{"id":5251,"date":"2012-12-03T11:22:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T00:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/?p=5251"},"modified":"2013-08-07T10:35:18","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T00:35:18","slug":"big-guys-would-get-it-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/2012\/12\/big-guys-would-get-it-right\/","title":{"rendered":"You’d think the big guys would get it right…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it just me, or do you have more tolerance of a small business making mistakes than a big business?<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A basic proofreading checklist<\/p><\/div>\n

That is, for\u00a0mistakes like spelling errors, dead links on their website<\/a>, out of date information and lack of clarity in a message<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think\u00a0if you have the budget for huge campaigns, you have the budget to get a writer or editor to help you avoid stupid mistakes<\/a>. A sole\u00a0trader on the other hand often has less money\u00a0to spend and more hats to wear so mistakes are a little more excusable.<\/p>\n

Budget for the details<\/h2>\n

I was asked by a major entity to complete a survey that they intend to use to produce some data that can impact on the digital media and brands.<\/p>\n

It was longer than I expected but more than\u00a0that, it was\u00a0very disappointing\u00a0from a group that is producing such a report.<\/p>\n

Having a poor survey through lack of attention to detail <\/a>reduces their credibility – if they can’t get the\u00a0questions right, is their analysis going to be any good?<\/p>\n

Compared to the\u00a0time and money they have put into preparing and promoting this survey, and then turning the results\u00a0into a report, it would have cost little to have had it reviewed by a writer or editor to ensure it would\u00a0work. It’s like spending a million dollars to build your dream house but not checking the architect remembered to add a front door.<\/p>\n

International survey<\/h2>\n

Some of the issues I came across in this particular survey\u00a0were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0I was invited\u00a0twice (ie\u00a0via two different .com.au email addresses) to complete this survey. Yet there was a question ‘Please enter your five digit zip code’ – my four digit postcode wasn’t accepted. So are they so ignorant to not realise we don’t all have a US\u00a0zip code (the error messages actually stated “You must enter a valid US zip code”) or was this survey only meant for US residents?
    \nTip:<\/strong> if preparing any sort of online form, make it usable for all aspects of your audience\u00a0– and make it clear at the start if some\u00a0groups can’t participate<\/li>\n
  2. There were too many assumptions within the questions, but I had to\u00a0answer them anyway so they are getting\u00a0meaningless results from the survey. For example, “which of the following do you generate money from?” listed about six possible answers – I don’t earn money from any of them but there\u00a0 wasn’t a ‘none of the above’ type answer.
    \nI did get some\u00a0satisfaction in a couple of those questions if they at least gave an ‘other’ option as I wrote the real answer in that field!
    \nTip:<\/strong>\u00a0always have an answer for everyone in a survey – if people\u00a0can’t answer, they can skew your results with dummy answers and it frustrates them<\/li>\n
  3. One question asked ‘what is your key source for finding companies that don’t meet your requirements?’ followed by a series of criteria that you could\u00a0use to filter out a company and a couple of other points. In other words, it made absolutely\u00a0no sense and I couldn’t answer it – well I used the ‘other’ field to say it made no sense so I couldn’t choose\u00a0from their list!
    \nTip<\/strong>: always do a final read of materials\u00a0to ensure everything makes sense. Edits along\u00a0the way can change things so read it in full to be sure – and preferably get fresh eyes to view it, too.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"Maths

    Poor data can’t result in a good report, whichever way you add it<\/p><\/div>\n

    One better written question they included\u00a0asked where I got inspiration\u00a0for my blog\u00a0posts<\/a>. I could only select one answer, which is limiting as I find inspiration in many places. However, I again used the ‘other’ option and\u00a0 wrote I am inspired by poor communications efforts I see – such as surveys like this with poor questions! You have to find fun where you can, I say!<\/p>\n

    So not a great survey<\/a> (and I will struggle to trust their results) but it did inspire a blog post and gave me some amusement using their ‘other’ fields!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Is it just me, or do you have more tolerance of a small business making mistakes than a big business? That is, for\u00a0mistakes like spelling errors, dead links on their website, out of date information and lack of clarity in a message. I think\u00a0if you have the budget for huge campaigns, you have the budget […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,1425,53],"tags":[1325,376,143,597],"class_list":["post-5251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-writing-examples","category-business-communications","category-business-info-tools","tag-budget","tag-details","tag-survey","tag-writer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t