This Talking Shrimp email got a high rate of opens, clicks, and replies, so I’ve turned the email into a blog post.
(For more on emails vs blog posts, check this out.)
Subject Line: The typo that ruined my career
I hope this email finds you we’ll.
LOLZ. That’s not a real typo, but it could be if I typed it on my iphone—with its aggressive autocorrect that can’t imagine you’d ever want to write the word “well” without the apostrophe that makes it a whole different word.
Except that it couldn’t be, not in an email coming from me. I would never start an email that way. Or this way.
Where was I?
Right. Typos.
So, the other day, I sent an email with a typo. The kind that ruins a career.
Half my list unsubscribed.
My book contract was cancelled.
Former clients called demanding refunds for fees paid in 2009.
Within an hour, Entrepreneur Magazine published a piece,
“Thinking of Learning Copy, Branding, and Marketing? Here’s One Thought Leader to Avoid. (Hint: Verbal Crustacean.)”
No, none of that’s true. Gotcha again!
The typo didn’t ruin my career. Only my punchline.
I wrote “Mr. Symbol” when I meant “Mr. Cymbal.” I was talking about drumming.
I could even feel the typo as I was making it, and made a mental note—by all accounts, a disappearing one—to check the spelling and change it later. Forgot.The first reply I got said, “Um. Did you mean ‘Mr. Cymbal’?”
Facepalm.
Making a typo in an email is the worst!
Everyone wants to point it out to you, but there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s sent.
A blog post, a sales page, a social post—those things you can go back and change. An email, no dice, unless you’re Elon Musk and have a time machine.
(You know he has one, he just hasn’t told us about it because if we got our hands on it, we’d all use it to go back and buy Tesla stock, which would have some impact on the current price and screw up his fortunes and then he couldn’t afford to go live in outer space with his baby, whose name is a typo made by a cat.)
I’m happy to say, I got only kind notes about the typo this time, though I’m still bracing myself for the ones I usually get:
“How are we supposed to take you seriously as a copywriter if you have typos in your writing?”
Or, often, this version, with ironic misplaced apostrophe:
“How are we supposed to take you seriously as a copywriter if you have typo’s in your writing?”
Let’s get something clear:
Copywriters are not copy editors. They’re not proofreaders.
I think we should all take care to clean up our writing and be conscious of grammar and spelling.
Especially when it comes to your/you’re.
PLEASE. It’s “you’re welcome,” not “your welcome.”
It’s “you’re gorgeous,” not “your gorgeous,” unless we’re talking about “your gorgeous [NOUN].” As in, “I stole your gorgeous sweater and now it’s mine.”
That said, the best writers I know make typos and spelling mistakes and write things before they’ve had coffee.
They know which words will have the most power, and in what order.
They know the words to hook the reader and persuade them to take an action. Sometimes, that action is to buy; sometimes it’s to keep reading.
But sometimes, they don’t spell those words right.
Some Shrimpers thought I’d swapped the word intentionally.
They thought it was some joke that was over their head. That ruins the whole joke. Anything that gives you pause while you’re reading does.
So, no, I’m not glad I made the typo.
But I don’t think a typo ruins your credibility. Especially in an email.
(On a resume is a different story.)
And please, if you do make a typo in your email newsletter, please don’t write a follow-up to tell your whole list that you’re sorry for the typo.
We don’t need that in our inbox.
Don’t think I wasn’t tempted.
I wanted everyone who noticed it to know that I knew about it. Instead, I wrote this post, which was one of my most popular ever. Maybe I am glad!
So, thank you if you’re one of the Shrimpers who kindly pointed it out, and you’re (not your) welcome!
xoLaura
PS – Typos are one thing, words that miss the emotional mark are another. If you want your copy to strike that chord (or hit that CYMBAL) that gets people to click “buy,” “sign up,” or “book a call,” my mini-courses will help you do that better today.
If you don’t already have one or both of them, you’ll see them below. If you don’t see anything, you’re an all-in Shrimper. Congrats! Please hit me back and tell me how you like them.
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