How do you do email testing? what are the steps for testing emails?

amar_win
Profile Answers by amar_win

May 2nd, 2006

 
Email components in basic form: 
Email Client/Web Browser
--------------------> SMTP/POP3/IMAP Mail
server---------------------->Email Client/Web browser 
Out of this what is the component we are going to test.

Vinita

May 3rd, 2006

Hi Amar,
Can you explain where do you write the above script? Also what is the checklist for email testing?? I'll appreciate if you can answer my question. Plz help me.

mahbubul0123
Profile Answers by mahbubul0123

May 13th, 2006

Check the Merge fields, if they are pciking up email ID correctly with,
To:
From:
Subject:
Check email body to see if rendering engine sending correct email template for correct email functionality. For example, if you have Sales and Marketing emails, depending on the Business call different email templates should be broadcast under different scenario.
Check DB (I am assuming you are testing database as well) and see if the status of emails are being changed. Normally my experience is, there could be flow like this:
1. New Email, 2.Sent Email, 3.Failed Email, 4.Bounced Email, they all should be in DB with Date/TimeStamp.
Even if your SMTP is not working, you still can say email funtionalities are working fine if the status are changing as they should be per business rules.
What ever the situation is, they should be reflected into the DB on appropirate tables with correct email ids. To do additional testing, you may create DTS and see if you can send BULK mails, that would simulate stress testing like situation, as you will be sending 1000 Plus emails in one shot. Yes, this could be done w/o any Load Runner script or simulation.
However, you must run Load Testing if you happen to test Win Services and analyze the result including any memory leak.
Additionally, you may check for Spam Filter, SQL Injection, etc. to see out of box testing.
Sorry for a large note, but I hope this helps anyone testing either services or middleware in email spaces. Even Peoplesoft CRM has this capability to manage emails, templates, etc. and can work with both SQL server & Oracle DB.