Spelling mistakes make users 'have no faith' in sender

Companies undertaking an email marketing campaign probably won't be surprised to hear that spelling mistakes are one of the biggest turn-offs for email recipients.

However, when 65 per cent of people say that they have 'no faith' in a company as a result of spelling mistakes, heads might start to turn.

A Staples UK/OnePoll survey found that spelling really is this important to a reader, independent.co.uk reports, meaning that those who mess up could end up throwing away sales or even customers.

Abrupt 'Out of Office' replies followed closely behind (46 per cent) poor spelling, the poll into irksome traits of emails found. Nearly six in 10 people meanwhile expressed their anger over those who don't set them up at all.

"People read out of office more often than you think," commented Staples UK's managing director, Amee Chande, on hrmagazine.co.uk.

"Beyond the basics, why not take the opportunity to communicate your own personality or that of your company by being creative, humorous and thoughtful?" she suggested.

Other grievances included the presence of kisses on emails to clients. This was a serious no-no, with 66 per cent of people in agreement. Smiley faces were also seen as unprofessional, as were close terms of endearment, like 'honey' or 'dear', according to 44 per cent and 54 per cent of respondents respectively.