Lost a $3,000 retainer because I missed one email

Last Tuesday I realized a big client in Chicago stopped responding to my check-in emails. Turns out they sent a cancellation notice two weeks earlier and it went straight to my spam folder. I didn't catch it until they already hired another agency. Has anyone else had a client slip through the cracks from a missed message?

3 comments

3 Comments

danielowens5d ago

Lost a small client once the same way, their cancellation went to promotions folder and I didn't see it for three weeks. Now I check spam and promotions every single day before I even look at my inbox. Whole thing made me paranoid about how easy it is to miss something important.

aaronroberts5d ago

So I feel like the spam filter thing is only half the problem. @danielowens you're right to check spam every day but the real issue is we train clients to expect auto-replies and then get lazy. I had a client that got lost because their email went to my "Updates" tab and Gmail just quietly filed it there without a notification. Now I set up email rules that flag any email from clients with words like "cancellation" or "termination" and send it straight to a separate folder I check three times a day. That way even if their message gets shuffled somewhere weird I still catch it within a few hours instead of weeks.

kimblack5d ago

Three years ago I would have said that was overkill but then I missed a "lease not renewing" email that went to my spam box and sat there for two weeks. That one mistake cost me more time and money than any email rule I've ever set up. So yeah, I'm fully converted to the paranoid approach now.