Membership

Friday Buzz: When Email Goes Wrong

Find out how to bounce back from embarrassing email fails. Also: Stop a condescending coworker from making you lose your cool.

You try to dot every “i” and cross every “t,” but something can still go wrong when you send an email to all of your members. It doesn’t matter if the error is a typo or due to a technology issue beyond your control, an inaccurate email will leave members with a bad impression and may even cause some to unsubscribe from your newsletter.

Association Success shares a few common email problems and some clever fixes.

“I once sent out an identical email a week later instead of the newer one I had just written, as I had input the wrong email into the workflow,” writes Arianna Rehak. “Within five minutes, I had four unsubscribes, so knew I had to act quickly.”

She recovered by immediately sending an email with a subject line that read, “I accidentally emailed you twice!” She then followed up with a personal apology, which people appreciated.

Another association once sent an email with an incorrect discount code. When it discovered the error, it corrected the issue by creating a new code on its end to match the one the members received.

Keeping Your Cool

The office can be an emotionally fraught place at times, but don’t let a condescending coworker get you so upset that you lose your temper.

Try not to take their rudeness personally, says online career resource The Muse. “Remember, this person might be trying to provoke you,” writes Lea McLeod. “And if you let her, say, by lashing out to defend yourself and telling her what a jerk she is, you’ll just be playing right into her hands.”

Instead, McLeod says to call out the person calmly by saying something like, “Gee, that comment sounded a bit condescending to me. Mind dropping the attitude?”

Program sustainability. Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog goes in depth on sustainability planning for nonprofits.

Facebook is still king. Despite the popularity of new social media networks like Snapchat, millennials are still more likely to share content on Facebook than any other platform, reports Business Insider.

Don’t make your team use software they don’t like. Entrepreneur recommends doing a trial of a new product with your team before you commit.

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Raegan Johnson

By Raegan Johnson

Raegan Johnson is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE

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