The Real Costs of Ignoring Copyediting and Proofreading for Marketers

The human eye remains the most reliable asset when it comes to copyediting and proofreading for ads and marketing materials.

Marketing and advertising budgets are increasingly tight, especially for small and solo business owners. And while social media has become the opportunity for every business in any industry to reach broader audiences, it’s also becoming a breeding ground for poor ad and marketing copy that significantly impacts the customer experience… and a company’s bottom line.

Ad copy and landing pages that contain poorly worded content, grammatical errors and misplaced punctuation are immediate fails in my opinion. And I’m not alone:

According to a survey by Disruptive Communications on thinkx.net, 42.5% of respondents cited poor spelling and grammar as most likely to damage their opinion of a brand in the social media setting.

Website Planet conducted an extensive study that found the damage to a marketing budget can also be huge because ads with misspells and other grammatical errors may cost 10-20% more per click and result in up to 70% fewer clicks.

The study uncovered even more disturbing statistics:

• Bad grammar in ads reduced site visits by 4%,

• Grammar errors on landing pages increased bounce rates by 85% and reduced time on sites by 8%,

• US-based companies lost two customers out of 100 for every grammatical error and 4 customers out of 100 for every spelling error,

• UK-based companies lost 70 customers out 100 for every grammatical error and 20 customers out of 100 for every spelling error,

• Google’s algorithm lowered the organic page rankings for grammatically incorrect copy.

Quality copyediting and proofreading for ads and marketing materials are crucial to brand credibility. Poorly worded ads that contain grammatical errors affect the way your customers view you. Bounce rates soar when landing pages contain typos and other errors.

Clean and clear marketing content improves communication and engagement with your target audiences that results in more organic recognition of the value your products or services bring to the customer.

Brand consistency and strong SEO positions become easier to maintain across all platforms when the content is clean, clear and authentic.