What should I check before sending an email campaign?

Run through your from name and address, reply-to address, subject line, preheader text, spelling and grammar (including alt text on images), personalisation merge tags, every hyperlink, alignment and spacing on test emails, your selected lists and segments, and your scheduled send date and time. Get sign-off from relevant team members before you send.

What should I do if I send an email with a mistake in it?

First, assess whether the mistake actually needs a response. Minor typos rarely do. If the error affects your brand, misleads subscribers, or breaks a key link, act quickly. Depending on the severity, your response could be a follow-up apology email, a website update, or a social media post. Having templates prepared in advance cuts your response time significantly.

How do I check personalisation before sending?

Preview the campaign using real subscriber records rather than dummy data. This confirms that merge tags are pulling the correct values. If a field is empty for some subscribers, decide whether to use a fallback value or remove the personalisation from that send.

Why is sending to the wrong segment such a serious mistake?

Sending the wrong content to the wrong audience can confuse or frustrate subscribers, damage trust, and in some cases create compliance issues under POPIA if sensitive or targeted content reaches unintended recipients. Always double-check your list selections and exclusions before every send.

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The Pre-Send Email Checklist Every Marketer Needs

Even careful email marketers let mistakes slip through. This checklist covers everything to verify before you hit send, plus a damage control plan for when something goes wrong anyway.

16 March 2022email-marketingaction-planemail-marketing-mistakesgrammatical-errors

The Pre-Send Email Checklist Every Marketer Needs

Mistakes happen. From spelling errors and broken links to the wrong segment receiving the wrong campaign, things go wrong even for experienced email marketers. And, of course, you only notice right after hitting Send. Here is a pre-send checklist to run through before every campaign, plus a damage control plan for when something slips through anyway.

The best defence is a good offence

Work through this checklist before every send.

From name and address - confirm the sender details are correct. All auto-responses go to your from address, so make sure that address exists and is monitored.
Reply-to address - replies from subscribers (excluding auto-responses) go here. If you are expecting replies, double-check this address is correct.
Subject line - your subscribers see this first. Check spelling, grammar, and that it accurately reflects the email content.
Preheader text - treat it with the same care as your subject line. Proofread it.
Spelling and grammar - check the body copy, and do not forget alt text. Spell checkers will not flag a typo baked into a flat image, so read those carefully by eye.
Personalisation - preview the campaign using real subscriber records to confirm merge tags are pulling correctly. Nobody wants "Dear First Name".
Hyperlinks - click every link: hyperlinked text, linked images, and every CTA button. Confirm each one lands where it should.
Alignment and spacing - the template builder will not always show you what subscribers see. Send test emails to yourself and a few colleagues and check on multiple devices.
Correct database and segments - this is the big one. Confirm you have selected the right lists, applied the right inclusions, and excluded anyone who should not receive this campaign. The wrong message going to the wrong people is embarrassing for everyone.
Send date and time - if you are scheduling rather than sending immediately, check the date, the time, and whether it is AM or PM. Especially important for time-sensitive campaigns.
Inform your team - nothing frustrates a customer more than calling about a promotion and speaking to someone who has no idea what they are referring to. Make sure anyone handling enquiries knows the campaign is going out and what it contains.
Get sign-off - share the campaign with the relevant people before it goes out. Designers, copywriters, and managers often catch things the person closest to the work misses. Multiple sign-offs reduce the risk of something slipping through.

A downloadable version of this checklist is available below.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a mistake gets through. The time to think about your response is before it happens, not in the moment of panic after a bad send. Having a plan ready means you can act quickly and calmly.

List what can go wrong - write down the realistic failure scenarios: typos, broken or incorrect links, broken HTML, a slow or down website, the wrong campaign sent to the wrong segment.
Risk assessment - decide which of those scenarios actually require a response. A minor spelling error rarely needs an apology email. Anything that harms your brand, misleads subscribers, or kills conversions does.
Create an action plan - for the serious mistakes, decide in advance how you will respond. A follow-up email with an apology? A splash page on your website? A post across your social channels? Some situations will call for all three. Set realistic response times while you are calm, not while you are in damage-control mode.
Get sign-off on the plan - make sure your sales, marketing, and social teams all know the plan and their role in it. Everyone should know what happens and how fast.
Prepare apology templates - write them now, before you need them. A light-hearted "oops" email with a discount code works for smaller slip-ups. A formal apology template covers the serious ones. Hopefully you never use either, but having them ready cuts your response time significantly. And yes, proofread those too.

Handling the fallout

A mistake is rarely the end of the world. How you respond to it matters far more than the mistake itself. With these two checklists in place, you have a much better chance of avoiding errors in the first place, and handling them professionally when you do not.

Frequently asked questions

What should I check before sending an email campaign?: Run through your from name and address, reply-to address, subject line, preheader text, spelling and grammar (including alt text on images), personalisation merge tags, every hyperlink, alignment and spacing on test emails, your selected lists and segments, and your scheduled send date and time. Get sign-off from relevant team members before you send.
What should I do if I send an email with a mistake in it?: First, assess whether the mistake actually needs a response. Minor typos rarely do. If the error affects your brand, misleads subscribers, or breaks a key link, act quickly. Depending on the severity, your response could be a follow-up apology email, a website update, or a social media post. Having templates prepared in advance cuts your response time significantly.
How do I check personalisation before sending?: Preview the campaign using real subscriber records rather than dummy data. This confirms that merge tags are pulling the correct values. If a field is empty for some subscribers, decide whether to use a fallback value or remove the personalisation from that send.
Why is sending to the wrong segment such a serious mistake?: Sending the wrong content to the wrong audience can confuse or frustrate subscribers, damage trust, and in some cases create compliance issues under POPIA if sensitive or targeted content reaches unintended recipients. Always double-check your list selections and exclusions before every send.

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