Lots of people who know me like to joke about a few of my idiosyncrasies, like my problem with exclamation points. I don't use them often, and, like to basically taunt people who do. When I use one, I use it with every honor that some English teacher somewhere will respect. I attribute my exclamation point issue both with my personality and my journalism background, but also because of the problem I have with its misuse....
I'm not a fan of false or exaggerated enthusiasm, and the misuse of the exclamation point is doing just that. It can hurt your credibility and it can hurt your brand.
Let me prove my point on two cases that come to mind:
- I was helping with a campaign for someone once, and within the same paragraph, they used five exclamation points. Five. I happened to like this candidate and thought the use was a bit much. I said so and explained my point to the campaign director, which was, you're making the candidate's entire platform seem uncredible due to your overuse/misuse of exclamation points. We don't need five; let's maybe use one. They came around, but...the very next ad they requested guess who showed up for the party?
- Sometimes, just for giggles, I'll look through the real estate magazines. Sorry Realtor pals, but you guys are some of the worst at overuse and misuse of my friend the exclamation point. Is well-maintained! and Needs Updates! really exclamation point worthy? Again you have made me all but cancel out anything that you're saying is Beautiful! and Must See! just because you're trying to oversell me on everything. It's not all that great. You're bringing down your credibility and doing your client a disservice in selling their home.
In general, exclamation points are great when you mean them and when used only when appropriate. The more you use them, the more you chip away at your credibility and your educating/selling goals of your piece. Don't shoot yourself or your company's image just because you don't know when to stop your use. If it's genuine, use it. If it's not, don't.
