This isn’t one of mine but it’s always made me chuckle…

I received an email from a restaurant chain offering a free bottle of wine - simply “print off this coupon” and bring it along. The coupon contained a QR code and, as a marketer, I thought it would be interesting to see what this QR code did.

Having scanned the code, once, twice and a third time JUST to be sure I had to share it with my colleagues. Instead of the word “test” which would of been the most sensible choice - an overexcited developer deiced a different “4 letter word” beginning with C was a better option! And evidently this wasn’t changed for the live emails.

Hardly believing my eyes I decided the most appropriate course of action was to inform the companies marketing department - who of course had already found out about this oversight - albeit too late.

Moral of the story - get one last person who hasn’t seen the email before to have a full proof check before hitting the button.

Subject = Secrets of a Super Stepper
Preview = 27 fun ideas to pack more steps into your day

We send offer-based emails to our database of ‘lapsed’ members at regular intervals throughout the year – subject lines have tended to be sales focused.

We produced a blog piece detailing a live member’s fitness successes and drew in the readers with some clever (we thought) alliteration in the subject. The preview text clearly signposted the motivational content waiting for the reader.

The success of the campaign hinged on sales of Fitbits when purchased with one of our membership packages. Sales tripled year-on-year!