• by Austin C. Bliss , November 2, 2006

LAST WEEK, Andy Goldman shared some great tips on structuring knowledge-sharing networks. This week, I'm focusing on the hidden cost of email address typos, where many email marketing battles are won or lost.

In most computer environments, people have become accustomed to technology rushing to their aid. We marvel at the precision of spell-check, the scrutiny of grammar-check, and now the speed of autocorrect. For example, in the first sentence of this paragraph, I accidentally typed "poeple" instead of "people". In the blink of an eye, my word processing software automatically corrected my transposition error, without my even noticing.

Unfortunately, visitors to your Web site and readers of your emails get none of this assistance when typing their email addresses. You'd be surprised how often fingers accidentally produce email addresses that look like these:
acbliss@yahoo.cmo
acbliss@yahho.com
acbliss2yahoo.com
acbliss@yahoo.comm

There are three reasons why email address typos are a tragedy for marketers:

1) Lost Revenues: You've wasted your marketing dollars on failed registrations; worse, you've lost the profits you would have made from these visitors.

2) Poor Customer Experience: Typos, by their very nature, are unintentional. Thus, when your prospect doesn't get the newsletter or offer they think they signed up for, YOU are blamed.

3) Poor Deliverability: Every typo in your email list is an undeliverable message. This drives down the quality of your email list, which is noticed by ISPs and jeopardizes your future ability to get your messages into your customers' inboxes.

At this point, you may be saying "My tech team is all over this. I don't need to worry." While that department appreciates your vote of confidence, let's look at some numbers.

According to a study published by the Email Experience Council earlier this year, the average major retailer loses $6.7 million per year due to email address typos. In fact, a review of 50 top retailers' Web sites found 86% of the sites let four or more common types of typos past their validation engines. The bottom line is that we all have some work to do on this issue.

The good news is that there's a plethora of ways to drive down the typo rate on your Web site. Here are a few of my favorite approaches:

• Offer Value - You are asking for someone's email address; make sure you are offering something of value in exchange.

• Use The Address - Make it clear to your Web visitor that you will USE whatever email address was provided to deliver the value (the discount code, the ringtone, etc.).

• Box Size - Make sure your Web site input box is generously sized. An average length email address is 20.3 characters.

• Confirm - Use a confirmation page on your Web site to show visitors what they typed and offer an opportunity for corrections.

• Use Technology - You probably already use real-time postal address correction on your Web site. Consider adding technology that performs email address validation and correction.

With the ghouls of Halloween behind us, it is time for marketers to get serious about the upcoming holiday season and look for any opportunities for triple wins. Review your Web site registration process... try some typos... is there something you can do that will help your bottom line times three?