Before You Hit Send
Use this checklist to make sure you’re not making any critical mistakes
General
What is the newsletter objective?
Are we using a house opt-in list or a 3rd party list?
Have we verified that this is a permission list?
Are we ready to track clickthroughs all the way to the final action?
Is there an automatic “one-click” unsubscribe function?
Have we set-up “seeds” from different email accounts to check that all emails actually go out?
From Field
Will my email list recognize the name in the “from” field?
Are we using a company name, brand name or individual’s name?
Does it look like spam? (e.g. 64238282@yahoo.com)
Did we set-up the return email address to come back to a real person?
Subject Line
Is my subject line enticing (short is better)?
Does it pique curiosity so that it will get opened?
Is it personalized?
Does the personalization work?
Have I tested a message to myself?
Did I use any of the spam filter “no-nos?” (FREE, !!!!!!!, $$$$$$, etc.)
How many subject lines did I write before deciding on this one?
If I received this in my in-box would I think it was spam?
Are we testing 2 or more subject lines against each other?
Email Message
How does this list know you?
Did you mention that in the email?
Is the writing short and tightly worded?
Are the paragraphs longer than 4 or 5 lines each? (long copy does sell but it has to look appealing with more white space)
How many edits did you do (minimum 2)
Did you spell check?
Did you personalize the salutation?
Does the personalization work
Did you format it to less than 65 characters per line – hard return?
Do all the links work?
Do web links start with: “http://” and email links with: “mailto:” to make them clickable
Are there several spots the link appears?
Did you set-up an ad tracker to track replies/click-throughs?
Is there a “spam” disclaimer?
Is there a P.S.?
Did you provide a way for people to change their addresses?
Did you include a way to people to remove themselves and unsubscribe?
Comments