How Exclamation Points In Your Tweets Affect Retweets & Clicks [Chart]

We all have our own styles when we type our tweets. For example, some people (like me) put smileys on a lot of their tweets. Other people get annoyed by smileys, and they don’t use them at all. Some people are sarcastic, and others are always cheerful and helpful. There are probably as many typing styles as there are personality types in the world. But what about exclamation points? If you use those, did you know that they can affect your retweets and clicks on Twitter?

According to this little chart which simply states Exclamation Points Get More Retweets, But Fewer Clicks (by Dan Zarrella), you’ll see exactly how that tiny detail can affect whether or not someone retweets your tweet or clicks on your link. In order to get this information, Dan analyzed a data set of more than 2 million tweets with links sent by Twitter accounts with at least 1,000 followers.

Now that I think about it, an exclamation point can seem a little sales-y. For example “Enter to win!” “Last chance to sign up!” and phrases like that make me not want to click on them. They seem like a sales pitch. However, if I remove the exclamation point, they suddenly don’t seem so in your face – “Enter to win” “Last chance to sign up.”

I don’t know if that has anything to do with why fewer people would click on the link, but it affects why I personally wouldn’t click on it. I would retweet a tweet like that though. This type of Internet psychology is so prevalent in online marketing. I hope being armed with this information will encourage you to think about your own use of exclamation points, and how it affects your retweets and clicks. I know it’s going to make me think about it more.