Like millions of other people, I do a lot of my online shopping on Amazon. I enjoy the perks of Prime and have even made a few shopping lists for friends and family for the holidays. That said, I’m used to getting some promotional emails from Amazon. I was not, however, prepared for this one:
This might not seem that odd if you don’t know me, but allow me to clarify: I don’t have a baby registry because I’m not pregnant. So I was definitely confused when Amazon sent me this notification about someone buying me a gift for my non-existent baby. I clicked on the link out of curiosity, but it redirected me to Amazon’s home page. (Which, in hindsight, was not that smart, as the email may have been a phishing attempt; after all, it didn’t address the email to my name, but to a generic “Amazon Customer.” Never click on links from unexpected emails, even if they say they’re from Amazon!)
A few hours later, Amazon clarified that the email was, indeed, a mistake that occurred due to a “technical glitch.” And I moved on.
Because, believe it or not, Amazon is run by humans–humans who draft copy and assemble HTML emails and schedule e-blasts that sometimes get sent when they weren’t supposed to. It happens to the best of us…
Including us at OBO.
Recently, we’ve been busy promoting our co-founder’s webinar, “Demystifying Account Based Marketing.” If you work in marketing, you know how many moving pieces promoting a webinar requires; one of those is emails. So, one day, a staff member was playing around with what he thought was a unique list in our CRM and, with the push of a button, accidentally sent an email confirming the recipient’s participation in the upcoming webinar.
But, the problem was, they hadn’t signed up for it. Awkward.
Luckily, our team noticed the mistake almost immediately and sent a follow up email rectifying the situation:
Thankfully, our email didn’t get sent out to millions of people (and was only confirming a webinar registration, not a gift for an expecting mom). But we still acknowledged the error and apologized for any confusion it may have caused. Most importantly, we took control of the situation before it possibly spiraled out of control.
So let’s say this happens to you–either personally or through your company. What do you do when you accidentally send the wrong email?
First things first: you’ll want to assess the reality of the situation. If your accidental email only had a minor typo or coding error, you would likely only annoy your audience if you sent a follow up with the correction. But if the error could impact your business, here’s what you need to do:
- Be quick and clear. Ideally, your second email will catch people before they open the first. Regardless, the subject and pre-header should acknowledge why you are sending the second. For example, the subject line in OBO’s apology email starts with “oops”, which clearly lets users know we made a mistake.
- Apologize and stay on brand. Own up to the mistake right away; people appreciate honesty. Humor could also be a good tool to use in this situation, but only if your brand allows it; if your tone is typically serious, humor in the face of a mistake would probably be seen as out of character and uncomfortable.
- Send an offer, if possible/relevant. Depending on what your initial email was regarding, you may consider offering a discount or freebie with your apology.
Once you’ve taken the appropriate action, let the dust settle for a few days. Then, you’ll want to measure the impact of the incident by analyzing the reporting from your emails, including the open and click rates, the conversion rates, and the unsubscribe rates for both the original and follow up.
To avoid needing to send an apology email, always double (or triple) check what you’re going to send. Is being sent to the right lists? Does it reflect the right information regarding its custom fields? Is it free of spelling and grammatical errors? Does it have up-to-date content? Does it render images properly? Do all hyperlinks redirect to the correct URLs?
The easiest way to check off this list is by sending yourself (or a co-worker) a test email to review. A second set of eyes never hurt! That way, when you finally hit send, you’ll know your email is going to the right person at the right place.
But sometimes, no matter what you do, even after exhausting your checklists, protocols, and procedures, you may make an error. We’re all human; it’s inevitable. But stay calm, have a plan, and go!
