How to Rectify a Mistake-Ridden E-mail

Everybody makes mistakes—even experienced e-mail marketers. But if you’ve ever sent out an e-mail containing an error—large, small, or in between—you know the quandary of how to gracefully correct that dreaded slipup.

Here are some guidelines on how to right wrongs and keep that ever-so-important customer trust.

Some mistakes demand that you follow up with a new, corrected e-mail:

* wrong sales amount. Suppose you want to offer your clients 5% off a product, but your finger slips and you end up sending an e-mail touting 55% off. If offering 55% off would bankrupt your business or cause catastrophic losses, correcting that mistake is incredibly important.

* wrong product. Imagine sending out a perfect e-mail featuring a great product. The problem? This great product is discontinued or won’t be available within the next few months. Should you cross your fingers and hope that no one on your subscriber list buys this great product? Absolutely not. Correct the error before the sales orders roll in.

* wrong list chosen. Alaskan subscribers getting e-mails featuring bikinis. Vegetarians receiving e-mails extolling the annual meat-fest at the local Brazilian restaurant. Mistakes in e-mail list choice are as common as stop signs. If you’ve sent an e-mail to a list that couldn’t possibly interest the reader, sending a correction is beyond important.

*wrong dates listed. Hell hath no fury like a customer who shows up for a sale on the wrong day. If you’ve goofed on the date of a sale or a special event, you’ll need to fix that mistake quickly, or you’ll lose not only e-mail or newsletter subscribers, but loyal customers as well.

One the other hand, if your e-mail features minor misspelled words or other errors that don’t affect your company’s bottom line, we recommend learning from your mistakes and moving on. If you get someone’s name or title wrong, there’s also no need to send an apology e-mail, but make sure you add a small correction in your next regularly scheduled e-mail campaign.

How do you correct a big mistake in your e-mail or newsletter? Quickly and carefully. Here’s how you do it:

1) Own up. Telling the truth isn’t always easy, but your customers will appreciate if you
’fess up to an error. Using humor can help. If necessary, make fun of yourself a bit in the e-mail correcting your mistake. If you keep the mood light, your customers will forgive all sorts of mistakes.

2) Make a peace offering. Let’s go back to the example of accidentally offering a 55% discount instead of 5%. In that case, send a correction e-mail offering 15% or 20% as a mea culpa. Or if you‘ve put the wrong sale date in an e-mail, offer at least some of the sale items at an extra discount. This will appease customers without breaking the bank.

3) Offer an alternative. If a product is out of stock or has been discontinued, offer a similar or alternative product instead. If the customer was really interesting in buying the original product, the alternative product should suffice.

Remember: Good e-mail marketing is about building up a trusting relationship with your customers. If you admit your mistakes from the get-go and try to make things right, you’ll strengthen your reputation as an honest company as well as your relationship with your subscribers.

Andy Shore is a marketing specialist at Benchmark Email.