Christine Nurnberger, CMO of Bottomline Technologies, shares how to manage the blowback caused by a few of the most common email marketing blunders
Did you know that when it comes to purchases made as a result of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate (66%), when compared to social, direct mail and more? Or that 72% of people prefer to receive promotional content through email, compared to 17% who prefer social media? As B2B marketers, we all realize the importance of the well-planned email. However, we all know mistakes happen – the key thing is how quickly and gracefully we recover. Let’s look at a few of the most common email marketing gaffes and the best ways to remediate the impact.
The exposed list
Ah, the dreaded CC…that moment when you hit send and realize that instead of blind copying your list, you’ve exposed all your customers email addresses in the CC field. Your heart sinks, your stomach turns, and the angry emails start flooding in. You wonder if you should send an apology email to the list but make sure everyone is blind copied, or if that would just stir the hornet’s nest and create more of a problem. What to do? First, notify senior management. The last thing you want is an angry customer blindsiding someone in your management chain. Next, check with IT. There may be ways to recall the message if it hasn’t been read yet. Most importantly, respond immediately and admit the blunder and sincerely apologize to anyone you’ve upset. We are all human, and I bet 99% of us has made an email blunder somewhere along the way.
The unintentional SPAM
Marketing automation has changed the game for B2B marketing. It enables us to scale our resources, track measurable impact to the business, and optimize our return on marketing investment. Because of the power it gives us to scale, it also scales the consequences when a mistake is made. One small mistake in the process can result in an email blast that was only supposed to be tested (and therefore NOT ready for prime time) to be delivered to 11,000 contacts with a couple clicks of a mouse. Then you start getting the angry emails in response from everyone you have ever encountered in your professional career. Or at least it seems that way – customers, sales people, prospects, your marketing automation company, your IT team…it’s ugly. So what’s the best response? First, notify your marketing operations staff or support team ASAP. If they catch the program in time they can likely stop the campaign, or part of the campaign, from executing. Next step is to notify senior management. Take accountability, own the mistake, and provide a recommended path forward to help fix the situation. (For example, creating tighter controls in your automation system or improving QA processes before emails are sent.) Engage IT as quickly as possible. A mistake of this magnitude can create significant blowback for the whole organization, and your IT department can lessen it if they are engaged right away.
The offensive campaign
I am a firm believer that B2B marketing doesn’t have to be boring – in fact, it shouldn’t be boring! Our results consistently show that our most creative content and programs perform the best in terms of email KPIs, driving new pipeline opportunities and closed bookings. However, not everyone has the same sense of humor, so it’s important that the creativity is professional, in good taste, and truly ties to the message you are trying to deliver. We once ran an integrated program with a zombie apocalypse theme. What better way to test your disaster recovery solution then to see if it could survive a zombie apocalypse? “The Walking Dead” and “World War Z” were hot, hot, hot at the time. The program was a smashing success and earned our team several awards. Unfortunately, not everyone was amused. Two examples come to mind. I received one email from a customer saying that it was offensive and inappropriate to make light of the undead and afterlife. I apologized profusely and then immediately unsubscribed him from future programs. The second email was from one of our own salespeople. He said he often sells our solutions to zombies and therefore was concerned that his zombie prospects would take offense. My reply? “I think you are selling to the wrong audience. Perhaps this is why you’re not making your number?”
