Shame. Embarrassment. TERROR! These are just three of the frightening emotions that email marketers have experienced after sending a mass email with a mistake.
Sometimes the mistake is harmless, like a small typo. Sometimes it’s a DOOZY, like misidentifying a donor, sending to the wrong list, or using inappropriate phrases as placeholder text (stupid headline here!).
One thing is certain — press send enough times and you will make a mistake. Learn from it! Sometimes the resent email performs better than the original in terms of opens and click-throughs.
When to Send an Oops Email
- As soon as possible!
- When you have a
- Bad link
- Error in critical information (date, location, time, etc.)
- Landing pages or website doesn’t work
- Sending the wrong email to the wrong segment
- Really bad formatting
Remember to apologize, keep it short, and make sure the corrected information is clear.
36 “Oops!” Email Subject Lines and Phrases
I searched my inbox to find subject lines and phrases you can use when this happens to you. (HINT: Scan you own inbox to see who’s apologized to you!)
Subject Lines
- [Oops, we’re a bit late]
- [OOPS] I goofed! Corrected date.
- Corrected Date
- Corrected Link
- Corrected Tweets
- Corrected Version
- Correction
- Oops
- Oops – link fixed!
- Oops, a typo!
- Oops, a wee bug
- Oops: corrected link
- Oops! Our Mistake
- Oops! Site is live again and holiday card sale is extended!
- Oops! Sorry mobile users
- Oops! We Made a Mistake
- Oops! We meant to say
- Updates and Corrections
- Whoops
- Whoops! That was a mistake
- With Corrected Links
- Yikes! Corrected date
Phrases
- An error in our system may have caused you to receive a confusing email from us. We have corrected the problem. Here’s the email you should have received.
- Dreadfully sorry about that
- Due to a slight hiccup
- Due to technical difficulties…
- Here is the correct information
- I really do apologize
- Many of you wrote to let me know that X wasn’t working
- Sorry for the confusion
- Uh oh! It seems our email system hit a technical glitch. We’ve fixed the issue now.
- We may have sent out an email with the wrong subject line. The message is still the same.
- We now have the corrected version on X
- We’re really sorry.
- We apologize for the mistake
- You just received an email that I didn’t mean to send you
Oops Further Reading
6 Clever Examples of “Oops!” Emails
The Best 7 Apology / Oops Email Examples in 2023
The Art of the “Oops” – Email Mistakes and What To Do About Them
Handle Your Oops: 5 Types of Email Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Need more help with email marketing? Check out these other blog posts.
This post was updated July 13, 2023
