How to preview and send test emails in Klaviyo

Learn how to preview and test emails in Klaviyo using the current template editor so you can confirm layout, personalization, and inbox rendering before you send.

You will learn

This article covers how to preview an email in the current template editor, how to check personalization with a real profile or event, how to send tests when you need a more realistic rendering check, and how to share a preview link with reviewers who don't use Klaviyo.

Before you begin

The exact preview options available depend on what you are editing: an email template, a campaign email, or a flow email. Event data is only available when the message supports event-based personalization.

Preview an email in the template editor

1. Open the email you want to review in Klaviyo’s template editor.
2. Click Preview in the top-right corner.
3. Use the Desktop and Mobile toggles to check the layout in each view. If Mobile is unavailable, return to the editor and turn on Optimize for mobile in the Styles settings.
4. Review the message content, links, images, spacing, and any conditional content. Click Done to return to the editor.

Preview personalization with a real profile or event

A layout preview only shows part of the picture. If your email uses personalization, preview it with real data before you send.

• For templates, campaigns, and flows that are not triggered by an event, use Search profiles to choose a real profile so you can see how profile-based variables render.
• For flow emails that support event data, use the arrows to choose a recent event so you can confirm event-based variables render correctly. The preview uses the profile associated with that event.
• For reusable email templates, you can also select Event under Preview data source, choose a metric, and use the arrows to preview a recent event. This lets you check event content before using the template in an event-triggered flow.
• If the preview does not look right, verify that the selected profile or event actually contains the data referenced in your message.

Send a test email

Use a test send when you want to see how the message renders in an actual inbox. This is the best way to check spacing, fonts, and client-specific rendering before a live send.

1. From the email editor, click Preview and select the profile or event you want to test with.
2. Under Send a preview using a profile, enter your email address and press Enter. To add teammates, enter each address, or paste several addresses separated by commas.
3. Optional: select Save email addresses as default test recipients to reuse these addresses.
4. Click Send test, then check the message in each recipient’s inbox.

All test recipients see the personalization for the profile or event selected in the preview, rather than their own profile data.

• Preview emails are useful for inbox rendering checks, but unsubscribe, manage-preferences, and view-in-browser links use placeholders.
• If you need to validate live links, unsubscribe behavior, or other send-time behavior, use a live test instead of relying only on preview.

Share a preview link with reviewers

Create a shareable preview link to get feedback on a campaign or flow email from people who don't have a Klaviyo login, like a client, a manager, or a legal reviewer. You choose up to 10 email addresses that can open the link, and reviewers always see the latest saved version of the email.

Shareable preview links are available for campaign and flow emails built in the drag-and-drop editor, including A/B test variations. Each email or variation has its own link.

1. Open the campaign or flow email in the drag-and-drop editor, then click Preview.
2. In Create a shareable preview link, enter each reviewer's email address and press Enter. You can add up to 10 addresses, or paste several at once separated by commas.

3. Click Generate URL. Klaviyo creates the link and copies it to your clipboard.
4. Send the link to your reviewers. To copy it again later, click Copy URL.

What reviewers see

When a reviewer opens the link, they enter one of the email addresses on your list and click View preview. They don't need to sign in to Klaviyo.

The preview page shows the email's subject line and preview text above the email.

• Personalization shows each tag's default value instead of a real profile's data. For example, {{ first_name|default:"there" }} shows "there." To check personalized content, preview the email with a profile or event as described above.
• Unsubscribe, manage preferences, and view in browser links don't work in the shared preview, and opens aren't tracked.
• The shared page displays the email in a browser. To check how it renders in specific inboxes, send a test email or use inbox testing.
• If the address entered isn't on your list, or the link has expired or been deleted, the reviewer sees an error and the email doesn't load. If the email itself was deleted, the page says the email is no longer available.

Manage a shared link

The link expires 7 days after you create it. The expiration date appears below the buttons. Adding or removing an email address saves your list right away and keeps the same URL and expiration date. The list needs at least 1 address while the link is active.

To stop sharing, click Delete link. The link stops working right away. If you then click Generate URL again, Klaviyo creates a new link with a different URL, so send the new link to your reviewers.

Share the link only with your intended reviewers. The preview page checks that the address entered is on your list, but it doesn't verify that the person owns that email address.

Share inbox-test previews

To share how your email renders in specific inboxes, run an inbox test and share the resulting preview link.

1. In Preview, select Inbox testing, choose the inboxes you want to check, and click Run test. Wait for the previews to finish generating.
2. In Share preview link, turn on Enable sharing.
3. Click the Copy link icon and send the link to your reviewers. Anyone with the link can view the preview without signing in to Klaviyo.

The sharing link lasts up to 7 days. Check the expiration shown beside it. It stops working if you disable sharing or run a new inbox test for the same email. Previewers can see all the versions of the message you selected when you ran the inbox test.

Preview email limits

Each recipient of a test email counts toward your account’s monthly preview email limit. For example, sending 1 test to 3 addresses uses 3 preview emails.

Shareable preview links don't send email, so they don't count toward this limit.

Monthly email preview limits are based on your email plan. The limits below depend on whether your email plan is free, automatically billed, or manually billed, and on its monthly email sending allowance.

Accounts in an account family share the parent account’s preview email allowance.

To see your current billing plan:

1. Click your account name in the bottom-left corner of Klaviyo.
2. Select Billing.
3. Open Overview and find your plan’s monthly email sending allowance under Profiles + email or the Emails card.

For example, an automatically billed paid email plan for 5,001–5,500 profiles with a monthly sending allowance of 55,000 emails allows 5,500 preview emails per month.

Send a live campaign to a preview list

If you need the most realistic possible check for a campaign email, send the message to a small internal preview list.

1. Create an internal list for reviewers.
2. Add yourself and any teammates who should review the email.
3. Clone the campaign in the same account to keep the original for your audience.
4. In the cloned campaign, select only your internal preview list as the recipients. Check that no customer lists or segments remain selected, then review and send the campaign.

A live test is the best option when you need to verify send-time behavior that does not fully appear in preview mode.

Test across inboxes

If you have a paid Klaviyo account and are concerned about how your email renders across devices and clients, use Klaviyo’s built-in inbox testing, in partnership with Mailgun. This is especially helpful for image-heavy layouts or messages with more complex formatting. Learn how to use inbox testing with Klaviyo.

Mobile optimization relies on media queries. Apple Mail for iOS supports them, while Gmail for iOS and Android and some versions of Samsung Email for Android have limitations. Learn more about support for media queries.

Even with inbox testing, review both desktop and mobile versions of the message in the editor before you send.

Additional resources