The Two Sets of Eyes Rule
By Jerry Rackley
We all make mistakes, even professional marketers, who are among the best communicators in the world. The problem for us is that when we make mistakes, we often do it on a big stage.
Just recently, I read the story of the University of Texas commencement program for the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Right there, on the cover of this well designed program, is the glaring typo: instead of “Public Affairs” the program clearly says “Pubic Affairs”. Wow. That’s either a typo or a commencement of the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
Obviously, the software’s spell checker didn’t catch the mistake because the typo was a valid word. What was needed was a context checker. My word processing software doesn’t have one of those yet. Humans are still needed for this task.
This gaffe provides further evidence of a rule I was introduced to by a wise marketing colleague about eight years ago. Penny Holt, a friend, co-worker and fellow marketing professional, enforced a copywriting rule where we worked: all copy must be proofed by at least two people. This became known as the “Two Sets of Eyes” rule. As the Longhorn commencement program illustrates, it’s a rule that is violated at one’s own risk.
The Two Sets of Eyes Rule simply requires that another person read the copy for the first time after the author thinks it is in final draft form. I could go into some detail about the qualifications of a good proofreader – and there are many – but the main attribute is a person with patience and an eye for detail. My Proofreader Hall of Fame includes the aforementioned Penny Holt, but also the very capable Amy Cates. I could take a document I had scoured and thought was in final form to Amy, and it would come back to me covered in red pen marks. The sharp eyes of Amy and Penny saved us a lot of embarrassment.
If you haven’t implemented the Two Sets of Eyes Rule at your shop and you don’t have any embarrassing incidents to share, it means you’ve been lucky so far. I should clarify that the rule specifies “at least two sets of eyes”, meaning that the only thing better than two pairs is three pairs of eyes. There probably is a point of diminishing returns on proofreading, and that point probably comes right after the last copywriting mistake is eliminated. My advice: the more important and visible a set of copy is, the more proofreading effort is required. We’d all like our marketing copy as the featured story in Yahoo! News for the right reasons, not the wrong ones.
Got any humorous copywriting mistake stories you’re willing to share? Please don’t keep them to yourself!
