How to preview and send test emails in Klaviyo

You will learn

Learn about all the ways to preview and test drag-and-drop emails in Klaviyo, so you can be confident in how your email will appear in each recipient’s inbox.

After you design a new email, there are several ways to preview and test how your email will look when sent live:

• Preview in Klaviyo
• Send a preview email
• Send a live campaign to a preview list
• Test your email with a third-party tool

Keep in mind that the options available when previewing will depend on whether your email was created as an email template, a flow email, or a campaign.

If you are interested in previewing how your email will render across different email clients and devices, skip to the Testing with a third-party tool section.

This article covers previewing drag-and-drop emails in Klaviyo. If you are previewing an HTML email: 

1. Navigate to the HTML editor. 
2. Click Preview Email. 
3. Under Choose a different person:, type an email and select the profile you'd like to preview as. 
4. Click Preview Now. 

How to preview an email in Klaviyo

To preview a campaign or a list-, segment-, or date-triggered flow email: 

1. Navigate to the email template editor for a template; a campaign; or a list-, segment-, or date-triggered flow email. 
2. Click Preview and test from the template editor. 
   
3. Click Search for a profile and enter the email of a profile that includes the variable you’d like to add. 
4. Preview the message in Klaviyo’s previewer or click Send Test to send a test to your inbox.
5. Click Done to return to the editor.

To preview an event-triggered flow email: 

1. Navigate to the email template editor for an event-triggered flow email. 
2. Click Preview and test from the template editor. 
   
3. Under Preview data source, click Event.
4. Select an event from the dropdown.
5. If needed, use the arrows to the right of Previewing with recent event: to preview different instances of the event.
6. Preview the message in Klaviyo’s previewer or click Send Test to send a test to your inbox.
7. Click Done to return to the editor.

While previewing the email in Klaviyo’s preview modal, you have a few previewing options: 

• Desktop/Mobile
  Toggle between desktop and mobile views of your message.
• Preview data source
  Choose between previewing with Profile data (for emails sent as campaigns or list-, segment-, or date-triggered flows) or Event data (for metric-triggered flows).
• Send Test
  Use this button to send an email to your own inbox.

Sending a preview email will allow you to test how an email will render when viewed in your own inbox. Keep in mind, however, that message variables (such as manage preferences and unsubscribe links) and dynamic coupons will not render in previews, rather than functional links or coupons. Klaviyo will also not apply Google Analytics tracking variables or click tracking to links in a preview email. 

You can send previews to multiple email addresses by separating the addresses with a comma. 

Preview email limits

Email preview limits are applied per account relative to your email billing plan. Preview limits vary based on the total number of profiles covered by your plan. 

To see your current billing plan: 

1. Click your account name in the bottom-left corner of Klaviyo. 
2. Select Billing. 
3. Scroll down to the Profiles + email section and note your plan size. 

For any plans over 500 contacts, your preview limit is based on your plan size. For example, if your plan accounts for 5,001-5,500 contacts, then your total permitted number of emails is 55,000. This means your email preview limit is 5,500 emails. 

Sending a live campaign to a preview list

When you send a preview email using the template editor's preview tool, message variables (such as manage preferences and unsubscribe links) and dynamic coupons will not render previews, rather than live links or coupons. Klaviyo will also not apply Google Analytics tracking variables or click tracking to links in a preview email. If you are interested in testing how these will appear and function in your email, we recommend sending a live test email.

1. Create a new list titled "Preview" (or similar).
2. Use the Quick Add button to add yourself or members of your team.
   
3. Ensure your new email is saved as a template if you did not design your email directly in the Email Templates tab.
4. Create a new campaign by navigating to Campaigns > Create Campaign.
5. Name the campaign.
6. Choose your preview list under Send to.
7. Click Continue to Content.
8. Configure your message details, including a subject line and from address. 
9. Navigate to Drag and Drop > My Templates.
10. Choose the template you want to preview.
11. Click Continue to Review > Schedule and Send.

The email you receive will contain live links, and will provide an accurate preview of what your contacts will see when they receive the same message.

Testing with a third-party tool

If you are concerned about how your email design will render across different email clients and devices, using a third-party email testing tool can help.

We recommend exploring the use of a tool like Litmus, which offers a free trial as well as monthly paid plans. You can also search for free alternatives that allow you to test and preview how your emails will look when viewed by recipients using different email clients and devices.

While it isn't always possible to optimize an email design for all email clients and devices, understanding the differences in how emails render can be useful as you test different variations.

Mobile optimization relies on media queries, which are fully supported by Apple Mail for Android and iOS and Samsung Email for Android, and partially supported by Gmail for iOS and Android and other mobile email apps. Learn more about support for media queries.

Additional resources

• How to test and preview flow emails
• How to use the preview panel for message personalization
• Understanding why some preview emails go to spam 
• My email looks different when viewed in Microsoft Outlook