Testing your campaign before sending it to your subscriber list is a key step in the e-mail marketing process.

We recommend using a variety of methods to ensure that the links you add to it work properly, the personalization tags are rendered, the correct conditional content is displayed (if you use it), and that you are generally happy with how it looks in different e-mail clients and on different devices.

In this article, you will learn about the different methods of e-mail testing:

Sending a test version of the campaign allows you to see what the final version of the e-mail looks like from the recipient's perspective and whether its content does not contain errors (e.g. if all links and buttons, when clicked, lead to the correct destination). You can also use this method with multiple team members to see how an e-mail looks on different e-mail clients and devices.

You can conduct a test mailing from the campaign settings and campaign summary.

1. In the campaign editor (regardless of its type: drag&drop, HTML, etc.) click on the gear icon. It is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. In the appropriate field, enter the e-mail address to which you want to send the test message.

3. Click Send Test.

1. In the campaign creator (regardless of its type: drag&drop, HTML, etc.) click the Next button. It is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. In the appropriate field, enter the e-mail address to which you want to send the test message.

3. Click Send Test.

The Desktop view preview lets you see how your e-mail looks on desktop and mobile.

You can access this option from your campaign settings and campaign summary.

1. In the campaign creator (regardless of its type: drag&drop, HTML, etc.) click on the gear icon. It is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click Desktop Preview.

A modal window will appear where you can check how your e-mail is displayed on both desktop and mobile.

1. In the campaign creator (regardless of its type: drag&drop, HTML, etc.) click the Next button. It is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click Desktop Preview.

A modal window will appear where you can check how your e-mail is displayed on both desktop and mobile.

To see what this e-mail will look like for a specific contact, enter the specific e-mail address in the appropriate field at the top right of the screen. Then click Preview. To view the plain text of the e-mail, click the Format menu and click Text.

Message preview in e-mail clients (also known as inbox preview) lets you see how your e-mail will look in the following e-mail clients:

Like the previous options, this one is also available from the campaign settings and campaign summary.

1. In the campaign creator (regardless of its type: drag&drop, HTML, etc.) click on the gear icon. It is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click Email Client Preview.

A modal window will appear where you can check how your e-mail is displayed in the selected e-mail client.

Clicking on Share This in the lower right corner of the screen will generate a link that you can share with any team member.

1. In the campaign creator (regardless of its type: drag&drop, HTML, etc.) click the Next button. It is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click Email Client Preview.

A modal window will appear where you can check how your e-mail is displayed in the selected e-mail client.

Clicking on Share This in the lower right corner of the screen will generate a link that you can share with any team member.

With this option, you can create a copy of your campaign and send it to your test contact list. Make sure you have at least a few different contacts in this test list with different e-mail clients (Yahoo, Gmail, etc.) and that you and/or your team members have access to these e-mail accounts.

Sending your created campaign to a test list allows you and your team members to see how the campaign will look on different e-mail clients and devices. Plus, you can test personalization tags, conditional content, link clicks and actions, buttons, and more. All contact activity (clicks and link opens) is then recorded and available in the Reports section of your account.

If you want to send an automation e-mail to any test contacts, just add them to the automation using the bulk edit tool.

1. Create a copy of the campaign you want to test. To do this, go to the main view of the Campaigns tab. Click the down arrow for the campaign you want to copy, then click Duplicate.

2. A copy of the created campaign will appear at the top of the list of campaigns. Click the Continue button for this campaign.

3. In the List step, select the test list you want to send the campaign to. Make sure no other list is selected besides this one.

4. On the campaign editor page, click Next, and on the campaign summary page, click Send Now to send the campaign to the test list.