Tips for Sending Emails

It can be hard to know when you're really ready to send your email, and how to determine the success of that email after you send it. This all depends on your business, your content, and your audience, so it's not an exact science. But there are some things to pay attention to before and after you send that can help your email performance.

In this article, you'll find recommendations that can help you get the most out of your email marketing.

Before you send

We know pressing that Send button can be intimidating, no matter how many times you've sent an email to your audience. It can help calm your nerves if you know you've done everything you can to ensure a successful email campaign.

Here are some things to check before you send an email.

Review your audience

Go to the To section of the email builder to confirm that you're sending to the right people. Make sure you've selected the correct audience and that you have permission to send to those contacts. If you're sending to a segment, review the conditions and subscriber count to make sure you've set up your segment correctly.

Getting Started with Segments
The Importance of Permission

Review your email setup

Make sure you’ve set up your email properly. Review your subject line, content, tracking options, and social share settings in the email builder. Check the box for Use Inbox to manage replies in the Settings & Tracking section if you want to manage replies, or make sure you have access to the From email address to receive direct replies to your email.

Best Practices for Email Subject Lines
Additional Tracking Options for Emails

Proof Your Content

In the Content section of the email builder, click Edit Design to proofread your content one more time before you send. Review the text for typos, make sure images are the correct size and include alt text, and check for any spammy words or phrases that might affect your email delivery. If you're using merge tags in your email, review the default values in your audience, and toggle the Enable live merge tag info slider to the checkbox in Preview mode to verify your email looks good.

After you've checked all of this yourself, we recommend you ask a friend or colleague to look over your email, as well.

Set Default Merge Values for an Audience
About Spam Filters
Upload, Add, and Edit Images in Emails and Landing Pages
Collaborate on Emails

Check for broken links

Double-check that all the links in your email are valid and point to the correct URLs. If you're using the classic builder, use the Link Checker to scan for broken links. If you're working with the new email builder, we'll mark broken links with an exclamation point icon. Make sure you've included the required unsubscribe link in your email.

Why We Require an Unsubscribe Link
Troubleshoot Broken Links

Preview and test

After you've thoroughly checked your audience, setup, and content, use our preview and testing tools to make sure your email displays as expected. The Inbox Preview tool is included with an Essentials plan or higher. Use it to see what your email will look like in different email clients.

Preview and Test Your Email
Email Testing Tips
Test with Inbox Preview

Send your email

Have you crossed all your t's and dotted all your i's? Great! After you've completed this checklist, you're ready to hit that Send button. To learn how, check out Create and Send a Regular Email.

After you send

It's important to evaluate your email statistics after every email you send, so you can determine how the performance of an email compares to what's normal for your organization. Use your email reports, stats overview, and audience dashboard to track trends and return on investment (ROI) over time. Although this won't help you improve your sent email, it'll give you the data you need to make informed email marketing decisions in the future.

About Email Reports
All About Audience Stats

Here are some things to consider as you evaluate your sent emails.

Monitor deliveries

After you've given your subscribers a few hours to respond to your email, it's a good idea to monitor delivery in your email report. If you notice a large number of emails aren't being delivered, your emails may be getting blocked by firewalls or spam filters.

About Spam Filters
My subscribers aren't receiving my emails
About Email Reports

Track engagement

Monitor your engagement for each email, as well as engagement over time, to get an idea of how your content resonates with your subscribed contacts. Consider statistics like opens, clicks, forwards, and social performance. Connect your store to track additional statistics like total orders and revenue.

About Open and Click Rates

Determine top locations and send time

Pay attention to the top locations in your email reports and audience dashboard to see which regions respond best to your content. If you've sent your emails at different times, determine if there's a particular time of day that seems to get the most opens, clicks, and purchases.

About Email Reports
About the Audience Dashboard

Assess your revenue

If you have a connected store and track your e-commerce activity, or include products in your emails, we'll show you your sales in your email reports. Use this information to assess your ROI and inform future email decisions.

View Revenue from Email

Monitor unsubscribes and bounces

Monitor your bounces and unsubscribes over time so you can intervene if there are issues with your audience, email content, or delivery. If you notice a lot of unsubscribes, your permission may have gone stale, or something in your email content could have caused more people to unsubscribe.

If you notice a high bounce rate on an email, we'll store bounce reasons in your email report for 30 days after you've sent it. Each bounced email typically includes an "SMTP Reply" that explains why the message bounced.

When Email Addresses Go Stale
View Bounce Reasons
Soft vs. Hard Bounces