Before you send your email, make sure to validate the HTML code and then test the message on several different email clients and devices.

HTML validation

Use HTML code validation to catch problems before you begin testing your code in email clients. A large percentage of rendering issues are caused by improper HTML syntax and bad coding practices.

The World Wide Web Consortium offers a free resource for validating your code at http://validator.w3.org. Paste your code directly into the form field on the Validate by Direct Input tab and instantly see how your code does. You can safely ignore errors that flag proprietary code that is used.

Testing

After you are sure that your message is coded properly, it’s time to start testing. Unlike a website where an error can be corrected, an email cannot be taken back or updated after you send it.

Before you send an email to a large database or contact list, you can create a test email to deliver the message to a small number of selected contacts for review. Or you can send the email to a segment or query to test the response.

When you open the test email page, the fields are populated from the selected email template. However, the following fields can be overwritten:

• Subject line
• Email name
• Test address settings
• Test email bodies
• Tags

If a test send fails due to a validation error, those errors display in a fixed view at the top of the screen. You can manually close the error by clicking Dismiss. If you navigate to a different page, the error automatically disappears.

Note: Make sure to calculate your query before you select it as a contact source for the normal test, or it will not be honored by the test send maximums set in your subscription’s Email Settings.

1. Send the test email to one or more individual email addresses or to a contact source.
2. Verify the subject line.
3. Verify the email name.
4. Select the test address settings.
5. Select options for contact source personalization testing.
6. Test the email body options.
7. Send the email now.

After you send a test email, the number that follows the name of the email, in the name column, is an indication of how many different versions were sent.

The first test email has no number after the name. The second test email has (1) after the name. The third email has (2) after the name.

The contact source (or the contacts column in the single mailing reports) shows a number in parentheses that refers to the number of recipients. If you send a test email to four individual email addresses, then the number after Individuals is (4).

Tip: For testing purposes only, you can append +abc, or other discriminating values to your existing Gmail address and receive multiple emails in the same inbox. For example, use youremail@gmail.com and youremail+123@gmail.com and both messages will be delivered to your inbox.

Error: You need to fix these items before you can send your email: An unexpected error occurs. 

If you see this message during a test send, this typically means an element is missing from your share-to-social link.  Make sure your HTML code includes the URL and the link name. Also, if you see xt="SPSNCLICK", it must be paired with xtsn="...". Check every share-to-social type link and make sure that it is set up correctly. See the full list of social networks Campaign supports and  corresponding xtsn value.

Ensure test sends don't go to spam

B2B domains typically have stronger filtering rules by using in-house firewalls, spam filters, rules, and policies. They might also use third-party filtering solutions, like MessagesLabs or Ironport, so the business can protect itself, the infrastructure, and employees by rejecting suspicious messages.

Your organization/recipients can do the following to ensure delivery of your test emails to their inbox:

• If you use a filtering service, ask your IT administrator to contact the filtering solution company to whitelist your company's equipment, software, and tools that are used for security/firewall/spam filters, rules, and policies.
• The IT administrator should also do the same locally to ensure delivery, as the company might run their own filtering on top of the filtering solution from an external provider. This practice is common in financial institutions.
  • VMTA NAME
    These settings are in Settings > Org Admin > Organizational settings > VMTA Servers. You can see the servers that are used for sending.
  • IP Address
    You can take the VMTA server name and use any tools on the web to find out the IP address.
  • From Address
    You used this address when you created your emails and entered the address into the From and Reply To fields. For example, if you use newsletters@abc.de.com, add this address to your contact list/safe senders list.

Troubleshooting: If you see the error that the number of recipients in the selected contact source exceeds the maximum allowed for test mailings this indicates that the organization setting for the maximum number of recipients for a test mailing is lower than the number of recipients in your test list.To resolve this issue, in Organization settings > Mailing settings, the administrator needs to increase the number of recipients for the test list.