Recovering From Email Marketing Mistakes

We often say that email is one of the most effective, high-impact tools in the marketer’s toolbox. But of course, the efficacy of email marketing depends on the quality and consistency of your strategy. There’s also the matter of execution. Sooner or later, even the savviest email marketer is bound to make a mistake.

What do mistakes look like in the world of email marketing? Maybe it’s a typo in the opening line. Maybe you mix up your subject lines. Maybe you include a call-to-action link that directs to the wrong landing page.

These mistakes can feel disastrous, not least because so many people witness them. But if and when you do make an email marketing mistake, take a minute to stop, breathe, and consider ways to learn from it.

In this post, we’ll share a few general tips for recovering from email marketing mishaps.

How to Recover from an Email Marketing Mistake

1) Slow Down.

We make mistakes for all kinds of reasons. Because we’re human. Because we’ve got a lot on our minds. But mostly, we make mistakes because we’re moving too fast. Maintaining a hectic pace makes it more likely we’ll make sloppy errors, and less likely we’ll review our work before we hit send.

There are some practical ways to avoid rushing in your email marketing work. For example:

• Take the time to document your process. Invest some time in actually mapping out your email marketing deployment process, writing out in painstaking detail what you do to get an email out the door and into inboxes. Not only will this force you to slow your pace a bit, but it can also help you identify areas of redundancy, areas where you can increase quality control, etc.
• Identify parts of your process where mistakes are most common. Is there any part of your deployment process where proofreading goes out the window, or where you don’t have multiple sets of eyes reviewing content before it’s sent? These are the high-risk areas you should be identifying.

2) Minimize “Oops” Emails.

When you send an email with a mistake, your first inclination may be to send out a correction… basically, to hit send on an “oops” email, acknowledging your error to everyone who saw it.

But are these emails actually necessary? Most of the time, the answer is no. In fact, when the mistake is very minor, sending an “oops” follow-up can actually be counterproductive, drawing more attention to something that was never a huge deal.

With that said, there are some situations in which an “oops” email can be appropriate. We recommend follow-ups if and when:

• You need to make a clarification about pricing or terms.
• Your call center or sales team has been suddenly inundated with angry or discontented customers.

In other words, if your email marketing mishap has actually resulted in a major customer service issue, it calls for a correction and apology. But if it’s just an embarrassing, though ultimately harmless typo, that’s probably not reason enough for sending out an “oops.”

3) Share Your Mistake.

This may sound like the most counterintuitive thing in the world. When you make a very public mistake, you typically want to crawl into a hole somewhere, not flaunt your error for the whole world to see.

But actually, there can be a lot of strategic benefits in identifying your error, screenshotting it, and sending it to some of the members of your team. This is especially beneficial if you send the error to people who report to you directly.

Why do you want to share your email marketing mistakes? A couple of reasons:

• First, it provides you with an opportunity to exhort your colleagues or team members toward excellence. Show them that you messed up, note exactly how you messed up, and prod them to avoid making the same kind of error.
• Second, it humanizes you. It helps you create a culture in which people own up to their mistakes, and perhaps even learn from them. All of that can be important for building trust within your marketing team.

The bottom line: Email marketing mistakes can cause some embarrassment, but don’t let that stop you from turning the error into a learning experience for you and your team.

Seek Excellence in Email Marketing

Everyone makes mistakes. Sooner or later, marketers are bound to goof up an email, and that’s not the end of the world. Take the time to slow down, respond properly, and learn from it.

Additionally, make sure you have both the strategy and the technology you need to keep mistakes minimal. That’s where it’s helpful to work with an established email marketing partner. If you have any questions about moving forward with email marketing, reach out to the team at enCOMPASS Agency today.