Shop owners beware: the average customer is not only able to spot grammatical mistakes, but he is likely to walk away in disgust if a solecism appears on signage.
SmallBusinessHeroes.co.uk commissioned a survey last month on how customers respond to spelling and grammatical errors made by small firms. Backed by the Apostrophe Protection Society, the survey revealed some startling facts about consumers in the UK.
According to the results of the survey, 90 per cent of customers consider spelling and grammatical mistakes on commercial signs to be “unacceptable.” Almost 50 per cent of prospective buyers are turned off by signs that include such errors. And most despise firms that elect to use ‘text talk’ over grammatically correct English.
John Richards, chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, commented: “We would say that correct grammar is very important to a business of any size.
“A firm is judged, at first, on its presentation. Many people would think that if a company owner can’t be bothered to use correct grammar, or is too lazy to learn, then where else might [he] be found wanting?”
Here at The Sussex Sign Company, we treat the English language with the respect that it deserves. We advise small and medium-sized businesses to do the same.