullets are designed for clarity of reading.
- Each bullet should contain the same grammatical format.
- Bullets should be uniform and you want to show content symmetry. For example, you don’t want a statistic for the first bullet, followed by a long explanation for the second, then a link for the third bullet.
When should you use a bullet list?
It goes without saying that bullet lists are a series of bullet points. The objective is to break up a paragraph or an idea into digestible bits.
There are different ways of doing this. By no means exhaustive, here are a few examples where bullet lists are very effective:
- Cliffhangers that tease or foreshadow what’s coming up next.
- Summarizing information or highlights.
- Breaking down complex sentences (known as Bullet Chunking).
- Citing data or proof to back up a claim (these are called Authority Bullets).
- External fascinations. These type of bullet points are usually found in sales copy and are designed to create curiosity to prompt a purchase.
- Internal fascinations are bullet points designed to persuade the reader to continue reading the article.
A summary on bullet points
People like bullet points and are more likely to read them than a paragraph.
The hallmark of a great bullet point is brevity plus a promise.
Brevity means short bullets that can be read at a glance and keeps your reader moving through your article. The promise is the tease or hook you’re making to your reader that can benefit them.
Bullet points serve to break-up the text by highlighting specific aspects of your copy. The scanner slows down to read, going from one bullet point, then onto the next, and so on.
And, more important, bullet points make your article far easier to read.
After all, that’s what it’s all about. Getting your reader to finish your article.
