How serious is it?

I've been reading recently about whether – and to what extent – print errors really affect potential customers and the bottom line. Even though noticing errors is my business, I was surprised by what my reading revealed.

Marketing data show that these errors are laughed about, reprinted, shared on social media, all resulting in precisely that – the company being laughed at. Do we any longer take that business seriously? Remember the old adage, you never get a second chance to make a first impression? Think about what those errors say about the company, and what potential customers' initial impressions are when they see them. Perhaps they are thinking “Is bad publicity better than no publicity?” or is it more likely “Just how much attention will they pay to me/my business if they don't pay attention to what they write?”

It's all in the “details”

A study conducted by U.K. firm Global Lingo found that 74 percent of consumers pay attention to the correctness of what is written on company websites, with 59 percent stating they would not buy from a company that has made obvious errors in either grammar or spelling. This majority of the respondents included that that decision was based on a tendency to not trust the company to provide good quality service. Others stated they would be put off the business due to a perceived obvious lack of care, or would consider the company to be unprofessional.

Will you take that risk? 
Will the little details trip you up?

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Do you do business internationally? Then consider this little tidbit from the survey, with which I agree wholeheartedly as some of my business has also been as a translator and I have seen far too many you-get-what-you-pay-for translations. When consumers were asked if errors in a foreign company's English translations (this works both ways, if you do business internationally) made a difference, of the 31 percent who stated they had run across this while shopping, just four percent of these consumers stayed on that website or purchased anything from it.

The Editing World

I'll just hire an editor, that'll fix the problem.

Actually, no it won't. We all have our role, so let's begin with this... 

An Editor uses specialized knowledge to edit your text to make it smooth, clear, concise, and understandable. A good editor uses that knowledge to rewrite sentences or even paragraphs, correcting any obvious errors, but focusing mainly on using their expertise to make sure your document makes perfect sense. And then sends it on to a copyeditor or proofreader.

A Copyeditor is a proofreader with the added knowledge and experience in not only grammar, spelling and English variations, but also styles of writing. A copyeditor will sometimes have specialized knowledge in a particular field, but will always ensure consistency throughout the text (style, names, dates, locations, etc.). A great copyeditor with the added expertise of a proofreader is your final line of defense and always worth it, especially if your content has gone through various changes and hands. 

A Proofreader reviews a final product, the edited text, for spelling, punctuation, typos, correct use of English, and regional and international variations. Your editor had a go at your document, or you're sure it's pretty much in final form and you need to make sure there are no strange uncaught typos or commas? You're experienced at writing content and know you simply need good proofreading but no rewrites, etc.? An experienced proofreader is perfect here.

It's Just a Silly Little Typo

Oh g'w'on...typos are trivial, they don't mean anything! No one really cares, because everyone knows what I mean. And besides, they're funny! We're all human and make mistakes. So what! We "don't see” them when we read because our brain knows what the word is supposed to say.

Right?

Yes...Yes it does have its price

No, not right. A few infamous reasons why:

• In 2004, Philadelphia Judge Jacob P. Hart included in his ruling a massive reduction in attorney fees due to excessive typos, to the tune of $31,350.
• In 2005 one of the costliest business errors was made when a Japanese bank sold shares of one of its companies on the Tokyo stock exchange. No problem, easy to do. However, instead of selling each single share at 610,000 yen, a “minor” typographical error placed the order at 610,000 shares at one (1) yen each. Damage done: the equivalent of $340 million.
• We can go as far back as 1631 to see proofreading issues. English royal printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas were to reproduce the King James Bible. Kudos to them for only having ONE error in 783,137 words! But they lost their business license anyway and were fined the equivalent of $50,000 (£300 then). For one little error? I think readers would probably not mentally “fix” "Thou shalt commit adultery." It became known as the “Wicked Bible” and rumor has it that 11 copies are still out there.

The cost of typos for businesses each year is in the millions. In this day and age of social media and instant ability to “let the world know,” company reputations can be seriously damaged, professionalism and even competence questioned, branding damaged, charges of false advertising or bait-and-switch (see Alitalia example below), and the backlash from angry customers with instant access to the consuming world. Customers, both present and potential, begin to ask themselves “Is anyone there even paying attention to what they are publishing?”

Alitalia barely rescued a bit of its reputation in a “goodwill” gesture in 2006 when a typographical error offered business-class flights from Toronto to Cyprus for $39 instead of the usual $3,900. After up to 2,000 tickets were sold, Alitalia attempted to cancel the tickets, prompting a backlash in public relations. The decision to cut its losses of in excess of $7.2 million and market its “goodwill gesture” allowed them to protect its reputation.

Could every company rescue itself like this? Is a lack of proofreading worth the risk?

A single misplaced character or comma can have extreme financial consequences in the insurance industry. See “The $759 million comma,” by Jerry Trupin in the Insurance Advocate, October 13, 2014.

You may think that these are extreme cases and the odds are in your favor that your spellcheck is up to the task of making sure your document says what you want, and your grammar checker will highlight every sentence it sees as questionable. I'm sure no one will notice that the design of your paper “complimented” your envelope instead of “complemented” it. Or that everyone would realize that 3 tablespoons isn't all that much different from 3 teaspoons, or that three-quarters of a cup cannot be lazily translated to “it's very close to a cup, so it must be about 250 milliliters.”

This all tells us that there cannot be enough importance given to proofreading and copyediting at every point of content creation. Recent economic trends have seen a shift in where to spend money for businesses, allowing for “oh a little typo and a little embarrassment isn't worth the money we'd have to spend for a proofreader.” Word processing programs can identify and correct typographical errors, but there is a limit to what they can do, and can never substitute for a professional proofreader.

Make sure that what you write, submit and/or publish can be held to the higher quality that is demanded today, offering higher value, surpassing your target's expectations and ranks you as high as you hope to be. Don't make the mistake of disregarding the fact that inadequate proofreading can result in a single keystroke disaster.