Hey! Stop It with the Exclamation Points!

Wow! I get lots of emails that shout at me! Maybe the sender is on her third espresso! Or maybe she hopes her excitement is infectious!

She’s wrong. Exclamation points are more annoying than exciting.

In your business communications, email, newsletter, web content, brochures and flyers, don’t rely on punctuation (or fancy fonts and words in color) to make your point.

Use too many exclamation points and your readers will stop paying attention to any of them. Be deliberate: Exclaim when you know precisely why you’re doing so it and how the punctuation aids your message.

Exclamation points can aid your message when placed:

• At the end of a cheerful or warm comment
  • Thanks for lunch!
  • Sorry about your broken leg!
• To express displeasure (in other words, to shout
  • Your shipment finally arrived, but without the emeralds!
  • We all got salmonella!
• To emphasize a point
  • We’re ready to launch!
  • The photos are perfect!

Re-read those examples. You’ll notice that each one could close with a simple period; the message remains the same. The exclamation point adds excitement, empathy, anger or urgency, but the word choice is sufficient to convey the message.

Don’t add an exclamation point if:

• No intensity is needed, such as The meeting starts at 4:00!
  What does that exclamation point do? If the meeting starts at 4:00, the meeting starts at 4:00. (There are ways to motivate people to arrive promptly to your meetings: punctuation isn’t one of them.)
• You’ve used too many !s already. Limit yourself. My own goal is no more than one per email, one per webpage, one per newsletter page.
• If you decide to use an exclamation point, use one. Multiple exclamation points belong only in a 8th grader’s IM messages!!!

Speaking as a business woman myself:

Truth to tell, it’s women that overuse exclamation points. (Men rarely use exclamation points.) Many women, I suspect, feel an obligation to convey warmth, cheerfulness and enthusiasm even within the confines of a business communique. Resist the urge.

• You can express yourself warmly using words alone. (If you don’t know how, call me. I do.)
• Not every message requires cheer. Not every message requires enthusiasm.
• Exclamation points evoke giddily breathless teenagers. Peppering your emails, brochures, and web site with !!!s undercuts your experience, maturity and professionalism.

Do as I say!
I am not guiltless. One reason I notice misplaced and overused exclamation points is because I like using them myself. I’m working to cut back; join with me to rid the business world of unneeded, overwrought punctuation one exclamation point a time.