Email Marketing Tactics #19: Test Email Communications

Test your email communications! It should go without saying but we can get overly comfortable creating our messages. That comfort level can become negligence and testing can get overlooked. This is always a costly mistake. Be diligent in testing emails and set a checklist to confirm that the email is ready to send.

Every decent email marketing program offers a function to send a test email. Send the email to your account. Then a checklist is the best way to hold yourself accountable to checking an email communication thoroughly. At minimum it should include:

• Proofread the subject line for clarity and spelling errors.
• Proofread the communication for spelling and grammatical errors.
• Survey the layout for design errors or display issues.
• Click all links to ensure they function correctly and redirect to the appropriate webpage.

Certain email campaigns might have a few more line items but if these four items are correct then the email is ready to send. If a second set of eyes is available it’s a good idea to have a proofreader. The person creating the email often gets too close and has problems identifying problems.

Make a habit of testing your emails. Typos and display issues will not get recipients to engage your company. Testing is the only way to ensure that you detect your errors, rather than your audience.