Online Shoppers Shun Shoddy Spelling Sites

May 2, 2012 - PRLog -- The WordWright, a leading business writing agency, announced the results of a preliminary survey, which explores the perceptions online shoppers have of businesses that do not check the spelling and grammar on their e-commerce sites. The survey is a precursor to a more extensive survey planned for later this year.

The idea to launch this poll, which included responses from online shoppers in the USA, the UK and South Africa, was conceived after a recent BBC article revealed that a single spelling mistake could cut the online sales of an e-commerce site by as much as a half.

“We initially ran the survey in an attempt to gauge whether the BBC article was exaggerating the effects of poor language use,” said Debbie Bouwer, a Director at The WordWright. “As it turns out, they might have been understating it.”

Survey Results
The survey results show that the odds are stacked heavily against those e-commerce sites that contain spelling and grammar mistakes.

90.5% of the respondents attributed these mistakes to a lack of attention to detail on the part of the business. In the commentary section, more than a half of the survey respondents stated that this lack of attention caused them to lose trust in the product on offer, the security arrangements of the site and their after sales logistics.

81% of the online shoppers polled, indicated that they would not make an online purchase from businesses that have spelling and grammar errors on their sites. 14% said that they would have to first think it over while a mere 4% said that they would purchase regardless.

“If you own an online business, using a spellchecker is not enough,” Debbie Bouwer pointed out. “Find somebody to proofread your content before you publish it.”

She went on to say that they were all greatly surprised at the results of the initial survey and that they plan on launching a formal, much larger scale survey in the final quarter of this year to confirm the accuracy of their initial findings.

About The WordWright
The WordWright (www.thewordwright.com) is a leading supplier of copywriting solutions to businesses serving the English speaking market.