Do they see what you see?

Before you hit send..... go through your checklist:

Proof - Check for grammar and spelling errors.
Check - Make sure all your links are working.
Test - Check to see that your newsletter is intact in the recipient's inbox.


Proof - Misspellings catch the eye and people trip over them... no matter how sizzling the copy, if there are misspellings it sends a subliminal message of carelessness, even a question as to the authenticity of the ad or content, or your company's attention to detail. When proofing, I find it helps to read text out loud, because the eye fixes errors if you've read the copy too many times. Also, have someone else look it over.

Check - Nothing is worse then having important links in your e-zine that offer up a 404 error when clicked on! Have someone else check links to ensure that they are working. Needless to say, if the links don't work, your call to action leads recipients nowhere, and erodes the success of your campaign or newsletter. 

Test - When you are ready to send out your e-mail newsletter, it's a good idea to have a test list that includes all the major Web-based accounts (e.g. Yahoo! or Hotmail). In addition, if at all feasible, you should have versions of popular e-mail software installed so you can view the newsletter - on a PC and a Mac - to see how it will look for the widest variety of recipients possible.

In addition to checking that your newsletter looks the way you intended, you'll also want to keep yourself briefed on Web-based e-mail to see what filtering choices people can make in their accounts. This is particularly important if you run consumer-based lists because most B2B lists will have business e-mail addresses.

HOTMAIL: Did you know that when you sign up for Hotmail you can now choose between these 'Junk Mail Filter' levels: Default (obvious junk mail is caught), Enhanced (most junk mail is caught) or Exclusive (you will only receive e-mail from addresses appearing in your Contacts or safe list).
 
Also check out YAHOO!, which recently beefed up its 'SpamGuard junk-email service'. Advance word is the MS Outlook e-mail client might follow the same pattern. Yahoo! says it has 'sharpened SpamGuard so it will better recognise and filter unwanted e-mail.'