30+ Excellent Samples of Apology Emails for a Mistake

Email is one of the most critical and standard marketing strategies for businesses. 

A survey from Statista stated that the number of global email users had increased from 3.7 billion in 2017 to over 4 billion in 2020 and might increase to 4.5 billion in 2025. 

99% of email users open their email daily; some even do it about 20 times daily. 

In email marketing, sending emails with attachments is a must, especially when promoting a new product or discount to your customers. However, making mistakes when sending an email, like adding the wrong attachment or information, is sometimes inevitable. 

In these situations, besides knowing how to reply to an email complaint from a customer, it is essential to write a proper and sincere apology email for the mistake you made to fix it and protect the brand’s image. 

This article will show 31 examples of sorry emails for mistakes to improve your email etiquette and make a professional impression next time.

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Apology Email for Mistake: Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

• Be sincere

This may sound needless, but many companies still forget about sincerity when resending emails with corrections. If you can make customers feel genuinely apologized, it can compensate for your mistake and conserve customers’ good impression of your company. Expressions like “We realize that we have made an unacceptable mistake” or “We are deeply sorry” would make your apology more sincere.

• Be well-timed

The sooner you send an apology letter, the easier it is to fix your mistakes. If you send an incorrect email and do not send another one to apologize until the next week or next month, it will show customers that you are sloppy in customer service and make them lose trust in your brand. 

One of the tips to be timely when sending an apology email for mistakes is to proofread your mail before and after sending and send correcting emails as soon as you realize you make mistakes.

• Remember to add the right attachment in your apology email!

You may think, “I’m not that stupid to make two mistakes with sending an attachment to customers in one day!” but trust me, you might forget to do it more quickly than you think.

If you send an apology letter for a mistake to your customers and fail to attach the correct document in your email, your email would be a big waste of time for your customers. As a result, it can create a bad impression about your company, or worse, they might move your address to the spam folder if they find you annoying.

Don’ts

• Don’t make excuses

You may think making excuses and giving valid reasons for mistakes is a good way to seek customers’ sympathy, thus protecting the brand’s image. However, it is usually the opposite in reality. Using excuses in an apology letter for mistakes might make customers think that you are not genuinely apologizing, which creates a much worse impression of customers about your company. 

Instead of explaining the reasons for your mistakes to customers, using phrases like “We know that no excuses can be made for this” or “We are aware that it was our fault” would be better to make up for your mistakes.

• Don’t blame anyone else

Some businesses usually try to blame someone else, such as their staff, employees, or even their customers, to avoid looking bad for their mistakes. However, this can make you and your brand look worse in customers’ eyes. 

The only thing customers care about is that you made a mistake that causes them inconvenience, not whose fault is, and absolutely not whether they are the reason for the mistake. A sincere apology email for a mistake always makes customers feel better than an unnecessarily long explanation about whose fault it is.

• Don’t turn the apology email into an advertisement or a sales email

Offering customers product vouchers or discount codes in an apology letter for mistakes is an effective way to make up for your mistakes. However, remember to draw a line to prevent it from becoming a sales email. 

Some businesses offer discount codes for customers in their apology emails and require customers to fill in a survey or answer some questions to receive the codes, which is more likely to annoy customers than to compensate for the inconvenience caused.

30+ Apology Email Examples You’ll Need

Example 1: Apology email for sending the wrong attachment to a client 

Dear [client name],

You might have realized that we sent you the incorrect [attachment type] in our previous email.

First, we know that no excuses can be made for this, so we are profoundly sorry for our mistake and any inconvenience it causes you. Please refer to the attached file for the right [attachment type].

We want to make this right and fix our mistake, so please accept our [discount percentage] voucher for your next purchase at our store or on our website.

Once again, we sincerely apologize for this incident and guarantee that it will not happen again. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 2: Apology email to client for sending the wrong information

Dear [client name],

In the last email, we made a mistake and sent you the wrong [product, discount, etc.] information. The correct [information type] should be [right information] instead of [wrong information].

We are deeply sorry for our mistake and any inconvenience it causes you. 

We want to make this up for you, so please accept our [discount percentage] voucher for your next purchase at our store or on our website.

Once again, we sincerely apologize for this incident and guarantee that it will not happen again. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 3: Apology email for sending a faulty attachment file

Dear [recipient’s name],

We are aware that we sent you an error file that cannot be opened in the last email.

We are really sorry for our mistake and any inconvenience it causes you. The problem resulted in [concise explanation]. Please refer to the attached file for the fixed [attachment type].

Once again, we sincerely apologize for this incident and hope it does not affect your purchasing experience. We will be more careful when sending information to you in the future.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 4: Apology email for sending a document with a faulty format

Dear [recipient’s name],

We realize that the document we sent you in the last email has some format errors, which might make it difficult to read.

We are sincerely sorry for our mistake and any inconvenience it causes you. The problem resulted in [concise explanation]. Please refer to the attached file for the fixed document.

Once again, we sincerely apologize for this incident and hope it does not affect your purchasing experience. We will be more careful when sending information to you in the future.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 5: Apology email for sending the wrong email

Dear [recipient’s name],

You may have noticed that we sent you an email that was supposed to be sent to another address. 

We understand that it was very unprofessional of us to do so. We are sincerely sorry for our mistake and any inconvenience it causes you. The problem resulted in [very short explanation].

Since the information in that email was private between another client of ours and us, I hope you understand and help us to delete that from your mailbox. 

Once again, please accept our apology, and we hope this incident does not severely affect your purchasing experience. We guarantee it will not happen again in the future.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 6: Apology email for sending an email late to a client

Dear [recipient’s name],

First, please refer to the attached file for the [information type].

Second, we are deeply sorry for sending the information to you later than we promised. This was due to [concise explanation].

We understand that it was very unprofessional of us to do so. However, we want to make this up for you, so please accept our [discount percentage] voucher for your next purchase at our store. 

Once again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that our mistake causes you sincerely.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 7: Apology email for mistake when sending an attachment to a work partner

Dear [partner’s name],

You might have noticed that we sent you the incorrect [attachment type] in our previous email. Please refer to the attached file for the right [attachment type].

The problem was due to [brief explanation]. I am aware that it was very professional of us to do so. We are profoundly sorry for our mistake and any inconvenience it causes you and your company. 

We want to make this up to you, so [your solution to fix your mistake].

Once again, we sincerely apologize for this incident and hope it will not affect our partnership.

Thank you for your understanding, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 8: Apology letter for mistake when sending an attachment (after clients have realized and complained)

Dear [client name],

First of all, we are deeply sorry that our unacceptable mistake has caused you such inconvenience. Please refer to the attached file for the right [attachment type].

We know that no excuses can be made for this. 

We want to make this right and fix our mistake, so please accept our [discount percentage] voucher for your next purchase with us.

Once again, we sincerely apologize for this incident and guarantee that it will not happen again. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 9: Apology email to work partner for sending the wrong email 

Dear [partner’s name],

Just now, I realized that we have made an unacceptable mistake and sent you an email intended for another recipient.

The problem resulted in [concise explanation]. We are deeply sorry for any inconvenience or confusion our mistake causes you.

We hope you understand and can help us delete that from your mailbox since the email contains security information between our work partners and us.

We hope this incident does not affect our partnership and guarantee it will not happen again.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 10: Apology email to a client for sending an error link

Dear [client’s name],

We realized we made a mistake in the last email and sent you the wrong link to [where the link leads to]. So that is why you might have noticed that you cannot open the link.

The right link should be [the right link].

We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience our mistake might have caused you. We want to make this up for you, so please accept a [discount percentage] voucher for [where the voucher is applied] as our sincere apology.

We hope this does not affect our relationship. Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 11: Email a work partner when you forgot to mention something important

Dear [partner’s name],

We just sent you an email about [issue in the last email], but we forgot to mention this significant issue. 

[Explain the vital thing you forgot to mention].

We are sorry for forgetting such an essential thing in the last email. We hope it does not cause you any inconvenience or confusion. Thank you very much for your understanding.

We look forward to your response about the [issue you discussed in the last emails].

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 12: Apology email for sending an unfinished email to the client

Dear [client’s name],

I am writing this to apologize for sending you an unfinished email. Somehow I accidentally pressed the “send” button before finishing it.

The complete content of the email should be [missing content of the last email]. [You can also let them know you have added the missing attachment in this email if you have one].

I am deeply sorry for making such an unprofessional mistake like this. I hope it does not cause you much inconvenience or affect your purchasing experience. We can guarantee this will not happen again in the future.

Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 13: Apology email for forgetting to add an attachment for a client

Dear [client’s name],

You might have noticed that we sent you an email about [issue in the email], but we forgot to add the attachment. Please refer to the attached file in this email for the missing [attachment type].

We understand that it is very unprofessional of us, and we are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience or confusion our mistake caused you. 

We want to make this up to you, so please accept our [discount percentage] voucher as our most profound apology.

Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 14: Apology email for sending a wrong link to a client

Dear [client’s name],

If you have opened the link in our last email, you might have realized that the link does not lead to [where the correct link leads to] as it should have. That was because we made a mistake and sent you the wrong link.

The correct link should be [the right link].

We want to offer our most profound apology for this confusion we caused you. Things like this will not happen again in the future. Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 15: Apology email for sending a link to a broken landing page (after a client’s complaint)

Dear [client’s name],

We are really sorry that we caused you such inconvenience. Unfortunately, our website was broken and could not be accessed because of technical problems. Our technical team is fixing it; you can access it tomorrow morning at the latest.

We offer our most profound apology for this confusion we caused you. To make this up for you, we will give you a [discount percentage] voucher for your next purchase at our store. 

I can guarantee that errors like this will not happen again. Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 16: Apology email for making typos

Dear [recipient’s name],

We have just realized that we made a typo in the last email, which might have caused you some confusion. What we wanted to say in that email is [what the correct sentence without a typo should be].

We are extremely sorry for making such an unprofessional mistake and hope it does not cause you much inconvenience or affect your purchasing experience.

Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day!

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 17: Apology email to client for sending the wrong invoice

Dear [client’s name],

This is a sorry email for sending you an invoice that should have been to another client of ours in the last email. Please refer to the attached file in this email for your proper invoice.

We understand that this is unprofessional of us, and no excuse can be made. To make this up for you, we have applied a discount of [discount percentage] in this invoice, so the price that you have to pay is [new price] instead of [original price].

Once again, we are deeply sorry for such inconvenience, and thank you for understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 18: Apology email to work partner for giving incorrect information

Dear [partner’s name],

Our apology; we made a mistake and put the wrong [type of information] in the last email. The correct [type of information] should be [correct information].

We sincerely apologize for making such a mistake and hope it does not cause any confusion or inconvenience. It will not happen again in the future.

Thank you for your understanding, and we look forward to your response about the [issues you are discussing]. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 19: Apology email to client for sending the wrong price quote

Dear [client’s name],

I am sorry that we sent you the quote for the wrong product in the last email. Please refer to the attached file for the correct price quote of [product client requested a quote for].

I hope our mistake does not cause you much inconvenience or confusion. Once again, we sincerely apologize and guarantee this will not happen.

I look forward to your response.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 20: Apology email to work partner for sending a wrong document

Dear [partner’s name],

We’ve just realized that our [employee sending that email] made a mistake and sent you the [type of document] that was supposed to be for another recipient. So please refer to the attached file in this email for the [type of document].

We are sincerely sorry for our mistake and any inconvenience or confusion caused you. We hope this does not affect our partnership and can guarantee such a mistake will not happen again.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 21: Apology email to client for sending incorrect data

Dear [client’s name],

We’ve just sent you an email about a [data-related issue]. However, we realized we had made a mistake and included the wrong [data-related issue] data. We have fixed and put the correct information in the attached file in this email.

We want to offer our most profound apology for being so unprofessional. We hope our mistake does not cause you much confusion or inconvenience.

Thank you for understanding, and have a nice day!

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 22: Apology email to boss for sending a wrong report

Dear [boss’s name],

I’ve just sent you the [report issue] report in the last email. However, I realized I had made a mistake and sent you the wrong document. So please refer to the attached file in this email for the correct report I wanted to send you.

I’m sorry for my mistake and any inconvenience or confusion it caused you. I guarantee this incident will not happen again in the future.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 23: Apology email for sending wrong appointment time to work partner (after they realized)

Dear [partner’s name],

Thank you for reminding us, and I’m sorry for causing you such confusion. We made a mistake and sent you the wrong meeting time. The time for our appointment would be [time] as we have agreed. I will send you a new email with the correct time ASAP.

Once again, I’m sincerely sorry for any inconvenience our mistake caused you. We can guarantee this will not happen again in the future.

Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day!

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 24: Apology to a potential client for sending the wrong appointment schedule

Dear [client’s name],

You might have noticed that we sent you the wrong appointment time in the last email. As we have discussed, our meeting time would still be [right meeting time]. We will send you another meeting invite with the correct time right now.

We understand how unprofessional our mistake is. We are sincerely sorry for any confusion or inconvenience it might have caused you. We guarantee that this will not happen again in the future.

Thank you for your understanding, and see you at the meeting.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 25: Apology for sending wrong product information to a customer

Dear [customer’s name],

We just realized that our staff made a mistake and sent you the information for [the wrong product] instead of the [the right product] you requested. 

Please allow me to apologize on behalf of my employee for our mistake and any inconvenience or confusion caused you. We hope this does not affect your purchasing experience.

Please refer to the attached file for the information about the [the right product]. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 26: Apology for sending a broken link to the customer (after the customer has realized and complained)

Dear [customer’s name],

Thank you very much for your email, and we are sincerely sorry for causing such inconvenience. 

It seems our [employees sending email] made a mistake and sent you the broken link to [where the link leads to]. You can find the correct link at the end of this email.

We want to offer our deepest apology for making such a mistake. Thank you for letting us know about this incident, and to make this up for you, we will give you a [discount percentage] voucher for your next purchase on our website. [add an instruction for using the voucher if necessary].

Thank you, and have a nice day!

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 27: Apology email for sending an attachment with false information to a client

Dear [client’s name],

You might have already received the [type of attachment] we sent you in the last email. However, we’ve just realized that we made a mistake and put the wrong [type of information]. You can find the correct one in the attachment we add to this email.

We understand that no excuse can be made for this, which was really unprofessional of us. We are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience or confusion our mistake might have caused you.

Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 28: Apology email for sending an invoice for the wrong product to a client

Dear [client’s name],

In the last email, we made a mistake and sent you the invoice for the wrong product. Please refer to the attached file in this email for the correct invoice.

We want to apologize for our unprofessional mistake. We sincerely apologize and hope it does not cause you much inconvenience or confusion. We guarantee that this incident will not happen again in the future.

If you have questions about the product or invoice, do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 29: Apology email for sending an invoice to the wrong recipient address

Dear [client’s name],

You might have realized that we sent you an invoice in the last email, which was supposed to be for another customer. Our [employee sending the email] made a mistake and put the wrong recipient address, which is why it was sent to you.

We are sorry for any inconvenience or confusion our mistake might have caused you.

Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day!

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 30: Apology email for sending the wrong payment information to a client

Dear [client’s name],

We made a mistake and sent you the wrong payment information in the last email. So please refer to the attached file in this email for our correct information.

We want to apologize for any inconvenience our mistake caused you. We understand that it is unprofessional of us and guarantee it will not happen again.

To make this up for you, please accept a [discount percentage] voucher for your next purchase on our website as our deepest apology.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Example 31: Apology email for sending broken document link to work partner

Dear [client’s name],

We’ve just realized that the document link we sent you in the last email is broken. That’s why you cannot open the file with that. You can find the correct link at the end of this email.

We sincerely apologize for this mistake and hope it does not cause you much inconvenience or confusion.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you, and have a lovely day!

Best regards,

[Sender’s signature]

Last Words

Hopefully, the 31 examples of apology emails above will help you handle it better when making mistakes. However, remember that besides learning how to write an email correcting a mistake, it is more crucial to learn to be careful and not make mistakes. 

Do you have any experience related to writing apology emails to customers? Comment and share with us below!