Why should I send a test if I can see what my email looks like when I build it
A lot of people have experience building websites, or at least viewing websites on different platforms and different browsers. Not everyone has experience building emails, despite the volume we all receive.
Email, like websites, looks different in different email clients. If you are using Outlook in the office and most of your audience is using Gmail, you will not be experiencing that email the same way they are.
The issue is that each email program and provider handles email code a little differently. The major elements will probably be about the same, but depending on how you’ve built your email, things like alignment can often look different. When sending tests, be sure to include multiple email clients to ensure your email looks as good as possible before being sent to your audience.
Email design is just like web site design. It requires some testing and fine tuning in order to make sure it looks good across multiple systems. Test those first few emails heavily in order to make sure they look good before sending them out to your database. Once you get the hang of it, you can get away with sending tests just for confirmation.
In addition to including different email clients on your test list, include different staff members to help catch typos. We all commit typos in our emails, but most of us don’t typically send that email to hundreds or thousands of people at once! Have other people do a little copy editing. They will be happy to help.
Testing is one of the most important steps of any email campaign and is obvious when overlooked. Get those tests out there and make sure they look as good as everything else with your branding.
This post originally appeared on the PromoSuite Blog where, as Operations Manager, I occasionally post about new features, technology, and the impact it has on the radio industry.