Email Marketing Glossary Terms: Test Run

Effective email marketing should include one or more test runs before sending to an entire list of potential leads. This test run of emails will help to identify any problem areas with the email itself, ensure the efficacy of the list you are using, and identify any other potential problems. The test run can be sent to a small portion of your list members as well as to several of your own monitored email addresses with different ISPs and other settings.

A test run can prevent the sending of poor email marketing to hundreds or thousands of list members. It allows you another chance to check links and ensure that the message is delivered the same it leaves your email software. Sometimes, unexpected results can occur when sending an email out without thorough checking. If you can include colleagues or close friends and family members in the test run then this allows for more eyes to check the message before it is sent in earnest.

A test run can help ensure that your emails are getting through spam filters and blacklists. Set up some free email addresses with the various free email hosts online because a lot of list members will use these addresses; even those with business domain accounts. Include these free email addresses in your test run as well as a few other select emails so that you can get a much clearer understanding of whether or not your email will make it to the majority of intended recipients.