In our age of technology, it can be an awesome resource, or a culprit of misuse. The mistake Shutterfly made definitely wasn’t intentional. What started out as a great idea quickly turned into a customer service nightmare.
I have to say, my immediate thought when first reading the article was, “so what, it’s not that big of an ordeal?” Reading the comments and tweets to Shutterfly though made me see it from a different perspective. While I have never been nor hope to be in a situation like some of the customers, their comments and concerns needed to be addressed appropriately and quickly. Shutterfly was right in issuing an apology tweet then email. After those apologies went out, I would have also sent a discount code in email to further apologize to those customers whose feelings were hurt. Then explaining it was a technical error and they will work quickly and swiftly to dissolve it so it does not happen again. I think they did act quickly and respectfully in response to the situation. However, it didn’t help that a second “opps” email went out again. This kind of thing shows that you definitely cannot please everyone, but how you respond to your customers makes a difference.
sweetlikecandytoomysoul 
I can’t imagine being in Shutterfly’s position. I was wondering what the big deal was too but after reading the comments it is clear that some people were unmistakably upset about the mishap. I agree with you that the main thing they left out was giving out some type of discount to reimburse the users for their distress.
I agree with you that they handled the situation well, according to Shankman’s steps to follow after a crisis, however small it may be. I also didn’t see it as that big of a deal until I read the tweets and emails that followed the incident. Hopefully they have learned a valuable lesson!
I agree they handled this situation well by issuing a public apology. I think the idea of using discounts to customers is also a great idea. Although, I think they would have to be careful on how to distribute these discounts in case some people take offense to thinking they can change a mistake by buying their customers back. I think most of the customers went a little over-board with their reaction, and that Shutterfly handled this the best way they could.
I agree with you when you said that at first you didn’t see it as a big deal. I thought the same exact thing until I read comments from others on Twitter. It is important to understand and respect other peoples perspectives on sentimental issues such as this one. Great thoughts!
Maybe it’s because I’m not a woman and I can not birth a child, but I have to admit that I did not see what people got so emotional about the accidental email. If I got an email like that I would just delete it and act as if I did not receive it. I’m amazed at how sensitive people were about it.