You’ve segmented your list, crafted your email message, and scheduled your email campaign for an immediate launch to 1 million recipients. You check your inbox to verify that you received the email, only to find that the call-to-action box takes you to an erroneous Web page. You’ve lost potential leads, the cost of your email sends, and have confused interested subscribers. We’ve all been here before and don’t want a repeat incident.

So what kind of review are you completing before a email campaign launch? Here is a laundry list of items that should always be checked prior to executing any email marketing campaign:

• Spelling/Grammar Check – While it seems like common sense, use a spelling/grammar checker against your content. These mistakes give readers the impression that minimal effort was put into your message, and it appears unprofessional.


• Subject Line/Content Consistency – Double check that your subject line is relevant to what is to come within the actual message. This should be a concise, compelling glimpse of an interesting offer, promotion, or newsletter. Creating disconnect between the subject line and content can cause disconnect between you and your reader.


• Image Rendering – Check your images across multiple email platforms to ensure that they are sized correctly,and there are no breaks or missing pixels. Make sure that the images populate! Missing and distorted images can affect the entire look and feel of your message.


• Working Links – Ensure that each link within your message works and directs you to the correct landing page. If your reader is engaged enough to learn more about your service/product/offer to click on a link, you definitely don’t want to lose their short attention to a technical malfunction.


• Dynamic Content – Test your content using sample data to verify that the correct dynamic content is being pulled in. If your recipient specified that he is interested in fishing, accidentally sending him an article about golf can cause frustration and lose readership all together.


• Obey CAN-SPAM – We all know the rules, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure each message is in compliance. Is your unsubscribe link working? Do you have a physical address listed? Does the “From” domain clearly indicate you are sending the message? It’s better to check again than to get into a possible legal tango.

Though email marketing can become routine, especially when much of it is automated, each message has the potential to have a huge (possibly negative) impact on your recipients. Always stay in tune with your email campaigns and make sure that each email counts!

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