Literacy news
Spelling mistakes 'cost millions' in lost online sales
14 Jul 2011
Spelling mistakes on websites can seriously affect customer spending, says an online businessman. Charles Duncombe says an analysis of website figures shows a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half.
Mr Duncombe says when recruiting staff he has been "shocked at the poor quality of written English". He says the big problem for online firms isn't technology but finding staff who can spell. Mr Duncombe, who runs travel, mobile phones and clothing websites, says that poor spelling is costing the economy millions.
The concerns were echoed by the CBI whose head of education and skills warned that too many employers were having to invest in remedial literacy lessons for their staff.
Mr Duncombe says:
"Often these cutting-edge companies depend upon old-fashioned skills. I know that industry bemoaning the education system is nothing new but it is becoming more and more of a problem with more companies going online. This is because when you sell or communicate on the internet 99% of the time it is done by the written word.
If you project this across the whole of internet retail then millions of pounds worth of business is probably being lost each week due to simple spelling mistakes."
Spelling is important to the credibility of a website, he says. When there are underlying concerns about fraud and safety, then getting the basics right is essential.
He continues:
“When a consumer might be wary of spam or phishing efforts, a misspelt word could be a killer issue. You get about six seconds to capture the attention on a website."
When recruiting school and university leavers, Mr Duncombe says too many applications have contained spelling mistakes or poor grammar.
Even among those who appeared to be able to spell, he says that a written test, without access to a computer spellchecker, revealed further problems with spelling.
James Fothergill, the CBI's head of education and skills, says:
"Our recent research shows that 42% of employers are not satisfied with the basic reading and writing skills of school and college leavers and almost half have had to invest in remedial training to get their staff's skills up-to-scratch.
"This situation is a real concern and the government must make the improvement of basic literacy and numeracy skills of all school and college leavers a top priority."
You can read the full story on the BBC website here.
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