We at Jericho subscribe to many different emails to stay in the loop with design and content and keep an eye on things. And lately we have received a few emails that have come into our inboxes that have clearly not been tested or checked and have obvious mistakes and faux pa’s in them.
In email marketing it is of upmost importance to test everything.
A badly constructed or un-tested email can lead to poor brand representation, unreadable text, incorrect links, and broken graphics and in some cases, loss of revenue.
In the examples we have received lately, an email came through where they had doubled up their content which resulted in an extra-long email that repeated itself twice. In another case, the email came through with the subject line ‘Testing’. In another example, the email had one name in the pre header text, and another name as the salutation and was sent to the wrong person entirely, and the email gave links to confidential information.
Sending emails without testing is like a chef who doesn’t taste the food before serving it to patrons and then never listening to the patrons once they provide feedback about his food. One can assume that the restaurant won’t last too long if he keeps this up.
Following are some key steps in the testing process to help you make sure your email campaigns are 100% correct before you push the send button.
Key Testing Facilities in SmartMail Pro:
SmartMail PRO provides testing facilities in the email editing window. Below is an introduction into these tests, and what to look for when you run through each test.
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1. Quick Test Send
We recommend you do a quick test send to yourself and a colleague. This allows you to receive a version of your email directly into your email inbox. Make sure you are a subscriber in your list, and use this test to check every component of the email, such as the unsubscribe and view online links, all the to/from fields, the subject line, the copy and the images, and check that it all looks good and that all the links work.
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2. Merge Fields Test
SmartMail PRO gives you the ability to test complex campaigns with merge fields via the on screen merge test. Using this tool, you can ensure that your dynamic content, merge fields and data are pulling through correctly into your email campaign.
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3. Live Test Send
Once you have done these two tests, you can generate Live Tests. Do this once you have finalised and uploaded your data for the campaign, as the live test allows you to select a portion of your data and send actual copies of the emails that your recipients will receive, directly into your email inbox so that you can review them before sending.
As live tests send you a copy of the actual email the recipients will receive, it is a great opportunity to check that everything works and everything looks how it is meant to, and primarily that the merge fields and dynamic content and pre header text are pulling through the correct information based on your data.
In live tests it is important to check that the email address of the recipient matches the email in the pre header text, and that it matches the first name field in the email if you have one. Also check any other merge fields or dynamic content blocks where necessary.
TIP: Have your data open in excel while you review the live tests, so you can cross check the persons email address with their name and any other information that may be included in the email so you can be sure the email is pulling through the right information for the right people.
Tomorrow we will share more critial testing steps, and more advice to ensure your campaign is at 100%…