I admit it, when I write something on my smartphone, I make my share of writing mistakes.
Sometimes I’m lucky and correct the mistakes before sending out that email message to my client with the latest project update.
And sometimes I’m not so lucky.
Ouch.
That’s not the way I want my clients to view my communication.
In their Workplace Communication: It’s Time to Write Better on Mobile infographic, Grammarly discusses the impact poor mobile communication can have on your business and shares steps you can take to improve your communication.
Check out their infographic for tips, or if you prefer, read the text version of the infographic.
Workplace Communication: It’s Time to Write Better on Mobile
Communication is constantly evolving. Paper memos dropped on colleagues’ desks have become emails with too many people accidentally clicking “reply all.”
In 2016, mobile devices became the most popular way to access the internet. (Statcounter, 2016)
As mobile text communication continues to rise, what happens to the quality of our communication?
Grammarly investigated the effectiveness of communication on mobile devices—and its potential impact on your work.
How Important is Mobile Communication in the Workplace?
- 50 percent of work communication will happen on mobile group collaboration apps in 2018. (Gartner, 2015)
What’s the Current Quality of Mobile Communication?
Grammarly found that on average, mobile writing is riddled with five times as many mistakes as desktop writing—even though fewer words are typed on mobile.
- Mobile: 42 mistakes per 100 words
- Desktop: 8 mistakes per 100 words
How Could Poor Communication Impact the Workplace?
It’s estimated that small to medium-sized businesses lose $5,246 per year per employee as a result of inefficiencies in communication. (SIS International Research, 2017)
RT@jverlee2: Meant to write an email saying “hey Jim i’m afraid I can’t come”, but I hit send after writing “hey Jim, I’m afraid” #EmailFail
— Alexandra Velasco (@MrsRonWeasley) February 28, 2015
Grammarly identified the nine most common issues that hold back your professional mobile communication.
Accuracy
- Misspelled words.
These not only make your text hard to understand, they can cost you credibility at work. - Wrong preposition.
Mixing up a “from” and a “to” can change the entire meaning of your message. - Missing articles.
Avoid an awkward-sounding sentence. Know when to use “a,” “an,” and “the” in front of nouns.
Clarity
- Wordiness.
Filler words and phrases can make colleagues and clients lose interest. - Unclear antecedent.
Don’t confuse your colleagues. Make clear what ‘it’ and ‘that’ refer to in your sentence. - Long sentence.
If you can’t read your sentence out loud without running out of breath, it’s probably too long.
Effectivness
- Vague words and phrases.
Don’t make people read between the lines. Be specific. - Repetitive language.
Read your piece out loud, then cut down or replace frequently used words. - Passive Voice.
Try to reformulate your writing with as few “to be” verbs as possible.
