This Is a Bad Sign: Inaccuracies Will Give You Brand ‘Incontinence’
On one hand, this sign from Congressional Federal Credit Union is so funny, it will have you peeing in your pants — maybe literally.
On the other hand, “incontinence” is nothing to laugh about, because this is a serious matter.
Why?
As innocent as typos + misspellings may be, they equate with inaccuracy. Inaccuracy is downright icky in the financial industry. People entrust their money to financial institutions. They expect you to keep track of it — all of it. That’s why people get pretty picky about where you put things like. periods and commas,
Unfortunately, one wrong word isn’t the only problem with this sign. The second sentence should read, “Rayburn and Longworth branches are open today.” (Repaired words are indicated in bold.)
It wouldn’t be as big deal if this sign had been hung on the door of a second-hand clothing store, but it was on a credit union.
Bottom Line: It’s risky leaving signage and other retail messages up to your branch staff. If you’re a financial institution trying to build your brand around “smart, knowledgeable advice you can trust,” this kind of faux pax can seriously undermine your efforts.
[Source: Politico]
Related Reading:
- Man Charged $81 Billion For $26 Gas Fill-up
- Credit Union Mistake Puts More Than $2 Million into 17-Year-Old’s Bank Account
This article © 2012 by The Financial Brand and may not be reproduced.
Related Articles From The Financial Brand:
- Free Book with 90+ Photos of Branded Retail Branch Environments
- RFID Chips Spell End to Branch Lines for High-Value Customers
- Instant Issue Debit/Credit Cards: A Branch-Only Convenience
- Reinventing ATB Financial’s Brand Through Branches
JP, agreed. It reminds me of my experience working with Ray Davis at Umpqua Bank. In the earlier days of Umpqua’s transformation, he was often asked by employees why the couldn’t have Friday casual days. His story was that someone could walk into the bank on Friday and ask, “are you treating my money casually today, too?” When it comes to people’s money, being casual is not a good thing. Sure, you can and should have personality, but it has to come with high performance, and accuracy as you pointed out. I’d be nervous if I was a member of this CU–if they can’t even get the signs right, how can I make sure they’re handling my money responsibly?
I disagree about the 2nd hand clothing store, although I see what you mean…I think any business that wants to be successful needs to nail this stuff down.
Thanks for the post; it is downright hilarious. We had an internal communication go out a couple years ago with the same thing…inconvenience was misspelled and auto correct picked incontinence to replace it so the author never knew. LOL
@Jonathan Gowins: You gotta love spell check. It’s smart enough to correct misspelled “inconvenience” but not smart enough to recognize that “branch” and “opened” are both contextually wrong. Good for a few laughs for sure!
I agree that typos can undermine your efforts. Remember that spell check won’t pick up on some of the most common errors, such as your/you’re and their/there/they’re.
Actually, wouldn’t a branch be closed because of INADEQUATE staffing? And the real issue is LAZINESS – people won’t take an extra minute or two to READ what they’ve WRITTEN and it is so worth the effort! You can always find phrases and/or wording that can be made clearer, more precise, less wordy when you simply proof your work by reading it again. And if you’re not part of the grammar police, for crying-out-loud have someone else read the thing! Nothing says “throw me into the trash can immediately” more than misspellings and incorrect usage.