Is the 'gurus' "sorrry for the Broken Link" email method just a sneaky tactic ?

YES! I have wondered this! It must be! haha

It's interesting, I haven't done this intentionally but one time sent out an email that I later noticed had a broken link. The next day I resent the email with the good link and it had even higher clicks on the link. I think it's similar to saying "tomorrow I'll give you the link for ____" and then people actually look forward to receiving that email the next day. However I wouldn't really recommend sending out emails with broken links lol

Honestly, I've never used it on purpose or as a trick.

Sometimes we are in a rush, sometimes our outsourcers are not paying attention to details, sometimes we aren't paying attention to details. Shit happens, we make mistakes as mailers. It costs us conversions and cashflow, so some of us aren't doing it on purpose, that I can promise you.

Agreed, but that doesn't change the fact that many do. It's been around a long time and occasionally get's used. It's not nearly as pathetic as the old "we are so popular our server crashed." Wonder if we'll see that come back? (;

I've seen it used where the CORRECT link is sent on day one then the mailer pretends the link was broken (even though it worked fine) and re-send the offer the next day to increase clicks.

Sending out a broken link on day one on purpose wouldn't make much sense IMO.

By the time the email with a working link goes out the next day many people would have lost interest or decided it's not working clicking on any more.

I have sent out mails with wrong or broken links before but it was a genuine accident.

Yes, now a days it's very common. It was only a couple of days back, I got an email from a famous marketer with the same tactic. When I checked his previous email, there was no problem with the link. But I didn't clicked on the link on first time, may be that's the reason why he sent the email again who didn't click the link. As you know we can do it through an autoresponder.

It's mostly BS, justified by short-term profit. I THINK, long-term it's probably dumb though... not to easy to measure that though.

Colm

yes, many do to build up hype and to get people excited

Why in the H@#$ would anyone mail a broken link intentionally. Thats stupid.

1) Its not going to make there list very happy. First it will annoy them because they got a broken link, then it will annoy them because they got mailed again for the same thing.

2) Its not going to increase conversions. Think about it. Ever see an ad on a billboard for a company with a phone number? Now how many times did you see a second one down the road for the same company with "oh sorry this is the right phone number on it".. or how about a commercial or radio ad? Ever see / hear one that had a phone number to call for more info, then 5 minutes later another commercial for the same company say "Oh sorry here is the correct phone number"

Honestly the thought that people would do this is laughable.

NOW here is what SOME people really do:

1) Send an email out about a product (with the correct link)
2) Send an second email out again about the same product to the people who did not open or click (again with the correct link) using the 'broken link' as an excuse to send it more than once. People wont know the first one is good because the only people you sent the second one to are people who didnt open / click the first.

Seems kind of shady to me, if done intentionally. I mean why insult the intelligence of your subscribers?
I've had mails from solid marketers that had busted links - and often that wasn't their fault. So later when the link was up and running I'd get another mail.

But can't say I've (yet) received the intentional 'broken link' trick. Don't know how long I'd stay on a list like that -- but guessing not long at all.

If I am trying to buy something and the link is broken, and I really want the product I will go and find it from another seller. More often than not I get several emails promoting the same offer so deliberatly sending out a broken link would be stupid.

Ha ha! I believe Frank Kern did that the other day but I don't think that was his intention.

everything is possible

Perhaps we are all a little cynical.

I have had to send out two "Oops" emails in the last two years, because I did not copy and paste the link correctly.

People make mistakes (Gurus and non-gurus) ... Just Saying

Di

IMO I get so many of these that there is no way that every single person who sends one is sending it because of an actual honest mistake. I am sure there are some people who actually make mistakes and in some cases the offer will close down unexpectedly or the hosting will be down, etc.

However, I feel that most are using it as a sleazy tactic just to get you to open the email. Here are some other doozies that will cause me to hit the "unsubscribe" link with Flash Gordon-like speed:

Notification of Payment Received
Your Account Has Been Closed
You've Just Received A Commission
RE: Your Order
Your Website Has Been Hacked
Your Payment Details Are Inside
Your PayPal Account Has Been Limited
Please Confirm Your Download
Your Gmail Account Has Been Hacked


There are a whole bunch more but the above are the very worst offenders. I particularly HATE the ones that reference your PayPal & Gmail accounts.

If the goal of the sender is to get me to open those emails, then they have achieved their goal. However, I also unsubscribe. They probably weren't trying to achieve that as a goal!