There are a number of common mistakes we see in email marketing. First, consider the following to identify your particular “OOPS” strategy:

• Content
  • Links are broken or the copy is incorrect or has errors
• Audience
  • You’ve sent to the wrong recipients
• Delivery
  • Incorrect ‘From Information’ or Footer used

Once you’ve identified the fact that you have an issue, then you need to assess the situation properly to determine how to move forward. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What happened?
• When did it happen?
• Who was affected?
• How big of an impact does it have?

Determine the severity of the mistake.

• Minor issues, typos, imperfections. Things that won’t really hurt the business or the customer. These are not likely to require a response, but should have action taken to reduce and prevent them in the future.
• Embarrassing mistakes. Technical errors that impede the customer experience, but can be easily resolved.  
• Real problems. These issues can hurt an organization’s revenue, reputation, and could cause long-term damage to the business and its customers.

Once you’ve determined that an oops email is necessary, it’s time to develop a response to the error.

!TIP!
Have a generic response prepared ahead of time to respond quickly in times of crisis. Make sure it’s simple and adaptable, though so that you can tweak it to fit the situation if and when need be.