Bad English

From: Marcia Yudkin <yudkin_at_mediaone.net>
Date: Tue 05 Jun 2001 14:56:57 -0500

KENNY KNOWLES <angeloak_at_sc.rr.cojm> WROTE:

>Am I wrong? How does
>grammar stack up in advertising these days? Or is it
>acceptable to use it in emails? Okay, maybe; but
>business emails? Whadya think, ya'll?

A valuable point Kenny Knowles brought up: Bad English
does have an impact.

One usability expert told me that when he asked study
participants to visit a financial services site and
complete transactions there, every one of them
refused to complete the transactions because the site
had too many typos. How could they trust such careless
people with their money, was the thinking.

For more stories of the impact of typos and proofreading
tips, see: http://www.yudkin.com/typos.htm.

Ironically, the same issue of Online Ads contained two
serious misspellings in a URL:
http://www.imediapros.com/articels/articel_3.html
(It should have been "articles" and "article.") True,
no one's perfect, but this sort of sloppiness sabotages
credibility, whatever business you're in.

Marcia Yudkin
Author, Internet Marketing for Less than $500/Year and
  nine other books
Publisher, The Marketing Minute
http://www.yudkin.com/marketing.htm



Received on Tue Jun 05 2001 - 14:56:57 CDT