Despite all your best efforts to avoid them, sometimes errors slit through your carefully-planned safety net. Maybe it’s “just” a typo. Or a small design flaw. In which case, you simply make a mental note to pay more attention in the future and move on to the next project. But when it’s a more serious issue, like a broken link, the wrong price, or an email sent to the wrong audience, you only have one option: send an apology email or “oops!” email to your customers.
But who said that your apology email has to be as bland as a tax return? More than simply a boring notification, the apology email can become an opportunity to increase attention.
No time to waste
The error must be addressed as quickly as possible in order to minimize the damage. But beware: sure, you need to act fast… but take the time to do a proper QA. Nothing adds insult to injury like a sloppy apology that’s full of typos and errors!
Be transparent
Be clear, concise and to the point: clearly point out the error and provide the correct information. Consider adding it to the email subject line. An apology email or Oops email is a great opportunity to help build trust.
Humor is the best medicine
Humor and self-deprecation are your best allies in such situation! Not only do they encourage your customers to be more forgiving, but they also show that you are human after all.
The most interesting part is that rather than depress campaign performance, apology emails tend to have a very positive impact on results: people are curious to see what the mistake was and so your email open and read rate will increase substantially as a result. As long as you don’t abuse the privilege!
But the best course of action is to avoid errors in the first place…Which is why we wrote this post on how to do proper email quality assurance.
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