The One Thing You Should Do Before You Hit Send

Just last week I sent out an email about an event and listed the wrong location. Yep, I’m going to admit it: I didn’t ask anyone to review it for me. I was in a rush and I needed to get the message out, so I sent it without enlisting a second set of eyes. I found out about the error when I received a note from a client asking for clarification. I’m happy to say that this means that person was actively reading my email… but sadly, that’s not the point.

 

I feel comfortable admitting this because I’m in good company. Just today, I received an email from someone that had a word in the subject line misspelled. Soon after, I received an email from someone else apologizing for sending a prior message to me with incorrect information. I see it all the time.

 

The thing is… this matters. The details matter! What we send is a reflection of us and of our business. Are we paying attention? Are we detail-oriented? Do we care about the content we’re sending out?

 

Unlike a blog post, we can’t go back and edit the email. Unlike social media, we can’t delete the post and resubmit it. What’s done is done, so it’s worth doing right the first time.

 

The lesson here is simple: Before hitting send, have someone review your content.

 

It’s rare that a person can effectively edit their own content. We already know what should be there on the page, so that’s what we see. The best way to manage this is to find someone else to review the newsletter for grammar, spelling, and to make sure the details are right. If we don’t, we’ll still get review notes but they’ll come from our readers.

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