AMPscript Test Send Error

Question

New to this so ELI5 please. I'm trying to test an email with the following script but the test email never arrives to inbox (while selecting a test Data Extension).

%%[

SET @Phone = '123456789'

SET @callURL = CONCAT('tel:', @Phone)
]%%


<a href="%%=RedirectTo(@callURL)=%%" alias="phone">

If I remove the script, the test send arrives fine. If I remove the Data Extension I get the following error message:

Emails containing subscriber specific AMPscript cannot be sent without selecting a subscriber in Test Send. Remove the AMPscript from the email or select a subscriber to preview and test send.

Any ideas why?

Answer 1

I believe the RedirectTo() function works by converting a string into a trackable link. Since link tracking occurs at a subscriber level, this means you need to have a test record selected to preview the tracked link.

I've had this issue before - where test sends don't arrive in the inbox.
Try selecting a different test subscriber, or check if the subscriber record you are selecting has been unsubscribed/suppressed/excluded (in All Subscribers). Also check the Send Report for your test email to see if it was completed successfully, or if it encountered an error during sending.

Answer 2

The tel: and mailto: href protocols aren't trackable since they aren't actual pages you can visit. I'd output those with just a simple concat(). That may be the source of the error.

%%[

SET @Phone = '123456789'

]%%
<a href="%%=concat('tel:', @phone)=%%">%%=v(@phone)=%%</a>