Why spelling matters and other writing things

From online dating to menus, spelling is one of the first things that you’ll be judged on by a prospective partner or stakeholder. And just like they’ll keep swiping if you are “luveing” life and enjoy a few “quite drinks”, so too will your stakeholders if your communication is punctuated by typos and spelling errors.

But it’s not just about spelling. Readability, which covers everything from voice, grammar, content and word selection, must be considered when writing, whether it’s for residents and businesses, your clients, contractors or your staff. So, indulge us for a moment as we get back to basics to understand (very broadly) how people read.

When most children reach the age of nine, they stop reading whole words and they start reading by recognising shapes. This allows them to read much faster as they start to skip or skim words. They begin to anticipate words and their brain fills them in automatically. This is especially true online.

We’ve all seen the posts on Facebook that claim “if oyu cna raed tihs snetcene yuo’re a gneuis. It’s because our brains can drop up to 30% of text and still understand the content. Cool huh?

But what happens when a person reaches a word or phrase that is unfamiliar, overly wordy or has too many syllables? It slows down their understanding and if they hit these wordy speed bumps time and again, they may give up on reading and that means disengaging from you and your business.

And it’s not just readability you need to consider. Can they find your content in the first place? Can they understand it? Do they read enough of it and is it effective enough to persuade them to add to cart or pick up the phone to call you?

That’s a lot of variables to consider that, let’s face it, you probably don’t usually consider when you hit post on Facebook or send out a mass email. Let the team at Spectrum Comms help you assess the readability of your communication. It might even help you get a date out of it … post Corona of course!