Once your email message is composed and addressed, you can then review the message for accuracy. This will ensure that the necessary components are included in the message, and that the message is sent properly.

To get started, navigate to the Review Tab of the Message Composer.

Preview Your Message

You can preview the display of your message in HTML, Text, and Mobile modes by toggling each tab at the bottom of the message display. Please note that this is an estimation and we do recommend sending a test message prior to launching a new campaign.

Preview Personalization Fields

• The field name is spelled correctly in your message
• Fallback text has been set up

Broken and missing personalization values without fallback text will cause the message to fail for your recipients.

More information: Using Personalization Fields in Emails.

Message Validation

In addition to reviewing Personalization in your message, every email message has required settings and fields in order to be both deliverable and compliant with the CAN-SPAM act. A red 'X' signifies a requirement which is necessary to resolve, while a yellow caution signifies a warning (recommended but not required to send).

• Sender* (also known as From Address)
• Subject Line*
• Recipients*
• Content*
• Sender Name and Address*
• HTML and Text Opt-Out Links*
• Test Message Has Not Been Sent
• No Category Selected (if using the Subscription Management feature) 

How to Resolve Missing Requirements

Sender

Navigate to the Address tab and select a From Address from the Sender drop-down:

Additional Sender errors:

"Personalized From can only be the sender for lists with Contact Owner Email and Name."

You must edit the list and identify the Contact Owner Name and Contact Owner Email fields.

More information: Personalized From Addresses

"Salesforce Owner can only be the sender for Salesforce lists."

First make sure your recipient list is connected to Salesforce. Then check the list for Contact Owner and Contact Owner Email columns.

More information: Send personalized emails on behalf of your team via Salesforce ownership

Subject Line

Navigate to the Address tab and enter your email's Subject Line. 

Here are some of our recommended best practices: Tips for Email Subject Lines

Recipients

Your message must have recipients. Navigate to the Address tab and choose a list/segment and/or specific contacts from the options. Make sure to review suppressions here as well.

The recipient list must also have an Email Address field mapped.

More information: Identifying List Columns

Content

The message body must have content. Additional checks include:

Dynamic Content

A blank an Else-condition can cause the message to show no content to some contacts.

More information: Creating Dynamic Content in Email Messages

RSS Blocks

An RSS Block is required when using RSS-to-Email.

More information: RSS to Email

Signature Validation

If the signature in the email is not account-wide, other users may not be able to see it. This warning will show when an email message uses a personal signature. These are intended for personal use only (eg 1-to-1 emails such as with Act-On Anywhere). To address the warning, you can update the message to use an Account signature if needed.

More information: Using Email Signatures

Sender Name & Address in both HTML and Text (CAN-SPAM)

There are two common errors with address validation, each with a different solution.

Address is Undefined

This indicates the account setup is incomplete and the default account address has not been configured yet.

1. Go to your username at the top right corner and click the drop-down and choose Profile
2. Navigate to Addresses
3. Update the Default Account address by clicking on the plus sign to the right.
4. Save this information
5. Navigate back to your message and toggle to the Design tab and then back to Review to re-validate.

Cannot Identify Address

Your company's address is set up on the account but not present in the message.

1. Review your message footer and ensure it contains the address personalization:

   {{Account.BIZ_ADDRESS}}

2. Next, update the plain text version of your message footer to include this as well. More instructions here: Editing the Text Version of an Email Message

3. Navigate back to Review to re-validate.

More information: Error message: Cannot identify your address in your message 

Opt-Out Links in both HTML and Text (CAN-SPAM)

Act-On's Opt-Out link is required in all outbound messages unless you are using Transactional Email.

You may see this error if:

• Your Custom Footer is missing the Opt-Out link
• The Plain Text version of your message does not include the Opt-Out link
• Your email has no Footer and the Opt-Out link is not present elsewhere in the message
• You have recently changed your Custom Marketing Domain (this can change your Opt-Out link)
• You are attempting to use an Opt-Out link copied from a Sent Message (Opt-Out links are variable and change for each message and recipient, so this is not recommended!)

To correct this:

1. Go to Content > Email Footers, find the default footer URL.
2. Copy this Opt-Out link's URL
3. Insert the URL as a link in your message footer
4. Next, update the Plain Text version of your message footer to include this as well. More instructions here: Editing the Plain Text Version of an Email Message

Sample Opt-Out link:

https://marketing.yourdomain.com/acton/rif/{{Env.AccountId}}/{{Env.MsgId}}/-/{{Env.RecId}}/{{Env.SrcId}}/zout

Note: If you are using Subscription Management, the link is the same.

Check Spam Score

See our related article for this feature: The Check Spam Score Feature

Check Account Limits

Click the Check Account Limits Now button to check the allotted active contacts limit in your account. You must have recipients selected before using this feature.

Act-On will notify you if you fall within or are in excess of your active contacts limit.

If you are over your limit, you may contact your Account Manager for further assistance.

Check Full Personalization

This feature will run a full list check and provide feedback on potential errors. This is highly recommended.

You must have recipients selected before using this feature.