Not too long ago, I made a shameful mistake as a marketer.
I send out an email with growth marketing tips & tricks every week. And for some reason, in one morning I accidentally sent out 10 emails at once to my whole database.
This meant the receivers of my weekly email unexpectedly got their inbox flooded with my emails.
Problem #1: 10 weeks of content went to sh*it.
Problem #2: People don’t like spam
Not too long after the mistake, my own inbox flooded with messages like “ I think something is going on with your weekly emails Tycho..” and “ Tycho, do you realize you’ve sent 10 weeks of content out at once?”.
I had a knot in my stomach that whole day.
But then I realized I could turn this into something positive. After all, I did gain some momentum and I did have the attention of my whole database. So I sent out the following email:
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Hey [name],
Apparently, I got a little too excited sending out emails this morning. My apologies for the spam..
To make it up to you, I’m giving away 5 free Growth Marketing coaching sessions to the 5 first people who respond to this email with: apologies excepted, Tycho.
From next week onwards, you’ll be receiving one email at the time again.
Best,
Tycho
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The result? More than 100 people responded with ‘apologies excepted, Tycho’. More than a 100 people who wanted a free coaching session! Most of them being marketers at companies that our agency is not servicing yet.
I planned the 5 coaching sessions with the first 5 responders. Of course, I also picked the most interesting prospects out of this list, to plan a coaching session with them as well.
We even turned one coaching session into a new client for our agency. And so far, that has gained us €6400,- in extra revenue per month. That’s potentially €76.800,- in extra revenue per year. All because I made that mistake that morning!
Moral of the story: there is always a creative solution to your problem. Maybe even a solution that puts you in a better situation all together ;)