Why Checklists Matter
Realizing that you made an easily preventable mistake just after sending out your email campaign is incredibly frustrating experience. Errors in email campaigns can reduce deliverability, limit open rates, and confuse customers. Unfortunately, it happens to everyone.
Checklists are a simple and effective way to significantly reduce errors even though they sometimes feel unnecessary or overbearing. Noted surgeon and author Atul Gawande wrote an excellent article for the New Yorker in 2007 titled The Checklist describing the substantial reduction in errors that checklist brought to medicine and piloting airplanes. The article is well worth the read as is Gawande’s 2009 book-length treatment of the topic The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right includes examples from the restaurant and construction industries.
While checklists may seem critical for tasks where lives are at stake, they’re very useful for many tasks. For example, Jon Udell talks about using checklists for software development and web development.
Gawande notes that the research on checklists has shown that effective checklists focus on brevity and readability and not completeness. Checklists work best when they only important items that are likely to be missed. Gawande says that effective checklists must be tested and refined. He has even produced a Checklist for Checklists .
Checklists for Email Campaigns
Executing a well-done email campaign is a complex endeavor with many subparts. The unique characteristics of both your list and your organization will mean that there is likely no single existing list that will be a perfect fit for you. Here are XXX checklists for you to use as a guide for creating your own checklist. Many of these checklists have substantial overlap, but by looking at multiple lists you are more likely to find one that is a better starting point.
Checklists for Avoiding Common Pitfalls
10-Point Email Quality-Control Checklist from Lyris focuses on potential errors when constructing email messages.
Targeted Email Advertising Checklist from Alex Cohen has a good all-around set of recommendations.
Prelaunch Email Campaign Checklist from the V12 Group collects important items to check before you send your campaign.
TailoredMail Email Campaign Checklist (PDF) is an extensive list of items to check before sending out your campaign.
Before You Hit “Send,” Consult Your email Checklist from ClickZ includes a good set of important points worth considering for your own list.
Annual Email Marketing Strategy Review Checklist from MailerMailer is a nice collection to help you step back and review your email campaign strategy.
Deliverability and CAN-SPAM Checklists
Lyris’ Opt-In Email Marketer’s Checklist for Inbox Delivery (PDF) is a 10 point list to help you ensure that your messages reach your recipients inboxes.
A Daily Checklist For Deliverability 07/07/2010 from MediaPost includes important high-level points you should regularly consider about the deliverability of your campaigns.
phplist Documentation: Tasks to do before you send your first email is an solid checklist of technical points to verify before sending your email.
A CAN-SPAM Checklist from Mickey Chandler is good checklist for CAN-SPAM compliance.
Complying With CAN-SPAM: A 10-Point Checklist for Marketers from ClickZ is from 2004, but still a still a useful list.
Email Failed: A checklist & Analysis on cause of Email Failure from the Bravo Technology Center is a terse list of factors to investigate for email problems not exclusive to email marketing campaigns.