The Benefits of Fact-Checking Your Content

What Is Fact-Checking for Businesses?

Fact-checking your content means methodically verifying the accuracy of any facts, figures, or claims you make as a business. This includes all in-house and customer-facing communications associated with your company, such as:

• Dates (e.g., sales/promotions, warranties)
• Quotes or references to outside sources
• Stated claims about products or services
• Sales figures (including projected sales)
• Statistics
• Names and titles
• Product descriptions and website copy 

 When fact-checking, it’s important to refer to authoritative, unbiased sources to verify claims, such as credible studies or subject-matter experts. The authors of some blogs or opinion pieces may put their own spin on a topic without verifying the accuracy of their statements. To avoid being associated with the spread of misinformation (which can negatively impact your reputation), make it a priority to carefully consider and analyze the source material when fact-checking content. It’s likely your business won’t see the benefits of fact-checking if you use unreliable or outdated sources to verify claims!

Next, let’s take a more in-depth look at what fact-checking can do for businesses and how it can impact your bottom line.

Build Trust With Your Audience

Building trust and credibility with your customer base takes time and consistent effort – and it starts with publishing reliable content. If your target audience can trust the content in your emails or on your website, then they’re more likely to consider you when the time comes to make a purchase. One study from Adobe found that seven out of 10 UK consumers buy more from brands they trust – and the majority will stop purchasing from a business altogether if that trust is broken. 

This demonstrates the importance of fact-checking; even one instance of publishing false or misleading information can negatively impact your brand. Building trust with potential customers is especially important for new businesses establishing themselves and trying to succeed in a competitive market.

Ensure Legal Compliance

Beyond the impact that fact-checking your content has on your potential customers, it’s also the best (and sometimes only) way to ensure compliance with laws and regulations. Publishing false information, even unknowingly, can lead to legal consequences for your business. And if you publish untrue, defamatory statements that damage someone else’s business or reputation, you could face a costly libel lawsuit. These types of legal issues can be expensive and time-consuming to manage. They can also result in long-lasting negative repercussions for your business, as well as for your brand authority and reputation.

Save Time and Resources

While conducting a thorough fact-check of your business content can be a somewhat tedious and lengthy process, it can actually save you time (and embarrassment!) in the long run. If your business is found to have published false or misleading information, it can take a lot of time and resources to address the ensuing customer backlash and make the necessary corrections. And of course, if inaccurate content has already been published and seen by potential customers, it may be too late and the damage to your brand will have been done. Ensuring your communications are reliable and accurate from the beginning ultimately saves your team time and effort, allowing them to focus on other areas of the business, such as boosting conversions and increasing website traffic.

Better Utilize AI-Generated Content

Using AI-generated writing tools can help you streamline and accelerate your content production process and get content out to your audiences faster than ever before. However, AI-generated content isn’t always factually accurate, and it can sometimes include outdated information. This means that if you plan to use it for your business, it’s essential that you thoroughly fact-check it prior to publication. This includes verifying the accuracy of any definitive statements or claims, as well as numbers or statistics. 

And since AI content writing tools are trained on massive amounts of previously published data, it’s quite possible that generated content could contain the biased perspectives of real human writers. To avoid unintentionally offending and alienating your readers, make sure your AI content uses considerate and inclusive language and that the dialect and terminology are localized to the region of your target audience.

Boost Your Reputation

For an ecommerce business, especially a new business, positive customer testimonials and a good reputation mean everything – and the consequences of negative perceptions can be difficult to shake. Research by Hubspot shows that 90% of consumers have previously chosen not to purchase from a company due to its bad reputation. 

Consistently publishing reliable, verifiable content will not only boost your credibility as a business but will also set you apart from those companies that mislead their customers by making unproven or exaggerated claims about their products. Ultimately, audiences value honesty and want to support businesses that offer full transparency. Trust is an essential aspect of sales and growing a business – you’re more likely to build a loyal customer base if you commit to consistently fact-checking your content.

Fact-Checking AI-Generated Content

Do you use AI-generated writing but also want the benefits of reliable, trustworthy content without the time and effort involved in fact-checking? Proofed for Business can help! Let our expert team take fact-checking off your plate so you can focus on innovation and growing your business. A professional fact-check ensures your integrity and enhances your credibility, leading to increased sales and loyal customers. Schedule a call with us today to find out more about what we can do for your business.