Emma helps

By Richard Earle
Regis Group Affiliate

If you get our newsletter, you may have noticed the name “Emma” at the bottom. No, that’s not someone in our office. It’s the corporate name of our e-mail distributer. Emma’s the new kid on the block, a group that already contains the longer-established Patron Mail and Constant Contact. I first noticed Emma on a newsletter from a designer I really respect, and outside of the memorable name (derived, I suppose from “E-mail”) I found some tasteful templates, and on the test drive, a remarkably user-friendly system (you lay it out right on the template with standard word-processing techniques.)

Emma gives complete data about who opened your newsletter and when, who clicked through your links, and to where. You can even compare it to last month, or one from a year ago. Their service representative are exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful, and they send out pretty good newsletter themselves!

It is the most recent edition that is the basis for this post. An embarrassed user in Charlotte wrote: 

“Dear Emma,  I just said something that I didn't mean to say. And I said it in an email to my entire audience list. If I were at a dinner party right now, I would just make an exaggerated shrugging motion and smile bashfully. But this is my business we're talking about. What should I do?”

Emma’s response: "A prompt correction and apology lets you show a nice flicker of personality. If you do it with a touch of class and maybe even a little humor, your apology can even strengthen the bond between you and your subscribers.

Some other points:
   
Be prompt. You'll probably see one of the highest spikes in activity in the two hours immediately after you send your campaign. The sooner you send a correction, the more likely these early respondents are to connect you with your correction rather than your error.
   
Be specific. You don't always have to craft a completely new message to address a mistake -- sometimes it's better to correct your original content and send it out again. If you send a revised version of your original message, be clear about the correction you're making, starting with the subject line. If your audience sees "correction" there, they'll probably skip the first message and go directly to the follow-up.

Remember, email is one of the more personal communication channels available to you, and if someone has invited you to share information with them regularly, they’re likely to be forgiving of the occasional mistake. A prompt correction and apology will go a long way toward showing your customers the human side of your business. And who knows, it might even get you invited to one of their dinner parties."

So, Emma deserves a tip of our hat!


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