Posted: Thu, February 21, 2008
Email Marketing Clinic: How to recover from a marketing disaster
Email is among the most flexible and cost effective tools at a marketers disposal. However, before diving in and sending emails to your customers and prospects, there are several things that should
be taken into account. In this month's email clinic, email marketing experts Pure discuss the ways in which email can be used to help you not only prevent marketing mistakes or recover from an oversight
but how to use these little glitches to your advantage.
Most marketers have at least one horror story involving a slip-up producing marketing collateral - incidents we'd rather forget. Whether a mistyped telephone number, embarrassing spelling error or
omitting vital information, a carefully targeted masterpiece can easily turn into a marketing nightmare.
Fortunately email offers a get-out clause - its instantaneous and trackable nature means it's the easiest method you can use to come back from the brink of a marketing disaster.
Get feedback before you send your campaign
 All the best shows rehearse for a reason: to hone their performance to perfection. The
same principle can be applied to marketing through testing your campaign on a focus group or seed list.
A seed list is a few trusted and varied internal recipients who you can test your campaign on, before it hits the inboxes of your entire database. Even if you're sure you've produced a masterpiece, it's
sensible to test how it is received by others rather than place all your trust in your own opinion.
Even what seems like the most polished campaign can be perceived very differently by someone with a different point of view. What seems like a humorous, original or bold campaign to the creator
runs the risk of being lost on, or even offensive to, a recipient.
The most risky campaigns are those that are created in isolation, that do not take others opinions or reactions into account.
Remember, you can always disregard feedback which you view as irrelevant in your final marketing decision. You'll also be able to test the send and see how the message will appear in an actual
delivery to your database, to check it's going to look exactly as you intended.
Face up to your fears
 If your worst nightmare does comes true, the last thing to do is bury your head in the
sand. However painful, it's important that you take stock of the impact so that you can react in a positive, considered and opportune manner.
The reporting section of your email marketing system will allow you to do this and see the extent of the impact of your mistake.
If you can see that only a very small percentage have opened the message, then what seemed like a disastrous mistake would not have been picked up by the majority of your database.
Even if your open rate is reasonable, you may discover that people simply don't notice your mistake and complete the call to action regardless of any errors.
Don't panic!
Unless you've sent something which is earth shattering, resist the urge to panic and respond with another hastily compiled email. A considered, well-structured explanation is far less likely to contain
another mistake and will show that you've digested the issue.
On the other hand, a snap reaction and hastily sent emails may result in further mistakes and look as if you don't have a considered approach to your business.
Learn to laugh at yourself
 If you've made a mistake then look at whether you can share the joke with your
audience.
Everyone wants to deal with an approachable company and most reasonable readers know that people make mistakes, so why not use your little slip-up to engage your audience.
Numerous companies who have sent a humorous admittance of their error have received some of the best responses to their marketing. One company recently prepared a newsletter and sent it to
their subscribers, only to discover they had not merged their personalised fields. The email arrived in their recipients' inboxes reading: 'Dear NAME, have you seen our latest additions?'
When they realised their mistake, they sent out the newsletter again but this time with an apology in the subject line and a short, human message at the top of the newsletter:
'Sorry I got your name wrong in the last email. I'm having one of those days! Can we put it down to being so excited about our latest additions? We'd really like you to see what's on offer too.
Here's the message again in case you missed it last time. I'm going for a coffee :)'
 In the past their newsletter had received respectable click-through rates and
conversions but rarely produced any direct responses. However, the human touch added to the second email increased
direct responses by 1000%.
The mistake turned into an opportunity. The company began conversations with the potential clients who had replied to the email and probably appeared more personable. The trick is to convey that
same feeling without making a mistake.
Learn from your mistake
Finally, and most importantly, remember that if you've made a mistake once, you shouldn't ever do it again. If necessary note your mistakes down - it may even prevent someone else from doing the
same thing in the future.
About the author
Award-winning Pure is one of the top email and SMS marketing companies in the UK, and the eleventh fastest growing new media company in the country. Pure provide email marketing solutions to
small, medium and large companies and their software used by over 1000 marketers worldwide. Founded in 2001, the same dedicated team of highly skilled developers and designers remain today,
shaping the company's market-leading technology. Brighton-based Pure counts Levis Europe, innocent drinks, Thomas Pink, Truprint, EMAP and the FT among its stable of 500 clients. Find out more
at www.pure360.com.
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