Thought is the only power which can produce tangible riches from the formless substance. The stuff from which all things are made is a substance which thinks, and a thought of form in this substance produces the form.

Original substance moves according to its thoughts; every form and process you see in nature is the visible expression of a thought in original substance. As the formless stuff thinks of a form, it takes that form; as it thinks of a motion, it makes that motion. That is the way all things were created.

We live in a thought world, which is part of a thought universe. The thought of a moving universe extended throughout formless substance, and the thinking stuff — moving according to that thought — took the form of systems of planets, and maintains that form. Thinking substance takes the form of its thought, and moves according to the thought.

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Pictures in advertising are very expensive. Not in cost of good art work alone, but in the cost of space. From one-third to one-half of an advertising campaign is often staked on the power of the pictures. Anything expensive must be effective, else it involves much waste. So art in advertising is a study of paramount importance.

Pictures should not be used merely because they are interesting. Or to attract attention. Or to decorate an ad. We have covered these points elsewhere. Ads are not written to interest, please or amuse. You are not writing to please the hoi-polloi. You are writing on a serious subject — the subject of money spending. And you address a restricted minority.

Use pictures only to attract those who may profit you. Use them only when they form a better selling argument than the same amount of space set in type.

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Something happened recently that provided incontrovertible proof of the importance of an infallible rule in copywriting.

I knew it all along but never saw it proven to me in such a personal and direct way.

What am I talking about? No, it’s not the headline. It’s not being emotional. It’s not benefits. And it’s not split-testing.

Sure, all of those things are important. Very important. But the one element I’m referring to, the one element that can transform your copy into a sales-inducing powerhouse, is…

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The greater portion of my career has been in copywriting, selling and direct marketing. And one of the common denominators I’ve found in any successful piece of copy is the power of risk reversal. That is, taking more of a risk from the sale than the purchaser of your product.

The greater the guarantee, the greater the sales. This has been consistent in almost every industry in which I’ve worked, and with every split-test I’ve conducted. For example, a 30-day guarantee will outsell no guarantee. A 90-day guarantee will outsell a 30-day one. And so on and so forth.

However, there are some exceptions to this rule.

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