{"id":17405,"date":"2016-05-11T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T06:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=17405"},"modified":"2024-08-22T11:25:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T15:25:27","slug":"11-reasons-to-test-every-email-before-you-send","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/11-reasons-to-test-every-email-before-you-send","title":{"rendered":"11 Reasons to Test Every Email Before You Send"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t
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\u201cOur designer already tested these templates, they\u2019re good to go.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI used this same design last week, nothing has changed since then.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sent the email around internally. It looked fine on Sally\u2019s machine.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

We hear these statements all the time and\u2014I\u2019ll let you in on a secret\u2014sometimes catch ourselves saying them, too. But the truth is that every email deserves to be tested\u2014even if you (or someone else) tested the template you\u2019re using yesterday. Email programs and apps are not only capable of\u00a0breaking your design<\/a>, but also butchering links, subject lines, images, and more.<\/p>\n

Each and every time your finger hovers over the send button, you should check for these 11 critical mistakes that can affect opens, clicks, conversions, and most importantly\u2014your brand.<\/p>\n

WHY SHOULD YOU CONTINUOUSLY TEST?<\/h2>\n

Whether you\u2019re creating each and every email from scratch, or using a pre-existing template, it\u2019s still a necessity to test before every single send. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

EMAIL CLIENTS DROP SUPPORT WITHOUT NOTICE<\/h3>\n

Not only is rendering inconsistent across desktop, webmail, and mobile inboxes but, on occasion, email clients drop support for HTML and CSS attributes without notice. This causes major headaches for email designers. For example, Outlook.com\u00a0dropped support for margin<\/a>\u00a0and an update to Yahoo! Mail created a\u00a0bug with the align attribute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The
Yahoo! Mail no longer supports the align=\u201ccenter\u201d attribute, causing email designs to shift to the left of their intended position.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Regardless of whether you have a pre-tested template that has rendered correctly in the past, it will still be affected by unannounced updates and changes. Your emails could be looking strange in your subscribers\u2019 inboxes without you ever noticing.<\/p>\n

BROKEN + INCORRECT LINKS<\/h3>\n

Broken, incorrect, or untracked links\u2014we\u2019ve all been there. And, it sucks every time. Unless you\u2019re sending a plain text email<\/a>, URLs are typically masked behind a hyperlink or a button, making them difficult to verify with the quick scan of an eye. Not to mention that clicking through them all can be quite the pain.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a conversion opportunity by sending your subscribers to a 404 page\u2014test all of your links before every single send. You can either manually click on all of the links in your email to ensure they are going to the correct landing page (and that they have the correct\u00a0UTM parameters on them for post-click tracking<\/a>), or you can save time by using\u00a0Litmus Checklist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Check<\/figure>\n

Check your links in Litmus Checklist<\/p>\n

\"Ensure
Ensure your links are being tracked with Litmus Checklist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Link checking and tracking are included with every Checklist test in Litmus. With a single click you can:<\/p>\n