Your Ultimate and Complete Email Send Checklist!
It never fails… about once a week, I get a beautiful email in my inbox labeled %%FNAME%% or a collage of blank images with no alternative text. Or I get it on my retina display with fuzzy images. Or I opened it on my mobile phone and couldn’t read it because the mobile email wasn’t responsive.
Email is serious business… It’s a permission-based push notification that your business can put in your subscriber’s face. Email inboxes are packed, and everyone is looking for an excuse to ease the load and unsubscribe. It doesn’t take much to get blocked, thrown into a SPAM folder, deleted before even getting opened, and unsubscribed – or worse – be reported as SPAM.
The team at Uplers is at it again, from advice on inserting video in email to this – a comprehensive checklist for email senders to walk through before clicking send!
It’s time for you to send out an email to your subscribers and you are afraid to press SEND because you are unsure if you have got it all right, but worry not it’s Monks to the rescue once again! With businesses stating that they will increase the use of email marketing, it’s imperative to have a clear checklist to be followed before hitting SEND. So here’s an exhaustive one for you!
This infographic and checklist assume you have a great message ready to send… but I’d recommend some steps before you even get to this point:
- Is your content worthy, relevant, expected, and valuable to the subscriber? If it’s not – then don’t send it!
- Is your email preview going to drive subscribers to open it? Your subject line, preview text, and information must be compelling.
- Does your message have a 1?
- Are you utilizing a beautiful, responsive mobile device or desktop layout?
- Are you using images, headings, and subheadings effectively so subscribers can easily scan the message?
- Are you using a table of contents with anchor tags so subscribers can easily jump to a section of the message?
- Did you check and correct spelling and grammar before sending it?
- 11 authentication to improve inbox placement?
Once you have the right platform and a great message, it’s time to do your last-minute checks to ensure your email is sent properly!
Email Send Checklist
While this infographic does a great job of producing a checklist for creating and sending emails, don’t forget to ensure your email service provider (ESP) email authentication is properly configured for your sending domain! Without that, your email may never make it to the inbox.
Email Authentication Pre-List
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework): A DNS TXT record that specifies which mail servers (IPs/domains) are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain to prevent spoofing. See our SPF Builder to make your own.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): A cryptographic signature added to your email headers that allows the receiver to verify that the email was indeed authorized by the owner of that domain and was not altered in transit.
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): A policy record that leverages SPF and DKIM to tell receiving servers how to handle emails that fail authentication (None, Quarantine, or Reject).
- BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) [OPTIONAL]: A standard that allows you to display your brand logo next to your messages in supported email clients, though it requires a strict DMARC policy and often a VMC certificate.
- Custom Return Path: A CNAME record that aligns your technical envelope-from address with your “header-from” domain, improving deliverability and DMARC alignment.
- TLS (Transport Layer Security) [OPTIONAL]: A protocol that ensures your emails are encrypted during transit between servers, preventing “eavesdropping” on the message content.
- PTR Record (Reverse DNS): A security measure where the IP address of your sending server resolves back to your domain name, which many ISPs check to verify sender legitimacy.
- DNS Blacklist: Ensure your IP sending address does not reside on a DNSBL server.
Email Campaign Setup
- From Address: Use a recognizable from address and avoid ‘do-not-reply’ IDs.
- To and Reply-To Address: Set up a proper To field with merge tags and provide an appropriate Reply-To address.
- Subject Line: Keep it engaging, short, and personalized.
- Analytics: 1 UTM campaign tagging in Google Analytics for insights.
- Social Sharing Buttons: Include social sharing buttons.
- View Online Link: Provide a View Online link for better rendering.
- Unsubscribe Button: Make the unsubscribe link clear.
- CAN-SPAM Compliance: Follow CAN-SPAM regulations with accurate address information in the footer.
- List Selection & Hygiene: Maintain and clean your email list regularly.
- Segment: Segment your list for better targeting.
- Personalization Setup (Dynamic Tags): Use and test dynamic tags for personalization.
- Plain Text & HTML Formatting: Send emails in HTML and plain text formats.
- Spam Test: Check for spam folder placement.
- Schedule at Right Time & Date: Schedule emails appropriately.
- Throttle the Number of Emails per Hour: Ensure throttling to avoid issues.
Email Client Compatibility
- Automated Testing: Use automated tools for compatibility testing.
- Manual Testing: Manually test email client compatibility.
- Test on Popular Email Clients: Test popular clients like Apple, Gmail, Outlook, etc.
- Inbox Preview: Check the from address, reply-to address, and subject line in your inbox.
- Inbox Preview Text: Provide a brief snippet for the inbox.
- Responsive Email: Ensure the email renders well across devices.
- Dark Mode: Ensure your email is viewable in dark mode.
- Johnson Box: Include the Johnson Box correctly.
What’s a Johnson Box?
A Johnson Box is a small graphical or text element typically placed at the top of a marketing email or direct mail piece. Its purpose is to grab the recipient’s attention and provide a quick summary or teaser of the main content or offer within the email or mailer. The Johnson Box is often highlighted with a different background color or a border to make it stand out.
Key characteristics of a Johnson Box include:
- Brief Content: It contains concise and compelling text that entices the recipient to continue reading the email or mailer.
- Highlighting: It is visually distinct from the rest of the content, making it easy to spot.
- Offer Details: It may include information about discounts, promotions, or important announcements.
- Call to Action: It often includes a call to action (CTA) or a link that encourages the recipient to take further action, such as clicking a link or making a purchase.
Johnson Boxes are a common design element in marketing materials because they serve as an attention-grabbing tool and can significantly influence recipients’ decisions to engage with the content or offer presented in the email or mailer.
- Image Alt Tags, Image Rendering: Verify alt tags and image rendering.
- Recheck for CAN-SPAM Compliance: Ensure compliance with CAN-SPAM regulations.
- Test Plain Text & HTML Formatting: Confirm correct display of both versions.
- Proofread: Review content for errors, tone, and length.
Email Data Integration
- Seed List: Develop a seed list that outputs the email to a variety of records.
- Blank or Empty Data Fields: Check if the email to ensure it renders well if fields are blank or empty
- Blank or Empty Required Data Fields: Check if the email to ensure it renders well if the required fields are blank or empty.
- Data Field Length: Check if fields have truncated or improperly formatted data.
- Substitution Strings: Validate substitution strings are properly replaced with corresponding data and do not contain unintended characters.
- Dynamic Content: Test personalized dynamic content sections with correct data and ensure they are hidden when expected.
Remember to thoroughly review your email before sending it to ensure it meets these criteria. Good luck with your email marketing campaign! The checklist walks you through the email delivery, email client compatibility, inbox previews, and open previews to ensure everything looks good and works right before you send!
