Check the entry conditions.
Write down every event that starts the sequence. Then test a valid enquiry, a repeated submission, an imported record and a contact with missing information. Confirm that one business action does not accidentally trigger several overlapping workflows.
Verify the sender identity, recipient details and the permission or other applicable basis for the intended communication with the responsible person. Do not assume that every record in the CRM should receive the same sequence.
Read the message in its real context.
Preview messages with realistic values, including empty fields and long company names. Check links on a phone, booking availability, language choice and time-zone assumptions. Personalization should fail gracefully rather than exposing template placeholders.
Record what the recipient is expected to do next. If the message promises a call, document, price or appointment, verify that the business can actually fulfil that promise. A technically delivered message is only one part of the test.
Try to stop the workflow.
Test a reply, an appointment, a declined proposal, a withdrawal of permission and a manual owner intervention. Agree which events stop later messages and which create a task instead. A sequence that cannot be interrupted safely is not ready for a live rollout.
- Submit the same enquiry twice and inspect the resulting record.
- Change the responsible person during the sequence.
- Complete the intended next step before a scheduled message.
- Simulate an unavailable integration or a rejected delivery.
- Confirm that a person can find and resolve each exception.
Release with an accountable owner.
Keep a dated test record showing the input, expected result, observed result and any unresolved issue. Launch a limited, agreed scope first. Define who reviews early activity, how the workflow can be paused and how the team returns to a manual process if needed.
After launch, review replies and qualified conversations as well as delivery counts. If people receive irrelevant messages or the team cannot see the next action, improve the process before increasing volume. Retest whenever a trigger, integration or message changes.
Questions before you start
Questions before you start
Can we test with real customer records?
Use controlled records and recipients for development. Any live pilot needs an agreed scope and appropriate handling of customer data; accidental customer messaging is not a useful test.
Does a successful send prove the customer received the email?
No. Provider acceptance, delivery and recipient engagement are different events. Check the evidence available from the sending service and do not report one as the other.
Who signs off the launch?
Name the business owner of the workflow and the technical owner. They should agree the acceptance checks, unresolved limitations and procedure for stopping the sequence.