Before hitting “Send Now”, test your newsletter
Your copy is finally written, your list of subscribers is ready to go, you’ve converted your document into HTML and your design looks great. Before you email your newsletter to your entire database, make sure your test it and test it again.
Once you’ve hit the send button, there is no turning back. Finding typos in your copy or finding out that your HTML doesn’t display properly in Outlook, won’t help you much after your send out your newsletter. Here are a few steps to follow to ensure that your newsletter is error free.
Ask for help
More often than not when reading and re-reading our own written material, we don’t see typos and grammar mistakes. Our brain knows what to expect and thus corrects errors on the fly. Ask someone in your office to proof read the document for you. If this is not possible, wait a few hours or even a day before proofing your document to give your brain a rest.
Print out a hard copy
Reading a computer screen puts enormous strain on your eyes. Reading your article on a sheet of paper will be easier and provide you with a greater opportunity of catching errors and typos.
Check all of your links
Once you have put your page online, click every single link and make sure that these point to the right page. Make sure that your unsubscribe, privacy policy and web version links are all functional.
Send a copy to yourself
Send a preview of your newsletter to yourself and take a look at it in your email client. Review the Subject line and make sure that the reply to address is correct.
Send it to multiple test accounts
Do you have a Hotmail account, Gmail or Yahoo account? You would be surprised to see what some email clients will do to your HTML. Sign up for as many emails as you can and do some testing.
Spending an hour or so reviewing your newsletter should be part of every marketing campaign. You’ll be amazed at how many small errors you would otherwise have overlooked. And relieved to find that clicking the “Send Now” button is nowhere near as stressful as it used to be.