How to use inbox testing

You will learn

Learn how to use inbox testing directly in Klaviyo. Access Mailgun email testing without leaving your Klaviyo account or managing a separate subscription. 

Inbox testing limits

Your Klaviyo email subscription includes 40 inbox tests per user in your account, per month. A test is counted each time an inbox preview is generated. If you select  5 inboxes to test, this counts as 5 tests. 

For this reason, it’s best to use discretion when choosing which inboxes to test: choose a small handful of inboxes based on your subscriber base. Learn how to see a breakdown of your subscribers’ inboxes. 

Run an inbox test

1. From any email, click Preview & test. 
2. Select Inbox testing.
   
3. Use the Search profiles field to search for a profile to preview with, or switch to the Events tab and select a metric to preview event data. Note that you can only preview event data when configuring an email in a template or a flow. 
   
4. Under Select inbox tests, choose 1 or more inboxes to preview. We recommend choosing a small sample based on the most popular inboxes from your own subscriber base, as there is a limit on the number of previews you can generate each month. Options are grouped within the following expandable menus:
   • Dark mode
   • Mobile
   • Desktop
   • Web
     
     
5. Optional: To save these selections for your next inbox test, select Save selected as default inbox tests.
6. Review your choices, then click Run test. 
7. Wait a few minutes while your previews generate. You can navigate away from the page and return to it, but don’t make any edits to your template while the previews generate, or your previews won’t match the updated version of the template. 
8. Once your previews are ready, click a tile to view it in more detail.
9. Use the arrows to navigate between your previews, or click Back to gallery to return to the gallery view.
   
10. Click Done when you’re finished previewing. 

Troubleshooting inbox discrepancies 

Every inbox interprets HTML a little differently, which can lead to discrepancies in how emails appear. For example, when a recipient has dark mode enabled on their device, the inbox provider may adjust or invert the email’s colors to adhere to a darker color scheme. Learn how to design your emails to accommodate dark mode subscribers. 

Additionally, certain inboxes offer limited support for various HTML elements. Outlook generally has the most limited support, which may impact how your email appears. Fortunately, Outlook generally represents only a small fraction of email recipients. Learn more about emails and Outlook or HTML and CSS support across inboxes.

Additional resources 

• How to create, edit, delete, and manage email templates
• Understanding mobile email optimization
• Understanding performance by email client