How much would a typo cost your business? Can you afford the risk to your reputation?
I’ve been pondering this question every morning as I make my coffee. I stand there bleary-eyed, staring at a very glaring typo on the side of a box of big-brand kid’s pain relief that sits on the pantry shelf.
It would have cost a lot to produce this box. Throw in the designer’s time, the marketing team’s efforts, the category manager’s work… not to mention a massive print run. And yet they couldn’t afford a couple of hours’ editing and proofreading so that the word “available” was not mis-typed as “avaible”?
Now, I know that most mums and dads out there aren’t scrutinising the copy on their medicine packaging for typos – so it’s not going to cost this pharmaceutical behemoth much in the way of reputation. But typos and grammar mistakes in everyday business communication can be very costly.
Words sell your business
Whether it’s on your website, in email communications, in brochures or packaging, the right words will reinforce the positive image of your business that you’ve worked so hard to create. On the flip side, a silly mistake can cause that image to come crashing down.
I recently received a “Thanks for coming to the meeting”-type email from a potential business collaborator. It was riddled with mistakes, which made me immediately question their worth. As I read the email, I thought: “If they are so pressed for time that they can’t check their email for mistakes, how will they find time to service my business?”
I also pondered whether a person that lacks the basic skills of punctuation and grammar had the mental capacity to do the job properly – but perhaps I wasn’t being fair. After all, I don’t know brain-surgery-speak.
In any case, I wasn’t sold on their proposition and decided to take my business elsewhere. The simple task of proofreading their email may have re-written the outcome.
What about mis-spelt search keywords?
Web copywriting with typos and grammar mistakes is another no-no. I used to get asked by some clients to include typos in my web copy – purely for SEO purposes, of course, to capture all those geese out there who cannot spell “computer” right, or whatever search term they’re using.
I would never do as I was asked. Instead, I would explain to my clients that it was a much more effective strategy to bury those mis-spelt keywords in the metadata, far away from public eyes. Better to risk losing a few customer who can’t spell properly than the thousands who can – and get put off by all the typos on your web page.
The cost of professional writing
It doesn’t cost much to engage a professional writer. In the grand scheme of things, it’s just one small line item in your marketing budget – usually vastly superseded by design and production costs.
Yet the cost of not using a copywriter will quickly add up. Can you afford it?