How Bad Business Writing Hurts You
Over the years, more and more companies are paying attention to the cost of bad writing in the workplace. Simply put, good business writing can benefit your organization. Conversely, bad business writing can hurt you.
When writing in your organization isn’t up to desirable understands, it can cause many problems that eventually costs the company money.
Errors. Poorly-written procedures and ambiguous instructions can pave the way to erroneous execution of tasks. Imagine an architect designing the wrong room because the emailed instructions weren’t clear or a quality control tester performing checks on a software feature that doesn’t need to be tested. Both of those things likely stem from bad writing and both of those things will lose you money.
Misunderstandings. When you don’t communicate clearly, you leave the potential for misunderstanding. This can lead to friction among employees. Good business writing makes everything clear and straightforward.
Complaints. When advertisements, newsletters and other written materials aimed towards customers are badly written, it can lead to complaints. This is especially true if the material can be construed as offensive, manipulative or not very truthful.
More inquiries and follow-ups. Poorly-written communication from your employees create the need for more inquiries and follow-ups. While those aren’t bad in themselves, they are perfectly avoidable if your people pay closer attention to their writing.