According to a recent article published by the BBC, poor spelling can cost millions of dollars in lost revenue for internet businesses. Entrepreneur Charles Duncombe says an analysis of website figures shows a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half. Sales figures suggest misspellings put off consumers who could have concerns about a website’s credibility. “Poor spelling is a serious problem for the online economy,” he says. “Most medical practices now have an on-line presence, be it a website, blog, social media page.”
However, when a patient contacts your office asking questions via email, the questions to ask yourself is “who is answering these emails,” and “can they spell correctly? ” Remember, 99% of the time, on-line communication is done using the written word. Even college graduates are using text speak in their communication. As time consuming as it seems, you might want to review all document templates used by staff members, and monitor outgoing emails to make sure that spelling mistakes are not costing you money.