Clean old and duplicate names out of the suggestion list, label contacts so two clients with one first name look different, hold outgoing mail for a minute, and open every attachment before pressing Send.

The right first name, the wrong client

Someone at an insurance office types a client's first name into the To line. The mail program offers a match, she presses Enter, attaches a renewal document and sends it.

The match was a different client with the same first name. A document carrying a home address, a policy number and a vehicle's details is now in a stranger's inbox.

Nobody did anything unusual. The program suggested a name it had seen recently, and a busy person accepted it, as she had dozens of times that week.

How the suggestions are chosen

Office mail programs remember addresses you have written to, and some remember addresses that wrote to you. As you type, they offer the matches, usually the most recent first.

The program has no idea which client you mean. Two clients who share a first name are just two entries, and the one you emailed last week tends to come first.

The list also keeps addresses long after they stop being right: a client's old work address, a mistyped address, someone who left the company years ago.

Why recall rarely helps

Outlook offers to recall a sent message, which sounds like a way out. Recall only works when both people use the same organisation's mail server, and only before the message is opened.

Sent to an outside address, a recall arrives as a second message asking the person to delete the first, which mainly draws attention to it.

Most other mail programs have no recall at all. Once a message reaches the other server, only the person reading it there can delete it.

Habits that catch it before Send

Since a sent message cannot be pulled back, the protection has to come before it leaves. A few habits do most of that work:

The last is the simplest. A reply uses the address the client wrote from, so autocomplete never gets a chance to guess.

Cleaning the suggestion list

In most mail programs, one suggestion can be removed by highlighting it in the list and pressing Delete. Outlook can also empty the whole list from its mail options.

Emptying everything removes useful entries too, so it is usually better to remove stale ones as they appear and keep client addresses in the proper address book.

Give every client a full name there, with a detail that tells namesakes apart, such as a town or a company. The suggestion then shows the difference before you press Enter.

A short delay before sending

Outlook can hold every outgoing message for a set number of minutes, using a rule that defers delivery. The message waits in the Outbox, where it can still be opened and corrected.

Gmail has an optional undo feature that holds a message for a few seconds. Other programs and phones vary, so check what yours can do.

The delay only helps if someone looks during it. A minute or two is long enough to notice a wrong name, and short enough that nobody switches it off.

A worked example

A college admissions consultant works from a small office with two advisers, helping high school students apply to universities in Canada and abroad.

Each fall the office emails families draft essays, transcripts, test scores and advisers' notes, often late in the evening as deadlines approach.

Last fall an adviser typed a student's first name and sent a draft personal essay to the parents of another student with the same name, applying to the same programs.

The office found its suggestion list full of parents' work and home addresses, students' school addresses and leftovers from earlier years, with nothing to tell families apart.

Each family's contact now carries the student's full name and graduating year. Outgoing mail waits two minutes, and attachments are named with the student's surname and opened before sending.

Advisers also answer within each family's own thread. The suggestion list rarely comes into play, and when it does, the label shows whose family it is.

Checking the attachment

The attachment is often the bigger risk. A file picked from a downloads folder full of similar names can be another client's document, sent to the right person.

Name files with the client's surname and the date, open the attachment from the draft before sending, and clear finished documents out of shared folders.

If it happens anyway

Write to the wrong recipient at once, briefly and politely. Ask them to delete the message without forwarding it, and to reply confirming they have.

Then tell the right client plainly what was sent, roughly to whom, and what you have done. Hearing it from you first is better than hearing it from a stranger.

Privacy law expects a business to protect the personal information in its care. Some provinces also have their own privacy laws for private businesses, and which law covers an office turns on where and how it handles that information.

The privacy commissioners' websites publish guidance on mistakes like this, and a regulated office, such as an insurance brokerage, should check what its regulator expects.

This is general information about privacy rules, not legal advice on a particular misdirected email.

The counter-case

Autocomplete saves time and is right far more often than wrong. Switching it off makes mistyped addresses likelier, which sends mail astray in a different way.

An office that rarely emails documents, or whose clients all have distinct names, may never meet this problem.

But any office sending personal information by email has the ingredients: busy people, similar names and a program that guesses. Autocomplete kept, tidied and slowed slightly is the fair middle.

Catching the wrong name in time

  1. Remove stale addresses from the suggestion list.
  2. Label clients with a detail beyond the first name.
  3. Set a rule that holds outgoing mail for two minutes.
  4. Name files with the client's surname and the date.
  5. Open the attachment from the draft before sending.
  6. Reply within the client's thread where one exists.
  7. Write down what to do if a message goes astray.

Step three gives a second look at the right moment. The wrong name often looks right while typing and obviously wrong a minute later, while the message is still in the Outbox.

Showing who your clients are on the website raises its own questions of permission, covered in client logos on your website without permission.

Frequently asked questions

Why did the mail program suggest the wrong client?

It offers addresses it has seen recently, usually the latest match first. It cannot tell two clients with the same first name apart unless their contact names differ.

Can I recall an email sent to the wrong person?

Rarely. Outlook's recall works only within one organisation's own mail server and before the message is read. Outside it, recall just sends a second message asking for deletion.

How do I remove a wrong suggestion from the list?

In most programs, highlight the suggestion in the list and press Delete. Outlook can also empty its whole list, though that removes useful entries as well.

Does a delay before sending actually help?

Yes, if someone looks during it. A rule holding outgoing mail for a minute or two gives time to notice a wrong name while the message is still in the Outbox.

What should I say to the wrong recipient?

Write promptly and politely, ask them to delete the message without forwarding it, and ask them to reply confirming they have. Keep it short and factual.

Should I tell the client whose document went astray?

Yes, promptly and plainly: what was sent, roughly to whom, and what you have done. Check the privacy commissioners' guidance, and any regulator that oversees your profession.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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