by Loren McDonald

Sooner or later, it will happen. Whether you are an experienced pro or email marketing newbie, you will eventually make a mistake that might necessitate a correction email. Perhaps a key hyperlink sent people to the wrong location, you had the wrong pricing or product information in the email or on your Web site, incorrect date for an event - or yikes, you sent a message to the wrong list.

Once you discover your gaffe - what next? In this article we'll explore:

• When to send a correction email
  
• What approach to take
  
• And steps to reduce mistakes in the future.
  

We'll look at two recent email mistakes - one by the EmailLabs marketing team and one by a client - and the results of our correction emails. We've also developed a campaign/newsletter planner and checklist to help you reduce mistakes in the future.

When to Send a Correction Email

So you discover - either on your own (hopefully) or by a customer/subscriber that your email had a noticeable goof in it. After you get over the embarrassment or panic (or both), you need to determine if sending a correction email is the most appropriate action. While every situation is unique, I recommend sending a correction email when the mistake:

• Seriously misinforms your recipients (incorrect event date; wrong pricing; erroneous product information, etc.)
  
• Does not allow recipients to complete a form, transaction, download a white paper, access an article, etc.
  
• Has the potential to damage your brand image, reputation, customer relationships - or just is not consistent with the expectations of your readers.
  Typos, grammatical mistakes, incorrect images or images that don't load, etc., are probably not serious enough to require a correction email. You may want to include a correction in the next campaign or issue if appropriate.

How to Approach the Correction Email

So you've decided your mistake does warrant sending a correction email. Now you need to determine the logistics: When to send it?; What format?; What style?; What is the message?; and Who gets it?

• When to send it? In general, get the correction email out as soon as you can. In many cases recipients might just open the correction email and delete the original. But if they've already opened the email, you want to reach recipients while the email is still fresh in their minds.
  
  
• What format? Determining what email format primarily depends on whether the mistake was in the email or on a Web site (or an offline location). If the mistake was in the email itself it probably makes most sense to resend the email (with the corrections), a brief intro note above the main email message and a subject line that refers to the correction. Mistakes on your Web site suggest that you send a simple plain text email notifying recipients that the error or problem on your site has been corrected.
  
  
• What style? Serious, humorous, apologetic? It obviously depends on your organization, the type of relationship you have with readers/customers and of course the nature of the mistake.
  
  
• What is the message? Whether it is an intro to the corrected email or just a resend of the corrected version" the message should be concise and to the point. "We made a mistake", "Here is the fix" and when appropriate "Here is an offer to make it up to you." In the case of an online retailer, for example, a make-up offer could be free shipping, $XX off your next purchase, etc.
  
  
• Who gets it? Last and most important, who receives the correction email? If the email contains the mistake, then it would make sense to resend the corrected email to your entire list. For Web site mistakes (now corrected), send the email only to recipients who have either opened the email or clicked on the relative (affected) links. This approach spares those recipients who are not actually affected by the mistake from receiving another email.

Two Case Studies: An Internet-Based Retail Client and EmailLabs

Now let's take a look at two "mistake" situations and what resulted from the correction emails.

An Internet-Based Retail Client

• What: An Internet-based retail client, operating an ecommerce site selling power sport equipment and accessories, typically sends two emails per month (every other Sunday) to its customers and opt-in email subscribers.
  
  
• The Mistake: Two featured products were offered at a reduced price in the email - but the Web site showed the products at a higher price. The company's email coordinator had committed an easy oversight - he simply forgot to change the price on the Web site.
  
  
• The Response: The Monday after the emails were distributed, the client informed EmailLabs of the price error. Reviewing the link click-through stats for the two products, we saw that roughly 700 customers had clicked on one or both of the links (among about 20 links total in the email).

  Using a 3% conversion rate, we estimated that the error may have resulted in about 15 or so lost transactions (due to customers not completing the transaction after seeing the incorrect price). The client and I agreed that it was worth a correction email, even though the pricing had been corrected on the Web site. We crafted an email that explained the mistake and offered customers an additional $10 off their next purchase over $100.

  Using the click-through stats for the two links and EmailLabs' filters, on Tuesday morning the correction email was sent to only those recipients who had clicked on one or both of the product links - 832 people at that point.

• The Results: Phenomenal. The correction email resulted in a 76% open rate; 26.3% click-through rate; a 9.1% conversion rate; 22 orders; 0 bounces; and 1 unsubscribe.

EmailLabs

• What: Once per month EmailLabs issues its newsletter, The Intevation Report, (the one you are currently reading) to its customers and opt-in subscribers.
  
  
• The Mistake: The link to our Web site for the first article in the June issue pointed to an article from the May issue. The cause? Jeannie was going on vacation and needed to leave; I was in meetings all afternoon and didn't make the time to check the links.
  
  
• The Response: While no readers contacted us regarding the error, I noticed the mistake when I saw that the most clicked link was to the previous month's article. As an email marketing firm and publisher of a newsletter on trends and best practices, I felt we owed our readers the correction. We corrected the link and wrote a brief intro note inserted above the HTML email. The correction email was then distributed to all subscribers.
  
  
• The Results: Interestingly, the original email and correction email had identical open rates of 45.7%. The corrected link had a 5.4% CTR versus 3.5% for the original incorrect link. The correction email did generate six additional unsubscribes - including an email from one annoyed recipient. But overall, the response suggests sending the correction was the right thing to do.
  

How to Reduce or Eliminate Future Mistakes

After you've gone through the mistake/correction process, the most obvious question becomes: How do I reduce or eliminate mistakes from happening in the future? There are three means to reduce/eliminate mistakes:

• Third-Party Proof Reader: The major cause of email mistakes is either not proofing and testing links at all, or not proofing/testing thoroughly. One approach to proofing is to have someone outside of the email team read the copy and test the links. A fresh set of eyes is more likely to find errors and less likely to skip links that you as an editor might look over.
  
  
• Pre-Testing: Another common mistake is not sending out test emails, including to different test accounts (i.e., AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.). An email can work fine on your desktop, but that survey form or referral form that you are excited about is probably not going to work properly for your Hotmail subscribers (for example). Make sure you test your email to see if it works properly for your top recipient domains. The process of pre-tests also helps uncover errors and problems that you may have missed in the proof reading process.
  
  
• Production Checklist: For most people, sending out email newsletters or campaigns is not their only responsibility. As such, it is easy to forget little steps in the email process - particularly if your goal is to just "get it out the door." Establishing a formal approval/review process and production checklist is a great way to help minimize errors. EmailLabs has developed a generic Email Marketing Planner & Checklist that marketers can customize and use during their campaign production process.
  

The Downside of Sending Correction Emails

So what, if anything, is the downside of sending correction emails? First, some percentage of recipients will simply be annoyed that you sent them another email into their already overloaded inbox. For this reason, only send the correction to those people that have been affected by the error when possible. Secondly, the correction email brings the mistake to the attention of people who may not have noticed otherwise. And lastly, you risk generating a few additional unsubscribes. But in my opinion, anyone that unsubscribes because of a correction email was not getting what they wanted from your emails and would leave anyway.

So while I hope issuing correction emails is an activity that you rarely have to undertake, they clearly can make sense (and cents!) for your company.