Turns out the "system error" was a lie

I was finally getting some decent sleep Sunday morning after all my neighbors decided to set off their endless supply of fireworks late into Saturday night.

When suddenly at 4:50 a.m., the tornado sirens rattled me awake.

I immediately grabbed my phone to check for weather alerts, but there were none.

Finally, the sheriff's department sent out a message saying it was "a system error."

Turns out, that wasn't exactly true.

A dispatcher accidentally hit the wrong button while paging out a medic unit.

Simple human error.

But instead of just saying "Hey, our bad - wrong button. Sorry for waking you up" ...

They tried to cover it up with that "system error" story.

And it got me thinking about something we see ALL THE TIME in email marketing ...

Those infamous "oops" emails.

You know what I'm talking about ...

"OOPS! The link was broken!"

"OOPS! We sent the wrong price!"

"OOPS! The deadline wasn't really the deadline!"

Most of these "oops" emails aren't really oops at all.

They're planned.

And while they might work for quick sales, they slowly chip away at something way more valuable ...

Trust.

Because your audience isn't dumb, they know what's going on.

And every time you try to fool them, you're essentially telling them you think they're not smart enough to see through it.

Real mistakes do happen. Sometimes links don't work. Sometimes deadlines do need extending.

When that happens, just be straight up about it ...

"Hey, we had more demand than expected, so we're extending this."

"My bad, I messed up the link. Here's the right one."

As T. Harv Eker says, "How you do anything is how you do everything."

And if you're willing to be dishonest about small things, what else might you be dishonest about?

Trust is like sleep after those 4:50 AM sirens...

Once it's gone, it's really hard to get back.

P.S. My Before You Hit Send checklist can help you avoid those accidental mistakes. You can get it free when you grab your copy of my book Hit The Inbox.