It’s 09:59am. The email marketing campaign I have been testing is about to go live. I have to press the ‘Send’ button and just seconds later, one million customers are going to receive some really awesome deals.

As I begin to move the mouse pointer over to the ‘send’ button, time slows down, as if in a scene of the Matrix, it feels like forever but it eventually reaches its destination.

I refocus; remind myself that I have done this before, hundreds of times. I’m a professional, I say to myself as I sit up proudly, nose slightly tilted to the roof.

I hit the ‘send’ button. A pop up box on my screen asks me “Are you sure?” Seriously, it’s like how dare it even ask that? Of course I’m sure. I was sure…right? The ‘reply’ and ‘from’ address was checked, the mobile display was perfect and tracking was enabled. But the Mother’s Day subject line, was that right?

Imagine one million customers reading 5% of Mothers’s Days Deals instead of 50% off Mother’s Day Deals. What would MY mother think?

Suck it up princess, I tell myself as I do my final previews and checks. The subject line is fine. I’m confident and press ‘Yes’ on the pop up box.

It’s 10:00am now. The campaign is live. I exhale and relax back into my chair. One million customers are about to receive some really awesome deals.

Sound familiar?

It’s never easy pressing send on an email campaign, but when you know you have tested all the elements thoroughly, it just makes it a little less stressful.

Here is my checklist for testing email campaigns:

You can use the checklist below to check off each element as you read through it, to make sure you have tested everything before sending your email campaign. A PDF version is also available for download (see below), which you can always have on-hand when testing your email campaigns.

1. Sender Details – First Impressions

A friendly ‘from’ name
A working and monitored reply address
Authentication is in place
The subject line is clear with no grammar or spelling errors

2. Design and Display – Mobile First

The email displays well on all email clients
The email is not breaking in different internet browsers
The email is responsive and displays well on various mobile devices
Tap targets are big enough and easy to action
Leading content is prioritized

3. Copy and Content

The email is easy to navigate
Images are displaying correctly
Special characters are displaying correctly
The unsubscribe link is easy to find and working
All language variations have been tested

4. Tracking

Tracking names are correct
Correct URLs have been used
Tracking per segment is active
Test tracking logs have been cleared

5. Database

All substitution is pulling through on html and online versions
The right amount of records have been built
All invalid email records have been removed

6. Also remember to check for:

Alternative text spelling errors
Broken links
Badly formatted plain text versions
The main message is still clear with images off

Striata Email Testing Checklist

Tags: Email templates, Email design, Email Layout, Best practices, Good email checklist, Checklist

Email design checklist. Your best practice checlist for the best design and layout.

Get the Striata Email Testing Checklist

Follow this testing checklist when preparing your next email marketing campaign; it will make pressing that send button much less daunting. Or simply outsource all your email marketing needs to a specialist, so you never have to face that button again!