You know the expression, "What you see is what you get"?
Well, when it comes to email marketing campaigns, that might not always be the case.
Since everyone uses different email providers such as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo, emails can appear differently for various subscribers.
Sometimes images are blocked, alt text is missing, or fonts won't render. If this happens, you could damage your credibility and lose subscribers.
Regardless of the email provider, more than 50 percent of U.S. respondents check their personal email account more than 10 times a day, and it is by far their preferred way to receive updates from brands.
That's why it's important to make sure that you test your emails before you send them.
In this post, we'll discuss the best free and paid email preview tools you can use to make sure your emails look great on every provider.
1. HubSpot Free Email
With HubSpot's free email marketing software, you can preview your HubSpot emails in more than 30 different email clients.
This email preview tool will check for missing images, colorblind accessibility, personalization tokens, or even RSS-to-Email campaigns.
One of the main benefits of this tool is that it's combined with your email marketing software. This means you don't have to leave your email builder to preview your email.
You can create beautiful emails without a designer, while also testing your emails.
2. SubjectLine.com
Testing the visual design of your emails is important. However, don't forget to preview your actual content as well.
With SubjectLine.com, you can test your subject lines and receive a free rating out of 100. The tool considers the total length, word length, urgency, and more.
Word choice matters in your subject lines and this tool will help you come up with more clickable subjects so your readers are more likely to open.
3. Mail Ninja
Mail Ninja is a free, easy-to-use, uncluttered email preview tool. With this tool, you can see instant previews of your HTML emails.
Additionally, you can double-check your alt text, send test emails, and see how your email will look on different devices.
If you don't trust or want to use a different preview tool than your email marketing software, this is a simple, free option.
4. Inbox Analyzer
Inbox Analyzer, another free email preview tool, helps take the pain out of inbox and spam testing your emails.
You can send your emails to the most popular inbox providers to see how they appear and if they even deliver. This tool will let you know if your email hits the inbox, spam folder, or is undelivered.
Additionally, you'll also receive instant reports on your sender scores, reputation alerts, and even blacklists.
With this tool, you'll be able to find issues and learn how to resolve them.
5. Putsmail
Putsmail is a free email testing tool by Litmus, a popular email marketing software (more on this below).
With Putsmail, you can see how your email will look across 50+ different platforms and devices. This is a great tool if you're just looking for a quick and easy way to preview your emails.
1. Get Response
Get Response is an email marketing software that can help you create content, boost sales, and increase traffic to your site.
While they used to have a separate email preview tool, Inbox Inspector, now you can preview your emails right in the email marketing software.
If you use the software, you can preview your email in more than 25 popular email clients. With their preview tool, you can see real email previews, even when images are blocked.
This is a great option if you're looking for an all-in-one, paid tool.
2. Litmus
Litmus is a tool for email marketers to help them test and develop amazing email campaigns. With a paid account, you'll gain access to an email preview testing tool that allows you to see screenshots of your emails across 90+ different apps and devices.
Additionally, if you have a Litmus account, you can add a Chrome extension to your browser and test your emails without ever leaving your email service provider.
With the extension, you can validate your links, images, and tracking. Plus, the extension will instantly run a new checklist with every edit.
This is a great tool to enhance your email marketing and ensure your subscribers have a great experience.
3. Email Preview Services
Email Preview Services is a popular email testing tool that will let you see exactly what your customers are seeing.
With a quick test, you'll get an accurate visual, so you know if your emails have any rendering issues.
Additionally, this tool offers other email testing tools such as inbox, spam, and authentication testing.
This is a great option if you're looking for a cheaper email preview tool.
4. Preview My Email
Preview My Email is another email testing solution that can help you improve your performance.
With this tool, you'll get real screenshots of your email across all the popular email providers in one click.
Additionally, this tool offers email analytics that can help you understand your audience better.
5. Email on Acid
Email on Acid is an email preview tool that's designed to help you display emails properly, across all clients.
The email previews are live clients -- not emulations -- so you'll see exactly what your subscribers see.
This tool will give you screenshots so you have no questions about what your email will look like on 90 clients and devices.
Additionally, this tool tests for bad formatting, broken links, and code problems.
However, one of the best features is the ability to comment, edit, and review email previews directly in the software for a faster and more efficient testing process.
Previewing your emails is an important part of email marketing. If people can't see your emails or your credibility is ruined, those emails haven't done their job. To properly test your emails, give yourself time, and test your templates frequently.