Oops, Sorry My Bad”: The Surprising Power of Trivial Apologies

Written by Shirin Yazgulieva (IMT Atlantique)

Why would a company apologise for something trivial or for something you didn’t even notice? Laura De Kerpel, Anneleen Van Kerckhove, and Tina Tessitore explore how apologies for trivial mistakes – those tiny, often unnoticed flaws – can actually improve how customers feel about a company.

Have you ever opened your inbox to find an email from a brand starting with an apology-- “We’re sorry for the inconvenience” – only to realize you had not noticed any problem? Maybe a website loaded a fraction of a second too slowly, a banner flickered, or a checkout page hesitated before refreshing.

Why would a company apologize for something trivial or for something you didn’t even experience?

For Laura De Kerpel, Anneleen Van Kerckhove and Tina Tessitore this deceptively simple question launched a study with far-reaching implications. The authors explored how apologies for trivial mistakes – tiny, often unnoticed flaws – can improve customers’ feelings about a company. The study results, now published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing, suggest that minor admissions of imperfection can make brands appear more human and warmer, without diminishing their perceived competence.

The Spark: When Inboxes Started Saying “Sorry”

The inspiration for the study came not from grand theory but from a mundane observation in the authors’ inboxes.

“At some point, all three of us – Anneleen, Tina, and I – noticed the same thing: companies were sending apology emails for small website delays or minor glitches. Most of the time, we hadn’t even noticed a problem. We started forwarding the emails to each other, wondering: is this actually effective?”

     -                Laura De Kerpel

From that mundane observation, a structured research program took shape. The team designed experiments to test whether such apologies issued when consumers had not perceived any inconvenience might affect attitudes toward the brand. They even collaborated with Sacha, a footwear brand, to analyze real-world campaign data. De Kerpel noted that Sacha, who had already been sending these emails, was curious about how they worked, creating a perfect opportunity to merge theory and practice.

From Rejection to Revelation: The Journey of a Research Idea

The results were clear: even minor apologies for small issues increased perceptions of brand warmth, the sense that a company is friendly, honest, and caring, without reducing perceptions of competence.

The authors found that acknowledging a tiny flaw signals attentiveness, telling customers, ‘We care enough to admit our small flaws.’ This kind of transparency humanizes a company.

But, as the team discovered, sincerity has limits. Timing and frequency matter.

“If a company apologizes too often, or for every small issue, customers might start to doubt their professionalism.”

     -                Laura De Kerpe

Thus, a single honest admission builds trust. A pattern of them might raise suspicions.

The research process itself mirrored this balance between persistence and restraint. The paper’s first version, framed through the lens of service recovery, was rejected. But rather than discouraging the team, the feedback became a turning point.

“The reviewers pointed out that if customers didn’t notice the problem, it wasn’t really service recovery. That helped us realize we were studying something else – persuasive communication and the stereotype content model: how an apology, in itself, can shape perceptions.”

     -                Laura De Kerpe

Sometimes rejection is the best feedback you can get. Reframing the work from this new perspective transformed the paper. It took longer, almost four years, from idea to publication, but the process made the research stronger. Behind that transformation was a team dynamic built on trust and complementarity. Their collaboration thrived on openness and respect. De Kerpel described her colleagues as having distinct strengths: Anneleen is “incredibly precise and data-driven” while Tina is “wonderfully creative.” This combination of different minds and methods, coupled with a commitment to giving early and frequent feedback, made the collaboration both efficient and enjoyable.

What began as an observation about small apologies ultimately became a story about something larger: how curiosity, constructive feedback, and teamwork can turn a modest question into a meaningful contribution to marketing science.

Where the research goes next

As with many impactful studies, the surprising effects of apologies for trivial mistakes raises yet more questions. For Laura, the next frontier lies in investigating how trivial apologies’ effects evolve over time.  What happens when the novelty wears off?

De Kerpel explained that the apology emails were effective in their study because they were still relatively rare and caught people’s attention. However, she suggests two critical future research paths:

• The Impact of Normalization: If trivial apologies become the norm, customers may stop perceiving them as sincere and caring, potentially viewing them as strategic or even manipulative. If the same company sends such emails repeatedly, the impact of warmth could diminish, potentially raising questions about competence.

• Source Effects and Brand Type: The effect may vary across industries and brands. For a high-tech company known for precision, an apology might “soften their image” and make them seem more human. Conversely, for a non-profit already perceived as warm and empathetic, an apology might reinforce existing perceptions or problematically, as the authors speculate, could make the non-profit seem amateurish.

Ultimately, Laura’s forward-looking research is about balance: how much self-deprecation builds trust, and when acceptance of fault becomes counter- productive.

Read the paper

Interested in reading all the details about how apologizing for a trivial mistake impact company’s success? Read the full paper here.

Want to cite the paper?

De Kerpel, L., Van Kerckhove, A., & Tessitore, T. (2024). Oops! Sorry, my bad: How apologizing for trivial mistakes in direct email campaigns leads to positive customer evaluations. International Journal of Research in Marketing.

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Meet Laura De Kerpel

What is one marketing idea you would keep above all others?

“I would choose engagement. It’s the concept that ties all my work together whether it’s consumer engagement or employee engagement. Engagement is more than attention. It’s when people go beyond passive consumption and start interacting, sharing, advocating, participating. I want to understand what makes people take that extra step, what makes them proud to associate with a company or brand. […] Empathy, imagination, and interaction are at the heart of marketing. Engagement captures all of that. It’s dynamic, layered, and shaped by every experience we have with a brand.”

If you were not in academia, what would you be doing?

“What I like about academia is that it allows me to combine theory, data-driven work, and creativity. In the future, I could see myself doing something creative in a kind of startup or business of my own, while still combining it with theory, data and creativity. For example, a marketing agency. Having own business seeing it grow must be a really interesting experience.”

This article was written by

Shirin Yazgulieva

Ph.D. candidate at IMT Atlantique (France)