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.