Today, I want to ask you people out there some questions… rhetorical questions. (I know; you never studied rhetoric in school, so these questions are unexpected…)
In another post, I asked “Does your copy sell?” I posted a link to my blog on LinkedIn and the first person to comment wrote, “It sells if there are no typos in it!” (The fact that he did not and still has not read the blog itself might say more about the person, but I digress.)
But it did get me to thinking… Do typos have an impact on sales?
Now, I’m not talking about copy that is filled with massive grammar and spelling mistakes.
Nor am I talking about factual errors (such as saying the Sun is 24 million miles away…)
But does an accidental error really hurt response in the world of direct response? Does a typo bust your brand, or build your brand, or become part of your brand? (Take a look at the giant toy retailer with the reversed R… cute, but not acceptable to a proofreader.)
Is a typo the scar on a pretty face that adds character? Do people really notice when you make a simple spelling error?
I hate it when I see “there” when it should be “their.” But I’m a writer, not the target of the sales letter offering tire rotation at the local body shop.
Are spelling mistakes “inside baseball” where only writer, proofreaders and CMO’s take notice and light their hair on fire?
Does a little bit of ugly work?
I created a mailer for a client one time that had what appeared to be a coffee mug stain on the outer envelope. The package pulled great. I know of another mailer who added a graphic of a smudgy thumb print to the envelope (to make it look like “someone really handled this item” before it got to the prospect.
I know these are not typos, but graphic enhancers… but the question becomes this: is a typo, placed in a place that makes the reader stop, sit up and take notice, also a graphic enhancer? Or do most of the people who read our copy even notice?
I see tons of sales copy, emails, websites, letters, brochures and print ads, where the writer meant “then” but wrote “than.” If schools don’t teach classic grammar and spelling (and many don’t) should we as marketers, especially my fellow copywriters, really care about every P and Q?
Are copywriters supposed to be the last bastion of perfect spelling and grammar, or should we bend with the modern trends and turn our copy into Twitter-speak?
“BTW gr-8 saving on new items. OMG…U gotta get sum”
Yes… I know we should tailor our copy to the audience… but does that mean we abandon the rules at the same time?
As I wrote at the beginning… the blog is full of a lot of rhetorical questions today.
But maybe it’s time we took a look – a real hard look – at our role: Are we communicators, educators or both?
Peter T. Britton
Idea Generator. Wordsmith. Resultant.
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