Before you hit send on your latest (or returning) newsletter this month – I wanted to share my pre-send checklist with you. It’s just a few things that ensure you don’t hit send followed by screaming an expletive of your choice at the screen (as can happen to the best of us!)
- Is Your Subject Line Updated? My subject line stays partially the same (Yellow Dog News:) and then changes based on what my 3 things are for the month. This is something I usually catch when I send myself a test email. Luckily with MailChimp’s recent updates to the setup, I find this easier to catch early!
- Social Media Sharing Setup – One thing I like about MailChimp is they will automatically post your newsletter to Facebook & Twitter. Making sure that your newsletter is set to publish ASAP to your social profiles only ensures more people will read the fantastic content you spent so much time writing! (Pro-Tip: Add the social media sharing icons to your footer and make sure to share to your other social profiles once you hit send!)
- Check Your Links! There’s a link checker function for a reason. I HATE when I send out something and the link doesn’t work like it’s supposed to. Just today I received a “correction” email from a large company because the first one had the wrong links in an email. Take a moment to check your links!
- Read Your Newsletter – Take a minute to review your content and make sure it makes sense. Does the content flow? Does that sentence sound awkward to you? Maybe you need to have a friend or significant other read it. This is especially helpful if you know you sometimes end up writing in industry jargon. No one will take the time to google your ridiculous acronyms (TBH).
- Check Your Images – Make sure that your images are properly linked to your website or blog post or the article they represent. AND make sure you include alt text with your images.
- Is Your List Updated? Before each newsletter goes out I make sure that anyone who’s joined my list from another sign up form is added in. I also make sure that new clients and prospects are added into my newsletter. This is REALY easy because MailChimp integrates with Zoho (my CRM) and Freshbooks (my bookkeeping system). Take a moment to make sure your list is up to date so that everyone who SHOULD get your newsletter does get it!
What else do you make sure to check before you hit send on your newsletter?
Need more newsletter help? Check out my FREE Newsletter Setup Checklist to get your newsletter off on the right foot this year!
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