My email campaign sent to 12,000 people with the wrong link last month

I was at my home office in Phoenix when I got the first reply asking why the 'Shop Now' button went to a 404 page. My stomach dropped. I checked the campaign we'd just launched and sure enough, I'd copied the wrong URL from our staging site. The open rate was already at 22%, so people were clicking. I immediately paused the send, created a corrected version with a clear subject line saying 'Correction', and sent it to the remaining 9,500 contacts who hadn't opened the first one yet. The correction email actually had a higher click-through rate, maybe because the subject stood out. Has anyone else had to send a major correction, and did you find it hurt your sender reputation?

2 comments

2 Comments

butler.shane3d ago

Saw a case study once where a company sent a wrong price in a mass email. They sent a correction fast like you did, and their bounce rate actually went down. The quick fix showed subscribers they were paying attention. Your higher click rate on the correction email makes sense, people notice when you own a mistake. Sender reputation usually takes a hit from spam complaints or high bounces, not one honest correction.

abby8363d ago

Remember my friend who sent a newsletter with a broken link? She fixed it in like ten minutes and got way more replies than usual, people saying they appreciated the heads up. It really does seem like owning up fast makes a difference.