Before sending your first campaign, check five points: your contact list, your message header, the content, the links, and the display. This check improves your deliverability and your contacts’ engagement rate from the very first send.
If you previously used another sending solution (personal or software), import your NPAI list (bounces) into Sarbacane Contacts in the dedicated “NPAI” list.
Important : without this import, these invalid addresses will be contacted as soon as you send your first campaign and may harm your deliverability and sender reputation.
Also check the following points:
Run a contact analysis on your list before each send using the dedicated feature in Sarbacane Campaigns: it removes duplicates and identifies incorrect addresses.
Send emails only to contacts who have given their consent to receive your communications.
Add an unsubscribe link and associate it with your unsubscribe list or lists.
Make sure you have your contacts’ consent to use tracking pixels (measuring open rates for optimization, personalization, or targeting purposes): this has been required since the CNIL recommendation came into force on July 14, 2026.
Important : this consent is separate from the consent given to receive your communications. For your existing databases, the CNIL requires you to clearly inform contacts and give them the option to object; for any new collection, consent must be obtained explicitly at the time of registration. Individual deliverability tracking strictly intended to manage your lists (removing inactive contacts) is exempt from consent. Consult the CNIL recommendation to check your compliance; this matter concerns the law, not Sarbacane support, so have it reviewed by your legal department or DPO.
Authenticate your sending domain or subdomain. Spam filters are wary of unauthenticated domains; authentication reassures both these filters and your recipients. Find the domain name settings in this section of the help center.
Important: do not use a [email protected] address as the sender or reply-to address: your contacts will then be unable to reply to you.
Make sure the reply-to address exists and that you have access to it, so you can receive replies from your contacts as well as sending errors (nonexistent address, change of contact person, absence, etc.).
Use a short, clear, and compelling subject line (30 to 45 characters).
Fill in the preheader to complement the subject line in your recipients' inboxes.
Avoid spam words and excessive use of punctuation or capitalization in the subject line, preheader, and body of the message.
Personalize at least one element (subject line, preheader, or message body) with your contacts' first or last names: this strengthens their engagement with your brand.
Have your message proofread before sending. A spelling mistake makes you look less professional to your contacts.
Best practice: host your documents online rather than attaching them to your newsletter. An attachment makes the message larger and increases the risk of it being classified as junk mail.
Include a link to the web version of your newsletter so your recipients can view it in a browser if they have display issues.
Add a clear and visible unsubscribe link.
Add links to your images and call-to-action buttons.
Test your send to make sure all your links work.
Reduce the size of your images (web resolution, JPEG format) to make your newsletter lighter.
Adapt the mobile version of your newsletter with the Sarbacane Campaigns EmailBuilder.
Test your newsletter on different email clients, webmail services, and reading devices.
Best practice: make sure your text version matches your HTML version.
Once you have checked these points, your campaign is ready to go.
