SimplyCast: Interactive Marketing Blog

Humans are not perfect. We all know that.

Mistakes are bound to happen from time-to-time, even for email marketers.

It could be anything from a misspelled word, an invalid link or even a broken image.

It seems easy to avoid making these mistakes by doing a lot of testing and then testing again. But bad days and slip-ups happen even if you have everyone at the office read it over.

So what do you do other than cringe and feel like crawling under the desk to hide?

Since time travel has not been developed yet, here are a few things email marketers can do to correct mistakes when they happen.

First of all you have to take action. Quickly determine the scale of the mistake by examining the reporting metrics. How many subscribers received the email, and how many opened it? If only a handful of people were affected, consider sending them a note to explain what happened. Being proactive will help the relationship between you and your subscribers in the long run.

Determine if a correction email is necessary. If so, it is a good idea to send the original email so subscribers can reference what you’re talking about. Tweak the subject line so they know which email is the updated and correct version.

The bottom line is you know your subscribers (or should). It’s up to you to determine what actions to take when sending a correction email. The real key is to make the correction email a timely one. You want to remain credible in your subscribers’ minds, and there’s no point in sending an apology a week later as they may have forgotten by then.

Depending on the mistake that was made, an apology may be necessary in order to maintain a positive relationship with your subscribers. Let them know you messed up and how you will fix it.

The best way to avoid all of this, is of course to test, proof read and never send anything out until it is 100% correct. But that is easier said than done sometimes.

Making a mistake in your campaign is not the end of the world and a successful email marketer will not only learn from the mistake, but will take a proactive approach to turn the situation around.

Has this ever happened to you? Tell us about it by commenting below. Your fellow readers will appreciate the advice and the honesty.