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Email QA Checklist: What to Check Before You Send

Published on July 23, 2026 by Tools Viewer

Email QA Checklist: What to Check Before You Send
Email QA Checklist: What to Check Before You Send

A broken email that reaches your entire list cannot be unsent. The most common issues — clipped content, missing images, broken links, layout that collapses on mobile — are all preventable with a quick pre-send review. Thispre-send email QA checklistmaps to the tools available inEmail Viewer so you can run through it in one tab before exporting.

Why email QA is different from web QA

HTML email has unique constraints that make pre-send review more important than pre-publish review for a website. Email clients strip CSS, apply their own styles, clip content over a certain size, and behave inconsistently across platforms. A page that looks good in one browser is likely to look good in all modern browsers. An email that looks good in Gmail is not guaranteed to look good in Outlook — or even in a different version of the same client.

Pre-send QA is the only point in the workflow where you can catch showing issues without actually sending to your list.

Pre-send email QA checklist

Content and structure

  • Gmail clipping risk.Gmail clips emails larger than 102KB by replacing the bottom of the email with a "View entire message" link. Check your email's file size before sending. Run the HTML Check in Email Viewer — it flags oversized emails.
  • Unsubscribe and preference links.All marketing emails must include an unsubscribe link. Confirm it is present, correctly linked, and working. Many email platforms require a specific merge tag — confirm it is placed correctly.
  • Placeholder text and default values.Check that no placeholder text like "First Name" or "SUBJECT LINE HERE" remains in the final version.
  • Placeholder links.Look for emptyhref="#"orhref=""links that were not replaced with real URLs. Use Find in code to search forhref="#"before exporting.

Images

  • Image-only content.Avoid emails that are primarily images — they are blocked by clients that have images off by default, and they fail accessibility standards. Every meaningful visual should have a text equivalent.
  • Alt text — meaningful, not empty.Every<img>should have analtattribute. Decorative images usealt="". Informational images use a description that conveys the meaning. Avoid alt text that just says "image" or repeats the file name.
  • Image URLs are absolute.Relative image paths break in email. All imagesrcvalues must be absolute URLs (starting withhttps://) pointing to a hosted image.
  • Images have explicit width and height.Help clients reserve space while images load by settingwidthandheightattributes on every image.

HTML structure

  • DOCTYPE and charset.Your email should start with<!DOCTYPE html>and include a<meta charset="UTF-8">tag. These prevent encoding issues and quirks mode showing.
  • External stylesheets.Do not link external CSS files in email. All styles should be embedded in a<style>block or applied inline. External stylesheets are blocked by most email clients.
  • CSS inlined.RunInline CSS before exporting to ensure styles survive clients that strip the head.
  • No JavaScript.JavaScript is blocked by all email clients. Check that your template has no script tags.

Mobile and responsiveness

  • Viewport meta tag.Include<meta name="screen area" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">in the head. Without it, mobile clients may show at desktop width and scale the whole email down.
  • Mobile layout preview.UseAdd device in Email Viewer to compare desktop and mobile previews side by side. Check for horizontal scroll, text too small to read, and buttons too small to tap.
  • Images with max-width.Addmax-width: 100%as inline style to all images to prevent overflow on narrow screens.
  • All links have real URLs.Every<a>tag with anhrefshould point to a real, working destination. Test click each CTA in the preview.
  • UTM parameters are present.If you track email clicks in analytics, confirm that UTM parameters are appended correctly to campaign links.
  • Link text is descriptive.Avoid "Click here" — use descriptive link text that makes sense out of context, both for accessibility and for email clients that display a list of links.

Dark mode

  • Test light and dark mode.Toggle thedark mode toggle in Email Viewer and check for invisible text, broken image backgrounds, and color contrast issues.

Running QA in Email Viewer

To run the full QA workflow in Email Viewer:

  1. OpenEmail Viewer and load your email HTML.
  2. ClickView Detailto open the QA panel and review each item.
  3. Use theHTML Checktab to run the automated compatibility check — it flags common structural issues and CSS properties with limited client support.
  4. Preview across Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and Yahoo client profiles.
  5. Toggle dark mode for each relevant profile.
  6. Add a mobile device preview and compare with desktop.
  7. Fix any issues found, re-preview, then export.