FreeStuffEngine.com - Email Marketing Lesson: If You Realize You Made A Mistake After You Press Send, Just Admit It By Joa

A few months ago I started getting a bunch of junk Spam messages. All the messages had the same subject line. Thinking that the emails were hocking cheap Ritalin, I left them in my Spam filter and continued with my daily tasks. Besides, my ADHD was under control with my five Starbucks lattes-a-day personal remedy. Within seconds, I totally forgot about the Spam messages.

When I was doing my up my Christmas list a few weeks later, I got to my Dad?s name and thought, ?Dad is pushing eighty, I wonder if he might like some Viagra as a stocking stuffer?? I suddenly remembered all those Ritalin emails. Maybe the online drug shops had a whole variety of pharmaceuticals other than Ritalin, and I could get a great deal on my Dad?s Viagra.

I went back to my Spam filter and searched for all the messages with that same subject line. They weren?t hard to find, the subject was only one word ?

?Whoops!?

But there was no Viagra to be found. No Ritalin for that matter either. What a rip! Now what would I get my Dad for Christmas?

To make matters even worse, I realized all those Spam emails with the ?Whoops!? subject line weren?t Spam at all. They were a whack of messages from a whole bunch of email lists I actually subscribe to. It seems a ?Whoops!? message is a legitimate message that really means,

?I made a mistake, check within for details.?

All my ?Whoops!? email messages detailed URLs that had been mistyped, web addresses that had been moved, wrong dates, wrong product prices, incorrect phone numbers and a whole variety of other issues all covered under the subject line -- ?Whoops!?

I even had one message that had ?Double Whoops!? as a subject line since this was the second email message from the same company in a two-day time period that was riddled with errors.

I don?t know if ?Whoops!? is the greatest way to admit you made an error. How many people even have ?Whoops!? in their active vocabulary? I wonder what else might be a more effective email newsletter subject line when a mistake has been made?

- "Whoopsy daisy" -- No, too, childish.

- "My parents are cousins, I can?t help it!" -- No, too personal.

- ?Gall darn it, dagnamit, another error!? -- No, your subscribers will think you need a few sessions of anger therapy.

- ?Sorry, I am too cheap to get an editor? -- No, that is what your subscribers will think, but it probably isn?t the greatest option for your subject line.

Maybe:

*Sincerest apologies, URL error in [insert newsletter name here]

*Sorry to have wasted your time, telephone number error

*We will try harder next time, pricing error in [insert newsletter name here]

I asked a few business associates what they thought of the ?Whoops!? subject line. They all agreed it sounded like someone attempting to be ?down home? and trying to appear like a bumbling friend instead of a business who is having some difficulty with the e-newsletter editing process.

I guess the lesson here is to just admit you made an error and not try to cover it up with a ?Gee wilickers, I think I just might be a moron? type subject line.

None of this gets me my Dad?s Viagra, but it has lessened the load on my over-worked Spam software. I have set the software to rescue all ?Whoops!? email marketing messages and put them in the Deleted box where they belong.

Email Marketing
added July 9, 2006 A few months ago I started getting a bunch of junk Spam messages. All the messages had the same subject line. Thinking that the emails were hocking cheap Ritalin, I left them in my Spam filter and continued with my daily tasks. Besides, my ADHD was under control with my five Starbucks lattes-a-day personal remedy. Within seconds, I totally forgot about the Spam messages. When I was doing my up my Christmas list a few weeks later, I got to my Dad?s name and thought, ?Dad is pushing eighty, I wonder if he might like some Viagra as a stocking stuffer?? I suddenly remembered all those Ritalin emails. Maybe the online drug shops had a whole variety of pharmaceuticals other than Ritalin, and I could get a great deal on my Dad?s Viagra. I went back to my Spam filter and searched for all the messages with that same subject line. They weren?t hard to find, the subject was only one word ? ?Whoops!? But there was no Viagra to be found. No Ritalin for that matter either. What a rip! Now what would I get my Dad for Christmas? To make matters even worse, I realized all those Spam emails with the ?Whoops!? subject line weren?t Spam at all. They were a whack of messages from a whole bunch of email lists I actually subscribe to. It seems a ?Whoops!? message is a legitimate message that really means, ?I made a mistake, check within for details.? All my ?Whoops!? email messages detailed URLs that had been mistyped, web addresses that had been moved, wrong dates, wrong product prices, incorrect phone numbers and a whole variety of other issues all covered under the subject line -- ?Whoops!? I even had one message that had ?Double Whoops!? as a subject line since this was the second email message from the same company in a two-day time period that was riddled with errors. I don?t know if ?Whoops!? is the greatest way to admit you made an error. How many people even have ?Whoops!? in their active vocabulary? I wonder what else might be a more effective email newsletter subject line when a mistake has been made? - "Whoopsy daisy" -- No, too, childish. - "My parents are cousins, I can?t help it!" -- No, too personal. - ?Gall darn it, dagnamit, another error!? -- No, your subscribers will think you need a few sessions of anger therapy. - ?Sorry, I am too cheap to get an editor? -- No, that is what your subscribers will think, but it probably isn?t the greatest option for your subject line. Maybe: Sincerest apologies, URL error in [insert newsletter name here] Sorry to have wasted your time, telephone number error *We will try harder next time, pricing error in [insert newsletter name here] I asked a few business associates what they thought of the ?Whoops!? subject line. They all agreed it sounded like someone attempting to be ?down home? and trying to appear like a bumbling friend instead of a business who is having some difficulty with the e-newsletter editing process. I guess the lesson here is to just admit you made an error and not try to cover it up with a ?Gee wilickers, I think I just might be a moron? type subject line. None of this gets me my Dad?s Viagra, but it has lessened the load on my over-worked Spam software. I have set the software to rescue all ?Whoops!? email marketing messages and put them in the Deleted box where they belong.
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