Getting it wrong the right way!

One of my regular subscription emails turned up today open with the words:

Dear {FIRST_NAME|Colleagues and Friends},

Like most people, I've seen this happen more times than I can count (and yes I've even caused it once or twice). With the best intentions in the world mistakes happen especially when transitioning between mail providers/software.

What really caught my eye was the message I got 4 hours later:

Dear Ben,

You will have just received our XXXXXXX XXXXXXX Newsletter which has been sent out with an obvious error...

There message was short and simple: "it was human error, we're sorry." This is the right way to deal with a mistake. By taking control of it they stop (or at least reduce) complaints and demonstrate that they have already caught the mistake and corrected it.

It really highlights that there is a right way to fail, especially when people will know that you messed up... trying to hide it at that point would just make you look dishonest (and yes I've seen people try it).