‘Traffic is a key word to anv retailer. A shopping center that increases traffic will generally see an increase in sales  or its stores. And since the traffic generated by these stores can only be compared to getting a prospect into your copy, you increase traffic by increasing readership. One way to increase readership is by applyinga theory I call “seeds of curiosity. “It goes like this. At the end of a paragraph, will often put a very short sentence that offers some reason for the reader to read the next paragraph I use sentences such as:
But there’s more.
So read on.
But I didn’t stop there.
Let me explain.
Now here comes the good part.
These seeds of curiosity cause you to subconsciously continue reading even though you might be at a point in the copy where the copy slows down. This concept is used a lot on TV before the show host goes to a commercial. She may say, “When we come back, we’ll see something that you’ve never seen on TV before. Stay tuned.” Well, it should be done in print too. And here’s why. (Notice how I just used it.) In print, the ideal situation is to create such interesting and compelling copy that you don’t need the seeds of curiosity, but often that is very difficult. And using these seeds of curiosity enhancesm ost copy. But like every good thing, don’t overdo it. Later in this book I will be showing examples of seeds of curiosity at work in many of my ads. Use them; they are very effective. But there’s another example. Seeds of curiosity can be used at the beginning of an ad where you mention some benefit or payoff that you are going to reveal somewherei n your copy. In short, the readerh as to read the entire ad to find it. A good example of this technique was in our Consumers Hero ad mentioned in Chapter B. In that ad, you had to read the entire copy before you got to the punch line.