Clicks 'n Conversions Blog

Wow! Who knew that grammar could evoke such passion? Over the past two weeks, I’ve asked groups on several social networking sites, including LinkedIn, Ryze, and bizSugar, to weigh in on the subject of writing errors and its impact to business.

Clearly, there are some people who believe that content should be judged on substance, not technicality and structure. Several people brought up prior incidents where they felt their own words were nit-picked incessantly and unnecessarily.

One person speculated that the woman who canceled her New York Times subscription had another underlying reason for doing so, and he called her a fool for canceling.

Still others were willing to cut people some slack depending on the communication medium used and the type of person committing the writing error. Techies, for example, were more likely to be forgiven than journalists or professional writers.

What’s also clear is that there is a second group of people that believe writing errors are a strong indicator of bigger problems.

One of the questions in the survey asks people what (if anything) they question whenever they encounter a writing error in business communication.

Respondents could write in their own answers to this question, and interestingly, one person said that errors made them question the legitimacy of a business. Credibility, professionalism, and quality were also points of concern raised by some folks.

It’s not too late to weigh in with your own opinions. Just five questions long, the survey should take you less than two minutes to complete. As a participant, you can remain completely anonymous, or you can submit your e-mail address to receive survey results.

I’ll keep the survey open until February 28th and will post results in this blog during the March/April timeframe.

To take the survey now, go to:
http://bit.ly/6yXttb.

Thanks in advance for your help and participation.

- Sue Anderson-Lenz
Marketing Lure, Inc.

P.S. Please help me spread the word about this survey by sharing the survey link with your own network of friends and colleagues. More people will equal more accurate results.