Email marketing is powerful and every campaign gives your store an opportunity to engage with your customers, promote your products and drive some serious sales. However, unlike other marketing tools, once you send an email campaign, there’s no going back. If there’s a mistake, there’s no way of editing it and the email is already in your recipient’s inbox. So, here’s a master email campaign checklist with eight things to check before pressing send on an email campaign. This way, your campaigns will go out exactly as you intend to.
1. Segmentation
First things first. Add the correct segments and exclude the profiles you need on each campaign. Then check again. This is probably in the top three elements you can’t mess up with when talking about email campaigns.
Do not only check the correct segments were added or excluded. Take the time to go into every segment to re-check the definition. If these are segments you use regularly, and never change, there’s no need to do this on every occasion. But try to do it frequently. Better safe than sorry.
If you have been sending out your email campaigns to your whole list, and don’t know how to change that strategy, check these Basic and Advanced Klaviyo Segments Ideas and Examples.
2. Subject Line & Preview Header
Now’s the time to include your subject line and your preview header. There are a couple of things to check here:
- Length: Will it show complete on mobile or will it be cut off?
- Copy: Mistakes are bound to happen. Give your text a quick check for typos and ensure the message is clear.
- Personalization: If you include personalized syntax on your subject lines, test it before sending the campaign. You don’t want your customer to receive a “Hello [first_name]” subject line in their inbox!
Write amazing subject lines with these 5 best practices curated by our Head of Copywriters here at Hustler Marketing.
3. Copy and design
Let’s go into the email itself you’ll be sending out. First, check the external layer of your email: the copy and design.
Here’s a pro tip, send the campaign to your email and try to read it from a device you usually don’t use for work. This way, you can try to imitate the feeling of your recipient when receiving the email campaign and reading it for the first time.
This is a good idea because you can see it with fresh eyes and see if your copy reads well, is coherent, and is understandable. You can also see if the overall design looks good at a glance.
If you are running out of ideas, check these 10 email marketing campaigns to get inspired!
4. Links & alt-text
After checking the copy and the design, go through the behind-the-scenes of your email: links and alt-text.
You have put time and effort into creating an eye-catching, engaging email. It would be a shame if people wanted to click it and your links were broken. So, try every link in your email to see if everything is working as it is supposed to work.
When using images, add alt text. There are two reasons why this can be good for your email campaign:
- Alt-text provides context about what your image is. This is especially helpful for those who have blocked images from automatically downloading from emails.
- Alt text is used by visually impaired recipients, along with a screen reader to get a description of the images in your email campaign.
5. Discounts
If you are offering a discount within your email campaign, it is essential that:
- You mention the discount code somewhere in the email or if it applies automatically or if no discount code is needed.
- If you are presenting a promo code, the links should include it. This way, it will apply automatically at checkout for people who clicked on your email.
6. Desktop & Mobile Optimization
In the multi-screen world that we live in, you know your email campaign will be seen on a desktop or mobile. Therefore, build it in a way that will look good on any device.
To check this, send a preview of your email and check it on different devices to see that it looks good and nothing needs to be adjusted.
7. Dark Mode Optimization
According to a 2020 study, 81.9% of people use dark mode. This interface has also built its way through different inbox service providers (ISPs) that are embracing it. However, the dark mode can change the way your email campaign is being presented to your subscribers.
Dark mode reverses the background and font colors of an email to light on dark. All of this happens automatically and can change from one ISP to another. Check this amazing chart made by Litmus to see what type of reversed color scheme each ISP applies to your emails.
To optimize your email and make it look good in dark mode too, use platforms like Email On Acid that allow you to preview your email in different inbox service providers at once to see what you can do to make your email look better in each one of them.
8. Date and Time
Marketing is about sending the right message to the right person at the right time. So you already know where this is going. It is such a tiny but important detail. Double-check the date, time, and timezone, for which you are scheduling your email campaign. After this, you should be ready to go!
Sending email campaigns is not an easy task. There are many factors to consider for an email to be perfect to be sent out. Therefore, sending email campaigns takes time (even when you have everything else ready)! If you need a rockstar team that will make every email campaign flawless, book a free call with Hustler Marketing.
