Every experienced email marketer has a story about the send that went wrong: the placeholder "Hi FIRSTNAME", the link to a staging URL, the 40% discount that should have said 4%. None of them happened because the marketer was careless. They happened because the review was done from memory, under deadline, with no fixed routine. A checklist fixes that. Work through the same list every time and the mistakes stop reaching real people.
1. From name and reply-to
The sender name is the first thing your reader sees — before the subject. Use a recognisable name they've opted in to hear from, and make sure the reply-to address is a real, monitored inbox. A "noreply@" address quietly tells people you're not interested in a conversation, and some filters treat it with suspicion.
2. Subject line
Your subject is the single biggest lever on open rate. Keep it under about 40 characters so it survives on mobile, front-load the point, and go easy on spam triggers and capitals. Score it with the subject line tester, and if you're stuck for an angle, the subject line bank has 50+ patterns to adapt.
3. Preheader
The preheader is the preview text beside the subject — a second headline most senders waste. Don't repeat the subject; add a new hook. Check its length and overlap with the preheader optimiser.
4. Inbox preview
Every client truncates differently. A subject that reads perfectly on desktop can be cut mid-word on a phone, where most people open email. See how your from name, subject and preheader land across Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail with the inbox preview.
5. Content spam risk
Filters weigh the words, formatting and links in your email. Trigger words stacked with capitals and exclamation marks raise your risk of the spam folder. Run the copy through the spam checker to catch obvious content red flags before they cost you the inbox.
6. Read time and readability
Email is skimmed, not studied. Long paragraphs and complex sentences read as work. Keep most marketing emails to 50–200 words with short sentences, and check the balance with the read time & readability tool.
7. Every link, and its UTM tags
Click every link in a test send — this is where the staging URLs and typos hide. Then make sure each link is tagged so the clicks show up in your analytics under the right campaign. Build clean, consistent tags with the UTM builder.
8. Plain-text version
Send every campaign as multipart/alternative — an HTML version and a plain-text version together. It improves deliverability and covers clients that don't render HTML. Generate a clean one with the plain-text generator.
9. Images and alt text
Many people read email with images off by default, and so do some filters on first contact. Make sure your email still makes sense without images: give every image meaningful alt text, and never put your only call to action inside an image.
10. The unsubscribe link
An easy, working unsubscribe is both the law and good deliverability practice — hiding it drives complaints, which hurt you far more than an unsubscribe. Confirm it's present, visible, and actually works. The UK email law guide covers what's required.
11. List hygiene
A dirty list quietly wrecks deliverability: duplicates double-send, and malformed addresses bounce, which tells inbox providers you don't look after your list. Dedupe, normalise and validate before you send with the list cleaner.
12. Send time — and a live test
Finally, pick a sensible send window for your audience with the send-time optimiser, then send a live test to yourself. Open it on desktop and mobile, click through, and read it as your subscriber would. If it passes, you're ready.
Run it every time
The value of a checklist isn't any single item — it's the discipline of running the same routine on every campaign, so nothing slips when you're busy. The full Mailfois pre-send checker bundles these checks into one readiness score, so you can clear the list in a couple of minutes instead of hopping between tabs.
Frequently asked questions
What should I check before sending a marketing email?
From name and reply-to, subject, preheader, inbox preview, spam risk, readability, every link and its tags, the plain-text version, images and alt text, the unsubscribe, list hygiene, and a live test send.
Why do I need a pre-send checklist?
Email can't be recalled. A fixed routine stops small mistakes reaching your whole list under deadline pressure.
How do I test an email before sending?
Send a live test to yourself, open it on desktop and mobile, click every link, check it with images off, read the plain-text version, and confirm the unsubscribe works.