Editing checklist for emails: what to check before you send emails

Phone, keys, wallet? Zipper zippered? Buttons buttoned? Socks matched? You likely have a mental checklist before leaving home, but do you also have a checklist for the emails you send out?
Here’s mine.

Subject line

• If you started with a copy of an old email, did you update the subject line?
• Is your subject line engaging enough to entice readers to open your email?
• Is it a good length? Ideal length is 41 characters, 7 words.
• Did you avoid spammy words and punctuation?

Preheader
This is the text that shows in your inbox under the subject line. In the example below, “Can’t decide what…” is the subject line and “Start saving now“ is the preheader.
Consider it an expansion to your subject line. How much shows up depends on the reader's email setup. Ideal length is 50-100 characters, 6-11 words.

Sample preheader

Date
If your email has a date (“September 2019 News”) did you update it?
Format
Avoid a circus-poster effect by limiting the number of fonts and colors.

• Limit the number of fonts to two (one for headings, one for body type).
• Limit the number of colors to three.
  

Copyediting

• Proofread for spelling, grammar, punctuation, consistency. There's so much content here I could write a book about what to check. Oh, wait. I did.
  
• Don’t trust spell checkers; they will miss homophone (it’s/its, their/they’re/there, two/to/too).

Links

• Did you click every link to make sure it is correct?
• Including the links to social media sites?
• Including the ones you include all the time, especially to outside resources where content may have been deleted or moved?

Images

• Do you have permission to use the image? Just because you found it online, even if it’s labeled “public domain” doesn’t mean it is. Read all about it.
• Is the quality (resolution, contrast) good?
• Is the image sized appropriately?
• Is there extraneous material you need to crop?
• Have you included Alternate Text for when images don’t load in the recipient’s mailbox? You don’t want those blank boxes when you can have a brief text description that says what the image is about.

“From” address
Is your email coming from someone your recipients will recognize? Do they better know you by your name or your business?
Boilerplate text
Did you remove boilerplate (placeholder) text from the template, such as “text link.”
Promotions
If your email includes a promotional offer or gift certificate:

• Did you include any restrictions (new clients only, not valid on prior purchases)?
• Did you include effective or expiration dates?

Testing
Now you’re ready to test.

• Preview the email and click all links. Yes, you did it before. Do it again.
• Send yourself a test copy and see how it looks overall and then read it carefully.
• Did you personalize the subject line? If so, send the email to your test list to see how the personalization works. If your personalization includes a first name, then your test list should have contacts with a first name and contacts without so you can ensure that the email looks good both ways.

Personalized subject line

One last thing before you send the email

• Did you update your mailing list? Better now than having to resend to the new subscribers.
  
• Is now the best time to send the email, or should you schedule for later?