Sean Coughlan, BBC News education correspondent, has reported that customer spending on a website can be cut in half by a spelling mistake. Quoting on-line businessman Charles Duncombe he says that an analysis of website figures shows a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half and that misspellings put off consumers who could have concerns about a website's credibility. The concerns were echoed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). This holds true not just for websites but for all marketing collateral. How many times do I wince at the misuse of punctuation – especially the apostrophe.
The classic 4 Ps of Marketing have gradually grown to 8, as we all know; the most recent being “Physical proof” which covers aspects of the external appearance of professionalism and reliability such as what your premises look like and does your website seem plausible.
Your use of English says potentially more about you than anything.
This is why I am now offering a three tiered service to help organisations avoid these pitfalls. The service offers
1. Proof-reading
This is the perfect service where your manuscript is virtually complete, but needs those final checks for spelling, punctuation and grammar corrections.
2. Copy editing
Copy Editing includes the Proofreading services, but also focuses on modifying any ambiguous wording, awkward sentence construction, or unnecessary repetition.
3. Rewriting
A more involved editorial role in rewriting or reworking your manuscript where paragraph construction is revised, or bulky sections of text are restructured, where necessary or requested.
Contact me at info@dmcounsel.co.uk for more information.
