Who hasn’t hit the send button on an email only to realize a few seconds too late there is a typo? Or a broken link landing the recipient on an error page? Well, maybe you have not but embarrassingly I have. When mistakes occur in the email marketing sent to your entire list, it is exponentially worse. I found a great article from Hubspot with a helpful checklist to rundown before pressing the SEND button. I’ve included a few here that are applicable to most people. The more technical items I left off but can be found in the original article.
- Broken links including broken social media links. Typos happen but when the typo that is supposed to link back to your business website or your Facebook page is broken it does not make a good impression.
- Spelling and grammatical errors. If you have a grammar/spelling whiz in your life, make use of them. Spell check sometimes gives you the wrong version so you cannot always trust it.
- Distorted images. Make sure your images display they way you want them to. Distorted, stretched or squished images do not impress.
- Color issues. Not all color fonts and backgrounds are easy to read. Some email programs your recipients may use do not show background color. If you use a dark gray background and white text and my mail client does not accept the gray background, I cannot read your white text. That means I hit delete and miss your message. In my opinion white background makes the most sense.
- Subject Line/Sender Name – the personal touch is always best. Emails sent by a person are more likely to be opened than those sent from a company. Also, subject lines with more than 50 characters are likely to be cut off. Keep it short and to the point.
- Fulfilled CAN-SPAM Requirements. I posted an article in September 2011 called CAN-SPAM compliance…what you need to know. I suggest you review that article to make sure you are compliant.
- Plan text formatting. Some email recipients prefer text only emails so they will not receive the pretty formatting and images you included. NALA’s email program allows you to view the text format. Don’t forget to make sure it is enabled and look it over.
