Have you ever sent an email without including important information? Or maybe you have sent an email with the wrong images or attachments? Don’t worry we have all had that “doh!” moment. When you’re sending one email to a colleague those kinds of mistakes aren’t a big deal. But, if you have hundreds or thousands of email subscribers to your email marketing communications the result can be disastrous. Can you imagine sending a newsletter promoting your big in-store sale and not including the dates or store location?  The result would be terrible as your subscribers would be missing vital information for your promotion. There is a solution to safeguard your email campaigns from these disasters, email tests.

Testing your emails before you send them out to your subscribers will ensure that you have included all the right messaging and calls to actions in your campaign. We recommend creating a short checklist that you can use to tick off the most important elements of your email. These include:

Subject Line > Does your subject line represent your email? It is clear, concise and to the point? For more information on writing subject lines check out our blog on writing engaging copy.

Logo > Is your logo of high resolution quality? Have you viewed the logo on mobile devices to see if it’s clear?

Banner Image > Are you using the most relevant banner image for email marketing? Is the image high res? If you need some inspiration on sourcing images have a look at this blog.

Calls to Action > Does your email contain a strong call to action? Does it stand out from the rest of your email design?

Body Content > Is the content in your email easy to read? Does it contain persuasive messaging that will help to guide your subscribers to convert?

Spelling and Grammar > Have you spell checked your email? Does your content flow and work as a unit?

Text Links > Have you tested the text links on your email? Do they all link to the correct pages they are supposed to?

Unsubscribe link > Have you included a subscribe link in the footer of your email?

Your checklist doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be a simple Excel document with two columns like below.

When you have ticked off the checklist we recommend sending a test email to a colleague for review. A second opinion may pick up on something you have missed or add some additional insights. Once you have completed the checklist and sent out at least one test email it’s time for the real thing!