Email has long been a tried and tested tool for marketing purposes. There are very few mediums which come even close to the capabilities of the humble email. In its simplest form, it is direct, precise and gets the job done with minimum effort. Since it is such a well used tool, there are bound to be errors with its usage. These errors can be small, big, massive, or Armageddon! Even with a fine tooth comb, some issues do get through and there is not much you can do about them, such as high SPAM scores even though you know its not very SPAM like and ISP blocks that can happen to the best of us. There are many errors which we can thankfully work our way around. Here we shall guide you through some common email marketing mistakes arising from the usage of emails for marketing purposes, its effect and how we can respond.
Your response will entirely depend on how bad the mistake is and how much damage it has caused. We shall go through some of the common errors and their causes.
The basic among email marketing mistakes-Template or spelling error
This is by far one of the most common errors. Text is important. This has to be acknowledged first. Errors will occur if the text or the template is done hastily. When a prospect receives an email with spelling mistakes or has botched up text and other content, it does not speak highly of the company. This is where testing and proof reading plays a major role. Do it in all earnest and you will be surprised how many errors you catch in subsequent attempts. Any email marketer worth his salt knows the effort that goes into creating, testing and launching a campaign. Don’t let silly typos ruin it!
If such a mishap does happen, we should gauge the seriousness of the error. If the error is fatal, as in it gives the reader an entirely wrong picture of your brand or the offer damage control is essential. A mail confirming the error with the correction has to be sent out immediately to the same list. If the error is minor, it is better to overlook it since apologizing for a minor error which may or may not have caught the prospects attention only draws more attention to it.
Multiple emails
This is essentially a rookie email marketing mistake, but it does happen, even with professionals. It may not be due to human error as most of the times it is due to server issues. Clogging the prospects with emails which are repeated is not an ideal means to begin with. Apologizing in itself requires an email increasing the number of emails sent. Hence before sending across an apology email, make sure that it is absolutely essential and does not do more harm than good. If there are just a couple of identical emails sent, then it is better to address that issue in an email update. If there are multiple emails which have been sent across, then it is essential to send across an apology stating the fact that it was an honest mistake and not an attempt to spam.
Broken link
People hate it when they don’t get what they want, and a broken link is pretty much on top of that list! If one or more links in your email are broken or wrongly addressed there are basically a couple of things to do as damage control.
The landing page can be moved appropriately to the incorrect link. Then an update can be given stating that there are errors in the linking.
Whoever clicks on the bad link can be contacted directly with the correct link, which is essentially a tedious process but this is a better way of connecting with the prospect, increasing your credibility to a large extent.
Some other common errors include sending across wrong offers and or the wrong date when the offer goes live. There can also be offensive and racial matter included unwittingly. To avoid these mistakes, testing, cross referencing, and ensuring that you are not the only one who reads the emails are effective.
Some basic methods you can adopt to make sure that your error rectification process is error free.
- Ensure that you have an error rectification template ready. This way all you have to do is to fill in the details quickly and do damage control.
- Your do- not- reply box should be monitored. Most of the times if the prospect has opted out, such errors may be the prime reason. If they have specified the reason, then it becomes that much easier to spot the issue.
- Your error correction mail should be the perfect mail. It is demeaning to correct an error correction email.
- Inform everyone in the loop about the error. Your customer support team may be fielding queries about issues which may pop up suddenly. If they are equipped with knowledge of the error, it helps a lot in damage control.
- After all these measures, it is not a must that the issue is rectified. Hence make it a point to follow social media closely to see if the issue has cropped up elsewhere and do damage control accordingly.
