This gatekeeper subscribes to a fairly strict philosophy:
Just because no one is perfect doesn’t mean your emails can’t be! Go through the 20 items on this checklist, they can be.
What the email marketing checklist covers:

• how to establish the email’s purpose
• 6 things to check during testing
• effective ways to arrange text and images
• 3 ways to target the right audience
• tips for getting the email delivered

Once your email passes the test, the message you’re sending is exactly as it should be.
Think of this list as your gatekeeper who checks the quality of your campaign. Each email you send has to answer the gatekeeper’s questions before it’s let out of the gate.

So grab that message you’ve been working on. Wrestle with these questions. Make changes. Do what it takes to make sure you’re satisfied on each point.

Along the way, consider the question, “Why would my subscribers be interested in reading this?” And see if your emails prove themselves worthy of being let out of the gate.

1. Which of the following am I trying to accomplish with this email? Do I accomplish it?

• Strengthen my relationships with my existing subscribers

• Sell a product

• Collect new subscribers by giving my readers content they’ll want to forward

• Offer my readers new or exclusive information

• Drive traffic to my website

2. What action do I want my readers to take? Do I offer them too many choices? Do I give them a

reason to act right now?

3. Is my company or brand name included in my “From” line or subject line?

4. Is my subject line concise, compelling and straightforward?

5. Have I asked my subscribers to whitelist me to make sure they get my e-mails?

6. Does my first paragraph compel my readers to read the second?And the next?

7. Is my most important information “above the fold” in case readers don’t scroll down?

8. Is everything linked that should be linked? Product names, images? Do all of the links work?

9. If my message includes images, do I use the standard 60% to 40% text-to-image

ratio, or the “F” viewing pattern? Does it make sense to do otherwise?

10. Have I included a plain text version for subscribers reading on a mobile device or with images

turned off?

11. How does the HTML version look with images off? Have I included an ALT image tag on each

graphic?

12. When I choose to display the images, do they load correctly and quickly?

13. Does the message render properly in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iPhone, Hotmail and Apple Mail?

14. Do personalization fields fill in correctly?

15. What is this message’s spam score? Is there anything I should change to lower it?

16. When is the best time to send this out? Are any days of the week or times of the day particularly

appropriate for the content here?

17. Do I want to send this to my whole list or just a segment of it?

18. Do I want to split test this message before I send it to the whole target audience?

19. Should I set this message to automatically post to my Facebook page or Twitter stream?

20. Have I proofread for typos?

Is everything right?

Congratulations! Your email is ready to send.

Run through this list for your next few emails, and you’ll find that you start checking for these things automatically. Every once in a while, pull it out again to make sure you aren’t forgetting to ask any of these questions.