Issue #227 All About Email

Hi, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋

Welcome to Issue #227 of All About Email!

Last week, we revisited the Email Love Figma plugin, which is becoming an essential tool for many freelancers, agencies, and small teams.

This week, it’s about messaging (content) and how the wrong message can cause unnecessary headaches for your audience and even do some reputational damage.

Let’s go! 👇

Even the big players get things wrong, and on February 3rd, 2026, a poorly worded email did just that.

I received the following email and promptly shared it on social media. It was shared on Twitter and Bluesky, and reactions were negative (as expected), but on LinkedIn, the situation escalated.

We need to take a look at the email first to see what the problem was. 👇

🚨 First context. Yahoo doesn’t set it, and in light of a large reduction last year for US customers, many people thought their 20GB inboxes were being reduced again to 15GB.

😤 Users were not happy. Chad S. White, Alison Gootee, and many others shared my original post and wrote posts of their own based on it.

🫠 Across my LinkedIn post (mostly), shares, comments, and reposts, many people were confused, had questions, and expressed negative sentiment.

Not good for Yahoo, and my post got the attention of Marcel Becker (Senior Director Product Management), who said:

“Simon's reporting or framing is inaccurate.“

💡 However, my reporting and framing were accurate; the issue was the content of Yahoo’s email.

Marcel then proceeded to clarify the situation in some comments:

👩‍🚒 Marcel added some other clarification points, which I included in my LinkedIn post; however, this confusion, negative sentiment, and firefighting could have been avoided.

The email simply needed to include “UK” or “United Kingdom” somewhere, and it would have been fine.

I’m not sure of the QA (review) process for email campaigns at Yahoo, but this should have been flagged.

✅ It wasn’t my responsibility (and I wasn’t required) to update my posts with further clarification or correction, but I did.

I wanted my reporting to be accurate, and for my audience to trust me.

We all make mistakes in our emails, but what do we do when we make them?

Do we own the mistake and try to fix it, or say nothing and move on?

Yahoo should have sent another email, in my opinion, maybe two:

🫠 Our audiences often expect us to be perfect at all times, especially for big brands or highly respected individuals, but the fact is, we aren’t, and we never will be.

Nor will the email creation and review process.

🧠 Here’s the thing: when we make a mistake, confuse our audience, or let them down because of it, own it.

Acknowledging the mistake and making the correction can help restore trust, increase loyalty, and rebuild reputation.

🤷‍♂️ To Yahoo, this probably isn’t a big deal, but it’s a perfect example of why email content:

💡 We never know who will read our emails, and we can’t account for everyone.

Yes, we can segment and target, but audiences forward emails, screenshot and share emails, and read web versions, so we need to be as critical in our thinking and clear in our writing as possible.

🤭 And remember, don’t blame others for your mistakes.

That’s it for this week, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋

Welcome to Curiosity Corner! Each week, I throw one question your way…not always about email marketing, but always worth a reply.

Last week, I asked, ”Do You Struggle to Keep Up with new Email Tools?”

We have a tie, and whilst there weren’t many votes, the answer won’t surprise you. 👇

This week’s question is:

Every week, as I write this newsletter, I'll share the track of the moment to create an unbelievably eclectic playlist just for your inbox.

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This week's excellent and insightful email news & tips:

If you have any questions about this email or email marketing, please reply, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

I hope you have a great week! 👋