Recently I wrote a post suggesting that you proofread your marketing emails by sending test messages to people on your team and having them check every element of the email before you blast it out to your entire list.

Laplink Software is a good company that offers quality products and support, but here's a screenshot of my inbox from last night (May 29, 2014):

 

Laplink example

AiseeSoft is the brand that was promoted in the email. I can understand how someone who was building the email could have overlooked the placeholder text in the subject line field, but this error probably would have been caught if a test email had been sent.

Update June 4, 2014:

And here's another one that came in this morning from a social media expert I respect tremendously:

Newsletter Title Goes Herre

 

I understand that mistakes happen, but, as I wrote in another blog about proofreading, that's no reason to not have perfection as your goal.

Update June 13, 2017:

And three years after posting this, these mistakes are still happening:

T Harv Eker email subject line with placeholder text instead of final text

 

 

Whether you're emailing once a day or once a month, it only takes a few extra minutes to check all the elements of your email so that your marketing message isn't overshadowed by a preventable mistake.

Update Oct. 19, 2018:

This is a different sort of mishap. This email includes a video with tips for how older adults can make new friends. But at first glance, I was taken aback by the unintended meaning when the words “adult” and “video” were placed next to each other.

4 Steps to Making Friends as an Older Adult (Video)

While this isn't technically an error, it's the sort of thing most marketers would prefer to avoid.

 

 

Jacquelyn Lynn
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