Why Bad Grammar Is Costing You Business

Copywriter Sarah Klongerbo joins me on the podcast today, to discuss why bad grammar is costing you business and what you can do to easily fix it.

One thing I really appreciate about this episode is that Sarah did a ton of research so that people can understand the tangible benefits of paying a little closer attention to their copy.

If you’re interested in learning more from Sarah, consider subscribing to her weekly newsletter, The Weekly Wink.

More About Sarah

Sarah Klongerbo is a creative copywriter and website designer based in South Dakota, America’s heartland. She believes your story matters, and the way you tell it can make or break your business. Head to sarahklongerbo.com to see how she can craft you a compelling message and polished website to validate your brand, increase your impact, and make your business shine online!

The importance of good grammar + writing skills for business owners

It makes or breaks a first impression.

• One study found that language errors affected how attractive people were viewed in their online dating profiles.
• Language errors affect impressions of online dating profile owners’ attractiveness (33% noticed the mistakes).
• A bad typo (or series of typos) can turn people off from your business before you even have the chance to show them why they should care about you.

It makes you look credible.

• Establishing trust is essential to getting someone to buy from you — and professional copy is essential to establishing trust.
• Poor grammar makes you look incompetent, lazy, or ignorant.
• Many CEOs won’t hire people who are bad at grammar.
  • My husband, Troy, has hired several people, and he says that typos on a resume or cover letter are an immediate red flag. (Even if grammar doesn’t come naturally to you, you should care enough about the position that you at least hire someone to proofread your application.)

It creates clarity in your communication.

• Poorly written copy can cause confusion about your offer.
• Editing saves you time by avoiding follow-up questions (“did you mean…?”).

It protects your brand image.

• You could have a beautiful brand, but consistent typos can damage your reputation. (Don’t you want to attract clients who value professionalism?)
• Good editing shows you care about providing a great client experience.
• It also shows you pay attention to detail in all areas of your business.

It earns you more business.

• Copywriting mistakes are literally turning people away from your business.
  • One study showed that U.S. businesses with bad grammar and spelling mistakes on their websites will lose almost double the number of potential customers than those with typo-free sites.
  • A similar study showed that the bounce rate on landing pages with sloppy spelling and grammar was 85 percent more than those that were correctly written and spell-checked.
  • Not only do you lose those potential customers in the moment, but a high bounce rate also hurts your ranking on Google — so you lose potential future customers, too.
  • Same thing with Google Ads: the research found that web visitors are 70 percent less likely to click on Google Ads with a spelling or grammar mistake. Since these ads receive fewer clicks, Google also lowered their position and charged:
    • 72 percent more for ads with grammar errors
    • 20 percent more for ads with spelling mistakes
• Polished writing also benefits you financially in the workplace.
  • In a Grammarly study of 100 LinkedIn profiles of native English speakers, professionals with fewer grammar errors in their profiles had achieved higher positions and earned more promotions. 
  • Professionals with 6-9 promotions made 45% fewer grammatical errors than those who’d been promoted 1-4 times.

Common grammar + writing mistakes creative entrepreneurs make

Spelling errors

• Self-explanatory — don’t need to dwell on this
• American vs British spellings (I’m actually sending this email today)
• Homophones (e.g. “their,” “there,” “they’re”)

Capitalization errors

• Be very judicious about the use of all caps and even title case (difficult to read; sound scream-y or academic)
• Capitalize “is” in title case
• Don’t capitalize Important Words unless they’re proper nouns (e.g. “my Dad” vs “Dad” as a name)

Punctuation errors

• Use the Oxford comma for clarity
• Use exclamation marks sparingly
• Don’t use commas when you should use semicolons, em dashes, or periods (avoid run-on sentences)
• Don’t confuse “it’s” vs “its”
• Don’t put quotation marks around “significant words”
• Don’t put apostrophes in people’s last names on Christmas cards (e.g. my Instagram post)

Formatting errors

• Don’t use double spaces between sentences
• Don’t use too much (or too little) bold or italicized text

Grammatical errors

• Don’t use redundant phrases (e.g. “each and every,” “added bonus,” “end result”)
• Say “people who” (not “people that”)
• Don’t confuse “less” and “fewer” (e.g. “less dollars”)
• Use the correct subject or object pronoun (e.g. “he and I went there,” not “him and I went there,” or “bring that over to him and me,” not “bring that over to him and I”)
• Don’t use passive voice (e.g. “the flowers were given to her by me” vs “I gave her the flowers”)
• And lots more…

Ways to prevent these mistakes + write better, more polished copy

Brush up on your grammar knowledge.

• Subscribe to The Weekly Wink
• Read books (e.g. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, The Elements of Style)
• Take a course

Write first, edit later.

• Don’t edit yourself as you write — allow yourself to freely be creative
• Then, take a break from the copy and come back with fresh eyes

Put the copy in a different context.

• Read it out loud (helps you sound more conversational and identify errors in sentence structure)
• Copy and paste it into a different text editor
• Why I use the Facebook Ads Mockup Generator when writing ad copy

Get a second set of eyes on it.

• Hire a copywriter for significant pieces of copy (e.g. sales pages)
• Otherwise, a trusted colleague, friend, or even spouse will do
• Why we have a “Proofread Copy:” section on our copy docs at Till
• Why I send my newsletters to my husband to review
• No need to go overboard — you probably don’t need a proofreader for your social media posts
• Use a grammar checker tool — but with caution (as they aren’t always accurate)
• Grammarly
• Free Grammar Check from Writer
• The “spelling and grammar” tools in Google Docs

Do regular copy audits.

• Review your website copy (+ other evergreen content) at least once a year
• Fix errors as soon as you see them
• Own up to huge mistakes (“sorry about that last email!”), but don’t feel the need to acknowledge minor ones — just learn from them and move on

When you can break the rules

Only when you know it will improve the message.

• Break rules for effect, not efficiency.
  • “The better you know the rules, the more qualified you are to break them.”
• “Get out of the comp teacher’s lap,” as my college creative writing professor would say.
• Want to add a comma to create a “pause” effect? Go for it — just be sure you know what you’re doing (and do it sparingly).
  • Quote from Eddie Shleyner of Very Good Copy:
    • “But why did you put a comma there?” Bob pointed at the sentence. “And not there?” he pointed somewhere else.
    • I looked at him.
    • “Cause that’s how I want folks to read it,” I said.
    • Copywriting isn’t perfect grammar, Bob.
    • It’s a feeeeeling.
    • Yeh?

If in doubt…

• Don’t take dumb chances.
• Ask an editor.