I used to be a police officer. You might think this will not help your email marketing returns, but all will become clear.

I stopped a car, the driver of which had failed to give precedence at a roundabout. I walked up to the car, following the standard checks of index plate, tax disc and general condition, and opened the driver’s door. I politely told the driver what they had done wrong.

The woman appeared a bit confused and looked to her left. I followed her eyes to find a young chap who, surprisingly, had a steering wheel in front of him. It was, I worked out, a left hand drive car. I told her to tell the driver what I’d said, and wandered off. 

Once your confidence builds it is easy to assume it’s the more complex facets that need checking and to concentrate all resources on them. Yet the simple things are easy to mess up. 

Before clicking send, check that the answers to the following questions are all ‘Yes’.

1/ Is the marketing email optimised for mobile?

2/ Is there a clear call to action above the fold?

3/ Does it conform to all the GDPR requirements?

4/ Is there an unsubscribe clickthrough?

5/ Is the message preview optimised?

6/ Are all the automated boxes completed?

7/ Have you segmented your email marketing list?

8/ Do all the hotlinks work?

9/ How does the Subject Line read?

And, finally:

10/ Have you sent it to yourself?

Before sending an email to those on your email marketing list, send yourself a copy. You need to look at it with the eyes of a subscriber. Check everything of course, from ensuring that the Subject Line reads well, through the From Address being what you wanted and finally, to the much more esoteric question of whether the email gives the overall impression you want. Also check the simple things above. 

We all make mistakes. We all make basic mistakes. Errors of judgement are one thing, but just because the basics are all rather, well, basic, does not mean that they will take care of themselves.