The Wowcher email controversy: are open rates worth the risk?

Screenshots spread rapidly across social media. Wowcher later confirmed it was "extremely sorry" for the "unacceptable" wording, adding: "it should never have been written, it was never approved for use." That last detail matters more than most commentary on this incident has acknowledged, and we'll come back to it.

It's easy for marketers to focus on headline numbers. The subject line was eye-catching. It almost certainly drove opens. The problem is that successful email marketing can't be measured by open rates alone, and this story illustrates precisely why.

Why subject lines carry more weight than ever

Subject lines carry more weight than ever because recipients decide within seconds whether an email is worth opening, and inboxes are more crowded than at any previous point.

Most people receive dozens of emails every day. Many receive hundreds. That competition means marketers are constantly looking for ways to stand out, using approaches such as:

• Creating curiosity
• Personalising content
• Introducing urgency
• Highlighting value
• Referencing current events
• Challenging assumptions

Many of these tactics work well. Some of the most successful email campaigns create a deliberate emotional reaction: curiosity, surprise and excitement are all powerful tools when deployed appropriately. The challenge is understanding where the boundaries sit. In Wowcher's case, the boundary was crossed.

Why open rates are a flawed primary objective

Open rates are a flawed primary objective because they're increasingly unreliable as a measure of genuine engagement. Since Apple introduced Mail Privacy Protection in 2021, open rate data has become actively misleading for many senders. Apple Mail now accounts for roughly half of all email opens, and for lists with significant Apple Mail usage, reported open rates can appear 15 to 40% higher than reality, because tracking pixels fire automatically regardless of whether a recipient has actually read the email.

That context matters when evaluating the Wowcher controversy. If the primary goal was improving open rates, the campaign was chasing a metric that's already compromised. Even accurate open rates only capture part of the picture.

A successful campaign encourages positive action: making a purchase, completing a form, visiting a website, booking an appointment, or strengthening a relationship with the brand. Subject lines that annoy, upset or alienate recipients may generate short-term engagement while damaging future performance. That's why experienced email marketers evaluate campaigns across a broader set of metrics:

• Open rates
• Click-through rates
• Conversion rates
• Revenue
• Customer retention
• Brand perception

Focusing on any single metric in isolation rarely tells the full story.

What went wrong: and why the process failure matters most

The criticism of Wowcher wasn't about poor grammar or weak copywriting. It centred on judgement: many people felt the subject line trivialised a serious and very recent incident involving a seriously injured child.

Whether that was the intention doesn't change how the email was received. Marketing is judged on the audience's reaction, not the sender's intent.

The detail Wowcher confirmed (that the email "was never approved for use") is the most instructive part of this story. It shifts the narrative from a creative misjudgement to a process failure. The subject line didn't pass through a review and get approved anyway. It bypassed the review process entirely, which is a more significant problem.

Most marketers have experienced situations where creative work is interpreted differently than expected. Strong teams build safeguards to catch those moments before an email reaches thousands of inboxes. When those safeguards are absent, the results can move beyond email marketing circles into mainstream news coverage, as happened here.

Creative risk-taking is valuable: poor judgement isn't

Creative risk-taking is valuable in email marketing, but it needs to be anchored in sound judgement about what's appropriate for the audience and the moment.

The best email campaigns take calculated risks. Safe, generic subject lines rarely produce exceptional results. Consider the difference between these two examples:

"Summer sale now live"

versus

"You've got 24 hours to decide"

The second creates curiosity and encourages the recipient to learn more. It's more likely to stand out in a crowded inbox. The aim isn't to avoid emotional reactions: it's to create the right emotional reactions, ones that leave recipients thinking positively about the sender.

Great subject lines use curiosity, anticipation, relevance, surprise, personalisation and humour effectively. Referencing a child's near-fatal injury doesn't meet that standard by any measure.

Building a review process that catches problems early

A review process that catches problems early is one of the most valuable safeguards an email marketing team can have, and the Wowcher incident is a useful reminder of why.

Judgement is one of the most underrated skills in marketing. Many people can write engaging copy. Fewer can accurately predict how that copy will be received across a diverse audience, particularly when topical or sensitive subject matter is involved.

The Wowcher situation (in which a subject line was sent without approval) shows that good intentions and individual talent aren't enough on their own. Strong email marketing teams build safeguards into the creative process, including:

• Multiple reviews before sign-off
• Internal approvals with clear ownership
• Defined brand guidelines for tone and content
• Legal checks where appropriate
• Audience testing for sensitive campaigns
• Escalation procedures for topical references

The aim isn't to limit creativity. It's to identify potential issues before they reach millions of inboxes. Good review processes catch problems early: in this case, a functional process would likely have done exactly that.

We recommend improving open rates through better audience segmentation, stronger messaging and more relevant content, rather than increasingly controversial subject lines.

What our Copywriting for Email guide says about subject lines

Our Copywriting for Email guide covers this principle directly: effective email marketing is about generating the right reaction, not the biggest one.

When marketers focus exclusively on open rates, subject lines can become disconnected from the wider objectives of a campaign. The result can be attention without engagement, clicks without conversions, or (in extreme cases) negative publicity that damages customer trust long after the original email is forgotten.

When we develop email marketing copywriting for clients, we encourage them to think beyond the inbox. A subject line is one part of the customer journey. The most effective subject lines encourage recipients to open the email while staying consistent with the brand, the message and the experience that follows.

Our Copywriting for Email guide covers proven approaches including:

• Creating curiosity without misleading recipients
• Using personalisation where it adds genuine relevance
• Building urgency without relying on clickbait
• Aligning the subject line with the content of the email
• Writing copy that strengthens trust and credibility over time

Most organisations don't need increasingly controversial subject lines to improve performance. Better audience segmentation, stronger messaging and more relevant content will typically have a greater impact on open rates and conversions than any provocative headline.

Five questions to ask before any subject line goes out

Before approving a subject line (particularly one that references current events or uses a strong emotional hook), it's worth working through these five questions:

1. Does this align with our brand values?

A subject line that feels appropriate for one organisation may feel entirely wrong for another. Brand fit matters, especially at scale.

2. Could this reasonably offend or upset our recipients?

The question isn't about being overly cautious. It's about anticipating how a diverse audience will respond, including people who may have a personal connection to the subject matter.

3. Would we be comfortable if this subject line was shared publicly?

The Wowcher subject line was screenshotted and shared widely within hours. Every subject line is one screenshot away from public scrutiny.

4. Does the potential reward justify the potential risk?

Topical subject lines can perform well. They can also backfire significantly. The risk-reward calculation needs to be explicit, not assumed.

5. Is there a less risky alternative that achieves the same objective?

In most cases, there is. If a subject line raises concerns during review, the starting point should be refinement.

If any of these questions produce an uncomfortable answer, the subject line needs further work before it goes out.

The longer commercial cost of getting this wrong

The longer commercial cost of a misjudged subject line extends well beyond the news cycle, affecting subscriber retention, brand perception and internal trust.

Customers who unsubscribed won't return automatically. Those who formed a negative association with the brand will carry that impression into future interactions. And internally, the reputational damage to the team and business will take time to repair.

Effective email marketing requires more than strong copywriting. It requires judgement, process and a clear understanding of what success actually looks like. As we discuss in our Copywriting for Email guide, the objective isn't simply to improve open rates. It's to improve open rates while strengthening trust, protecting brand reputation and supporting long-term commercial goals.

The Wowcher example illustrates the difference between attracting attention and creating value. A subject line should encourage action, and the best campaigns succeed by getting that balance right.

Red C are a specialist email marketing agency. To find out how we help clients develop campaigns that perform and protect brand reputation, visit our email marketing copywriting page or download our Copywriting for Email guide.