What's your QA process?

[Anonymous]

Yes, my worst fear came true!  Each time I activate a campaign, I worry that something will go wrong.  Recently, I accidently linked and sent a "here's your link to the whitepaper" email instead of the introduction email.  I need to create a standard QA process to prevent mistakes like this from happening in the future.  What's your QA process?  Anyone willing to share?

[Anonymous]

Hey Sandy,

I maintain a list of all upcoming blasts and double check them prior to the send time. I always schedule, mark the time, and check prior to the blast. If I run out of time prior to the blast and cannot check, I cancel the send until I can double check.

I'm not sure if you have multiple folks working in your instance, but whoever creates the campaigns, you can use the Admin section to limit their abilities so they cannot schedule the blast. Then, have a secondary party review the campaign and schedule the blast once they have signed off. I always appreciate a second pair of eyes.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I do the same as Jeff... I schedule what needs to go out and double check (set an alert or something on my Outlook calendar) before it goes out.

I've worked in Marketo at my previous company and we used seed lists. I would send the email to the marketing team ~30mins before it was scheduled to see if anyone spotted anything.

[Michelle_Tizian]

The most important QA process I set up for our company is the following:
- No email goes out without being proofread.  We have 2 layers of proofs. There's a dedicated editor who proofreads the copy before I even put the content in the email. Once I create the emails, I have at least 2 to 3 proofreaders who look at the formatting and spacing, spelling and link checks in both the HTML and Text version.  If I'm not the person creating the email, I'm one of the QA tester.
-The QA testers are sent a test broadcast and are told that a test broadcast was sent to them and they have a time frame for when they have to complete the test and send their feedback. 
- If there's a form and landing page related to the email, it must be proofed by an editor and another tester for functionality.  
- Before anyone schedules an outgoing email, they must first make sure that the actual email being sent is the correct one. This is the step that everyone in my company who sends email, has failed to follow, and thus, they have to send an "Oops email". 
-I usually preflight the landing pages first, then clone them so that the final landing pages won't have the stats that contain the testers views and clicks.  
- All outgoing emails are scheduled in Google Calendar so everything is scheduled appropriately based on geographic locations and priority, which I manage. 

[Anonymous]

My process includes a checklist that looks at all aspects of the program/campaign.  Once I am confident that the send is error-free, I send samples to channel owers for final approval.  Once approval is received, I schedule the email.

Have you established a checklist that works for you yet?  I can share mine -- also Josh Hill has published a few of his templates at his website.

Patty