eBook - Silverpop

13 Keys to an Effective
Correction Email Process
What’s the best way to
Q: rescue an email message
with a mistake in it?
“Mistake” emails are simply a fact of life
A: for digital marketers. The question isn’t
“If” but “When?,” “How often?,” “How severe?”
and “How will you respond?”
“Mistake” emails can be as simple as a glaring
typo, wrong pricing, a bad link or bad subject
line. Or, they can be near disastrous by sending
out the wrong offer to your entire list.
Another mistake, however, is not being prepared
for the inevitable. Creating an email “disaster
plan” is a necessary strategy in any email
program. Knowing what steps to take when
a mistake happens will help you minimize the
damage from being caught off-guard and help
avoid future mistakes.
Lessons Learned from Email
Mistakes
Like many email marketers, I’ve had the
pleasure of sending and correcting emails
gone awry. I’ve also advised clients on their
approaches to corrections and apology emails.
So, here are my 13 elements of a good email
correction program:
1. Discover the mistake or problem. Monitor
“reply-to” addresses, social media like Twitter
and key metrics such as conversions and registrations.
The faster you uncover the problem,
the sooner you can respond and minimize any
negative impact.
2. Assess the potential impact. Was it a simple
goof, like a misspelled word, or a critical error
that could affect your respondents’ ability to buy
or take a key action? Or, was it embarrassing, such
as leaving in a swear word from the proof email
subject line?
As early as possible, determine whether and how
you need to respond.
3. Focus on your response. Save the blame for
later. Focus your team’s energies on the response
process and needs of your customers and subscribers
before worrying about assigning blame.
4. Create an action plan. If you must respond,
outline the key message points to make in your
correction email, including any possible incentives
or other make-good actions.
Map out which departments of your company
might be affected by the mistake or need to be
involved in the correction/apology process. These
can include customer service, sales, e-commerce
or corporate communications.
5. Keep management and other stakeholders in
the loop. You obviously don’t need to tell the CEO
about a simple typo (unless it’s extremely embarrassing
or misleading). You likely will need to get
management support if your make-good efforts
will have a financial impact (offering discounts,
special pricing, offer extensions).
6. Act quickly. You should be able to turn around
a correction email within an hour or two if you
simply need to send a corrected version of the
original email and brief note.
More complex mistakes might take a day or more
to fix. In those cases, a quick “We are working on
fixing the issue” email is a good bet.
7. Consider responding only to those affected.
Not all subscribers will be affected by the mistake.
If a product’s price on your Web site differs from
SILVERPOP.COM | PAGE 123