E-Mail Applied: When Mistakes Happen

A client recently called me in a panic. The company often personalizes its e-mails, but this time the send button got pushed too fast. Instead of the recipients’ first names being nicely displayed, the e-mail showed “[FIRST_NAME].” This company prides itself on its e-mail program and customer relationships, and felt this would tarnish its image. That client decided to immediately send a second e-mail with an apology, which went out about three hours after the error occurred.

In a similar vein, I received an e-mail last week from JetBlue. I know that’s not a cataloger, but I thought I’d share its mistake because this easily could happen to you. The e-mail was positioned to inactive fliers, and the salutation and first sentence read: “Dear Mr. Soandso, We haven’t seen you in a year and the truth is, we miss you!” As a JetBlue frequent flier who’s taken more than one flight in the past year, I was concerned and actually logged into the site to check my profile and account name. (And I kid you not: It did say “Dear Mr. Soandso”!)

Seventy-eight minutes after the initial e-mail, I received an e-mail with the subject line, “Our apologies …” It went on to note that the company had made an error in mailing some of its valued customers due to a technical issue with the database. It asked me to accept an apology for the error and any offense it may have caused.

Let’s face it, we all make mistakes. Sometimes, such errors as a small typo in an e-mail seem large and glaring. But sometimes blunders are big, such as a miscommunication of a promotion or technical problems on your site.

Damage Control
Knowing when to apply damage control vs. simply letting sleeping dogs lie can be a challenge. Don’t sweat the small stuff. If you have minor errors in an e-mail such as typos, incorrect formatting or line breaks, move on. But if this happens more often than you’d like, put a new proofing process in place; an extra pair of eyes always helps.

Any situation that truly affects the customer experience should quickly be addressed. In preparing this article, I accessed a great resource called the E-mail Campaign Archive (www.emailcampaignarchive.com), which is administered by North American Publishing Co., the publisher of this magazine. A site problem was the biggest issue catalogers addressed in their apology e-mails. There were also e-mails that acknowledged problems with e-mail links not working and corrections to promotion details, such as offers, dates or the provisions of appropriate discount codes.

One e-mail even pointed out errors in the print catalog, where the back page had the wrong details on a promotion.

In each case, the error was addressed in the subject line, and for most, there was a clear explanation in the body of the e-mail of what was corrected.

Deal or No Deal?
The vast majority of apology e-mails were sent in HTML. And most did sweeten the pot with a special offer, such as an additional discount or special shipping.

Here’s a look at some selected subject lines that included offers:

• Sorry our site was down! Enjoy Free Shipping until Monday.
• Oops! The site is back up! Enjoy FREE SHIPPING at ANY price.
• Oops, we goofed! $4.95 Flat rate shipping!
• Our Apologies … Special offer Just for You
• Our Apologies + 20% OFF

J.Crew’s E-Mail Problem
J.Crew was apparently experiencing both site and call-center problems. The HTML-lite e-mail design ensured most recipients wouldn’t have a problem with image suppression. Subject line was simple: “With our apologies …” It was signed by both the company chairman/CEO and the president. The main headline read, “we’ve made some mistakes … (too many in our mind.)”

The text of J.Crew’s e-mail explained it would take time to put all the desired enhancements in place and asked customers to be patient.

It would be nice to include a special incentive in this e-mail or to follow up with an enticing offer once all was fixed. As far as I could tell, J.Crew never did.

Urban Outfitters Tries Humor
My favorite oops e-mail came from Urban Outfitters to apologize for site problems. The subject line was, “Take an Extra 25% off. This time, we mean it.”

The e-mail pictured two kittens cuddling, with one saying, “Don’t cry. Everything’s OK now. Sorry, but we broke the Internet. Don’t hate us, this stuff is compli-cated.” It went on to present the discount offer.

The humorous approach works here because it’s simple and not overdone.

Raining on PaperDirect
Last spring, PaperDirect also had technical issues with its site. The subject line was: “Please accept our apologies and get a free umbrella with your order!” The main headline restated the problem, and the message prominently featured the free umbrella below its logo.

The body copy tied in with the free umbrella and started, “Don’t let April showers dampen your spirits!” The only qualifier was the order be $10 or more.

Hopefully, you’ll never have to face this situation. But if you do, assess and address any issue as quickly as possible. And highlight the problem in your subject line. If you check your metrics, you may find that these are some of your most opened and read e-mails!

Reggie Brady is president of Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, a direct and e-mail marketing consultancy in Norwalk, Conn. You can reach her at (203) 838-8138 or reggie@reggiebrady.com.