Oops! I Did it Again
Email marketing poses a certain challenge. In general, once a message has been sent to your list, it is delivered with little recourse to retrieve messages. I am a firm believer in testing email messages through a rigorous QA process and splitting my lists diligently and carefully for A/B testing.
Over the course of a ten hour period last Friday I was part of subject line testing from a company that I had previously double-opted in to receive marketing messages from. However, instead of receiving one message, I received the exact same message five times with two subject lines. What did this cost the company? How many other subscribers received the message five times? I would venture to guess it was the entire list. How many subscribers were annoyed enough to opt-out?
While in this case, an apology email, a sixth message, was not necessary - five messages are enough - If an error is made, what can you do to soften the blow?
• Meet with your project team without delay to prepare a course of action if necessary. But keep in mind that every error, depending on the severity, may not require a response.
• Discuss what types of mistakes require an apology or correction email. There is no need to bury your subscribers in a tangle of unnecessary apology messages.
• Adhere to your strict QA process. When teams start sacrificing process for a speedy turn around time, there is a greater opportunity for corners to be cut and errors to be made.
• Develop a procedure for apology messages. Use the messages for loyalty and marketing purposes. Use these messages as a reason to show your subscribers how much they mean to your organization. Don’t waste the opportunity on an apology that has not been well planned. You run the risk of irritating your subscribers further.
Those five messages I received last Friday were a good reminder that it is important to handle email marketing tests and sends with caution and care. Be sure your list is split properly and in a way you understand before A/B testing. And if you do make a mistake that warrants an apology, have a plan in place to help mitigate the damage.
Posted by MindComet on Jul. 03, 2006