Test and Send Emails

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Describe the two types of testing mechanisms: Subscriber Preview and Test Send.
  
• Describe the four primary steps involved in the Email Send Flow.
  
• Send an email in Email Studio.
  

Preview and Test Your Email

“Let’s send this email to 10,000 subscribers without knowing what it looks like on their end,” said no one ever. Proofing and testing your emails before a send allows you to ensure your content looks exactly as you intend. Proof your emails with Subscriber Preview and Test Send.

Subscriber Preview in Content Builder allows you to view a single email, including dynamic content, A/B testing, and personalization. Yasmin wants to use Subscriber Preview to see exactly what her email will look like to an individual subscriber in the data extension.

In the Content tab of Email Studio:

1. Click the down arrow associated with the email you want to send.
   
2. Click Preview and Test.
   
3. In the Subscribers tab, select a subscriber from your data extension. Preview the email.
   

Once Yasmin previews the email, she does a Test Send. A Test Send is a send to a test audience to verify that the email looks correct in a recipient's inbox before performing the live send.

In the Content tab of Email Studio:

1. Click the down arrow associated with the email you would like to send.
   
2. Click Preview and Test.
   
3. In the Test Send tab, enter up to five email addresses for Recipient or select a test data extension containing all the subscribers for your test.
   
4. Click Change to select personalization options for the test send.
   

• Based on <subscriber>: The test email renders personalization based on the subscriber selected in the Subscriber Preview step.
  
• Based on <list or data extension>: The test email renders personalization based on the entire list or data extension you select in the Subscriber Preview step. For example, if your list contains 20 subscribers then 20 personalized email versions are sent to each recipient.
  
• Based on <recipient test data extension>: The test email is sent to each subscriber in the selected recipient test data extension. The email renders based on the recipient's data.
  

5. Complete the From Options section. Remember, only authenticated email domains will appear here.
   
6. Click Send Test.
   
7. Review the Test Send Summary.
   
8. Click Confirm and Send.
   

Send Your Email

Sending is the culmination of Yasmin's (and your) hard work, and just like with importing data, it can be manual or automated. She chooses to send manually since this is Cloud Kicks first send with Marketing Cloud Engagement. 

The email Send Flow is organized into four tabs that represent each stage.

1. Define Properties: Edit the subject line, preheader, from options, and send classification.
   
2. Select Audience: Select the audience you want to target and any you want to exclude or suppress. You can send to all audience types, including Sales Cloud Reports and Campaigns.
   
3. Configure Delivery: Configure your schedule, send throttling, and any advanced options.
   
4. Review and Send: Preview the selected email, review send configurations, correct errors, and send.
   

Yasmin can launch the Send Flow in several ways:

1. By clicking the down arrow associated with an email in the Content Builder grid and clicking Send.
   
2. By clicking Send from an email in the one-click action column from Content Builder grid.
   
3. By clicking Save and Send in the Send Flow.
   

She is ready to send!

In the Content tab of Email Studio,

1. Click the down arrow next to the email you would like to send.
   
2. Click Send.
   
3. In the Define Properties tab:
   
   • Edit the Subject if necessary.
     
   • Edit the Preheader if necessary.
     
   • From the From Options, edit the Send Classification if necessary.
     
4. Click Next.
   
5. In the Select Audience tab:
   
   • Click the Data Extensions folder.
     
   • Drag MasterSubscriber into targeted.
     
   • Select the All Subscribers publication list.
     
   • Drag any excluded or suppression data extensions if necessary.
     
6. Click Next.
   
7. In the Configure Delivery tab:
   
   • Select the Schedule radio button.
     
   • Schedule the send for a particular time and day.
     
   • Leave tracking as default.
     
8. Click Next.
   
9. In the Review and Send tab:
   
   • Review the email and all of your settings one more time.
     
   • Check the box next to This information is correct and this email is ready to send.
     
10. Click Send.
    

So that’s it, or “all in a day’s work” as they say. Yasmin has now tested and sent her first weekly promotional email for Cloud Kicks.

Track Your Email Send

Data is the key to understanding your customer and optimizing future email sends—and for that, Marketing Cloud Engagement has Yasmin (and you!) covered. Once Yasmin has sent her weekly promotional email, she can see how it performed in the Tracking tab, which allows her to view:

• Sent - Total number of emails sent.
  
• Delivered - Total number of emails delivered.
  
• Deliverability Rate - The percentage of emails that were delivered compared to the number that bounced (soft and hard).
  
• Total Soft Bounces - The number of emails that were recognized by recipients’ mail servers but were returned to the sender because their mailboxes were full or the mail servers were temporarily unavailable.
  
• Total Hard Bounces - Number of emails that permanently bounced back to the sender because the addresses were invalid.
  
• Email Opens - The total number of times subscribers open an email where the images render.
  
• Open Rate - The percentage of emails that were opened (images rendered) compared to the number that were delivered.
  
• Clicks - The number of subscribers who clicked on a link in the email.
  
• Click Rate - The percentage of subscribers who clicked on a link compared to the number of emails delivered.
  
• Unsubscribes - Total number of subscribers who clicked unsubscribe.
  
• Unsubscribe Rate - Percentage of subscribers who clicked unsubscribe compared to total number of emails delivered.
  

Click Set Grid Preferences to see any metrics not currently viewable.

Yasmin can also capture how many emails are forwarded and how many new subscribers each forward generates. She can track subscriber performance over time and even compare sends.

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Subscriber Preview and Test Send
• Salesforce Help: Email Send Flow