• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 13, 2023

Consumers have limited patience with brands that send broken, badly personalized emails. But with email volume tripling over the past three years, it is harder to create satisfying customer experiences in the channel. 

Marketers might wonder why they would take the risk when 86% of consumers say they will abandon a brand after two bad experiences via email or any other channel, according to research conducted last year by Emplifi. 

The answer is testing. Yes, test everything. And don’t let anything go out until it has been checked. 

Litmus has taken on the challenge with a new product called Litmus Email Guardian. The solution was announced at the Litmus Live conference in Boston. 

The new tool helps marketers ensure their email are error-free, the company says. For instance, they can automatically scan emails across key webmail and desktop email clients to detect unforeseen changes, the company states. 

Users can also be notified of changes to emails via proactive alerts, Litmus adds. And they can activate Email Guardian to watch over frequently used email templates. 

“With increased pressure on marketing teams to deliver more high-quality email experiences with fewer resources, personalization and advanced testing have never been more important,” said Erik Nierenberg, CEO of Litmus.

Litmus is also offering countdown timers to showcase urgency, progress bars to promote brand loyalty, personalized images to create one-to-one customer experiences, sentiment trackers and other personalization capabilities. 

While we’re at it, we should also mention that Litmus is also offering AI-driven copy suggestions—say, for subject lines and body content.  

Doubtless, there are other products that do some or all of these things: Please don't take this as an endorsement. But it may serve as a reminder that seasoned email marketers (and direct mail senders) have long lived by this credo: Test, test, test.