The P.S. Line: The Most-Read Part of Your Email You're Not Using

03 October 2026·3 min read

Quick answer: Email readers who skim straight past your carefully written opening paragraph will often still read the P.S. line at the bottom, it's one of the most consistently read parts of any email, right alongside the subject line, yet most business newsletters don't use one at all. Adding a short, genuinely separate P.S. with its own single point gives skimmers a second, almost-free chance to catch your key point or call to action. 📈

Here's a strange but well-documented quirk of how people actually read email: they skim the middle and read the edges, the subject line, the first line, and the very last line, the P.S. 💖 Most businesses pour all their effort into the subject line and then leave the P.S. blank, missing one of the few genuinely reliable pieces of email real estate left.

What most businesses get wrong

The P.S. gets skipped entirely, treating the email as 'done' once the main body is written. When it is used, it often just restates the main call to action verbatim, wasting the chance to say something genuinely new, or it runs so long it stops functioning as a quick, skimmable hook.

The P.S. formula bank

Pick one angle per email, never repeat the main body verbatim:

The afterthought: 'P.S. If you're not ready yet, just reply "later" and we'll check in next month instead.'
The specific deadline: 'P.S. This offer closes Friday, after that it's back to full price.'
The social proof nugget: 'P.S. We had 40 people book this in the first week, spots are genuinely limited.'
The human aside: 'P.S. [Name] is off next week, so replies might be a day slower than usual, thanks for your patience.'
The curiosity gap: 'P.S. We're trying something new next month, more on that soon.'

A booking-based business with lots of no-shows: used a P.S. reminder specifically about its cancellation policy in every confirmation email, catching skimmers who hadn't read the main booking terms.

A B2B firm with a long sales cycle: used the P.S. to flag a genuinely new, separate piece of content rather than repeating the email's main CTA, giving skimmers an easy second reason to click.

A local service business with a seasonal dip: used a P.S. specifically to mention limited remaining slots in its quiet-season offer, adding a mild, honest urgency note the main body hadn't included.

How to use it well

Write the P.S. last, once the main email is finished, so it genuinely adds something rather than echoing it. Keep it to one or two lines maximum. Test whether a P.S. link gets more clicks than the main body's call to action over a few sends, it often does.

💡 Never repeat the main message verbatim in the P.S. If someone skips straight to it, it should say something new enough that they'd want to scroll back up and read the rest.

Mistakes to avoid

Leaving the P.S. out entirely
Restating the main CTA word for word
Writing a P.S. so long it reads like a second email
Using it only for sales pitches with no variety
Forgetting it exists as a tool at all

Frequently asked questions

Does the P.S. work the same in every type of email?

It's most effective in newsletters and nurture emails where skimming is common. A very short transactional email, like a receipt, may not need one at all.

Should it always include a link?

Not necessarily. Sometimes a genuinely interesting aside without a link builds goodwill that pays off in a later email.

Is this just a gimmick?

Honest nuance: it works because of how people actually read, not because of any trick, but it still needs something genuinely worth reading in it, or skimmers will learn to skip that too.

Keep reading 🤍

Written by

Kate, founder of Chronically Online

I help Gold Coast and Brisbane businesses grow with branding, websites and marketing that actually works.

Work with me ✦