💡 Goals:
Double check the targeting of your campaigns and automations
Review your templates (content & localization)
Run a last test in a diagnostic tool
Campaigns & automations review
Select the right opt-in category
Ensure you are targeting the correct type of recipients for your email.
Accidentally sending marketing emails to unsubscribed users can lead to a significant increase in unsubscribes and spam complaints, ultimately damaging your sender reputation.
Verify your email campaign targeting accuracy
Before sending, ensure the estimated number of recipients aligns with your intended audience size.
The targeting of your campaign may be based on two different types of data:
Conditions: Your campaign might target users based on specific criteria (e.g. new subscribers who are not premium members, etc).
AND/OR Audiences: You can also target pre-defined audiences containing specific users you want to reach.
Why is this Important? Exceeding your intended email volume can negatively impact your sender reputation. To prevent this issue, it is important to review the estimated recipient count for each email campaign before sending.
This proactive approach ensures your campaigns reach the right audience size, protecting your sender reputation and promoting successful delivery.
Make sure your message is in the right language
Double check your campaign to ensure your targeting (e.g. subscribers speaking german) matches your message (e.g. not an email in spanish, with a sender and a subject in italian). Language mistakes may cause irritation and, again, spam complaints/unsubscribes.
There are three elements you need to check:
1. Targeting
Before sending your campaign, ensure it targets the correct language to avoid subscriber frustration and improve your results:
Language targeting: Verify if your campaign targets a specific language. If not, confirm this is intentional.
One campaign per language:
If you don't have localized versions of your emails, we still recommend you create two different campaigns: one for english speakers, and another for the rest of your audience.
This will make the performance analysis way easier to determine wether you should stop sending email in english to non-english speakers.
Special cases: Be mindful of multilingual countries like Belgium or Canada. Targeting by country alone might miss specific language needs within those regions.
2. Sender
For optimal deliverability and subscriber trust, ensure your sending subdomain and sender name align with the country/language you're targeting.
Sender: If you have different domains per country (e.g. mycompany.es, mycompany.com), be sure you are using the local domain instead of the global one (e.g. use email.mycompany.es to address you Spanish recipients).
Persona: Customers using personas or elements that must be translated in the sender name must double check it before activating the campaign (e.g. Lucie de Batch, Lucy from Batch, etc).
Senders can be selected from the campaign/automation editor and created from the dashboard settings:
3. Email content
Before sending, take a final moment to review your template's content language consistency:
Confirm the subject line aligns with the overall email language.
Double-check that the preheader text is also translated into the intended language.
Your template should be in the expected language:
Email Body: Verify all message content uses the correct language.
Footer: Ensure legal disclaimers, unsubscribe instructions, and other footer elements are translated accurately.
Links: Confirm links within the email lead to the correct language version of the content.
Email templates review
Follow the best practices
Ensure your email templates adhere to established design and content best practices. By following these guidelines, you'll increase deliverability, improve user experience, and achieve optimal campaign performance.
Here are some key best practices to consider:
Content separation
Maintain a clear distinction between transactional and marketing content within emails:
Avoid including promotional offers or discounts in transactional emails (e.g. order confirmations, shipping updates).
Separating content makes it easier for inbox providers to categorize your emails and can simplify troubleshooting with them if necessary.
Clear unsubscribe options
Provide a prominent and easy-to-find unsubscribe link within your emails:
Avoid using tiny fonts, obscured placements, or complex unsubscribe processes.
Consider adding an unsubscribe link near the top of your email in case content gets clipped by email clients.
A clear unsubscribe path reduces the risk of spam complaints and fosters trust with your audience.
Sender identification
Include basic company information within the footer, such as:
Links to your website and privacy policy.
Details about the sender's identity (e.g. company name, address, contact information, VAT number, etc).
This transparency builds trust and helps subscribers recognize your legitimate communications.
Subject & subheader: Perfecting the first impression
The subject line and preheader are your email's first impression, so ensure they're optimized for optimal impact.
Subject Line
Length matters: Aim for a concise subject line, ideally under 50 characters (Too long might get cut off in inboxes).
Test for clarity: Send a test email to your own device and see if the subject line clearly conveys the email's content.
Preheader text
The preheader text appears next to the subject line in many inboxes. Use it to provide additional context or entice subscribers to open the email. Include the preheader in your test email and ensure it displays correctly alongside the subject line.
Double check your subject and send a test email to your device to see if:
It is not too long
The emojis you have used are compatible with most of the devices/OS'.
Emojis compatibility
Emojis can add personality, but be cautious.
Send a test email to check if the emojis you have used render correctly across different devices and operating systems (some older devices might not display emojis properly). You will find more information on that matter here.
Content personalization
Avoid the classic "Hello FIRSTNAME!" issues by using the message preview of the dashboard. You can see with a few clicks if the personalization variable is properly replaced and avoid formatting issues (e.g. "Hello pETER").
For preview based on events data, trigger an event to see if everything is working as expected.
Tracking links management
Double-check all links
Meticulously review your email to ensure all intended links are present and functional, including:
Links within buttons.
Links embedded in text.
Links within the footer (e.g., social media icons, website links).
Click tracking configuration
Ensure you review the links inserted in your templates:
Tailored tracking: Batch allows you to customize click tracking behavior for specific links.
Here are some options to consider:
Disable tracking: You can choose to disable tracking for certain links, particularly those containing sensitive personal data.
Group tracking: For identical links appearing multiple times, group tracking allows you to consolidate click data for analysis.
Track everything: Track all clicks by default to gain a comprehensive understanding of subscriber engagement
For detailed information on managing link tracking within Batch, please refer to: Handling link tracking in emails.
Unsubscribe link
A seamless unsubscribe experience is essential for maintaining a positive relationship with your subscribers. Here is what to ensure:
Unsubscribe link presence
Verify that all your marketing emails contain a clear and functional unsubscribe link. Refer to our guide on "Adding an unsubscribe link to a template" for detailed instructions.
Custom unsubscribe links
If you are using your own unsubscribe links, to handle custom opt-in categories, make sure:
The links are working properly
You also provide a way to unsubscribe to all the marketing emails with a single click.
Batch will automatically add a "list-unsubscribe" header in all the emails targeting the marketing opt-in recipients.
Note: The list-unsubscribe header is not added in test emails sent from the dashboard. Also, it may not be shown by all providers if your domain's reputation is not established yet.
Desktop vs mobile & dark mode support
Test your template in all the possible situations:
Device compatibility: Utilize the preview tool to switch between desktop and mobile views, ensuring your email displays seamlessly on both.
Light & dark mode rendering: Preview your email in both light and dark mode settings to identify any potential display issues. Pay close attention to elements like logos that might appear invisible or unclear in dark mode.
Accessibility
For accessibility purposes, take the time to put a value in the alt parameter of all your images and media content.
Alt text is a brief description of an image or other media content embedded within your email. Screen readers utilize alt text to convey the image's purpose to visually impaired users.
By taking this simple step and adding alt text to your images and media content, you'll create a more inclusive and user-friendly email experience, while potentially benefiting your sender reputation.
Note: By default, templates created using the email composer contain role=presentation. It ensures screen readers navigate the email content effectively and prevents users from being flooded with unnecessary table structure announcements.
Use a template testing tool
Once you have applied all the required changes, send a test email to a template testing tool that will allow you to test:
Your sending domain authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
Your template content
These tools will evaluate your email and suggest improvements. Please note these tools will complain about a missing list unsubscribe link, which is normal since test emails do not include unsubscribe links. You can ignore that alert.
Simply send a test email to the email address generated for the test:
Many tools exist, but you can start using:
Next step
Please take some time for a final check, before you start sending your first emails with Batch: