What is it?

Preview and test let you see how your messages will appear to subscribers before sending them live. You can preview messages with actual subscriber data to validate personalization and ensure everything looks right. For event-driven journeys, you can preview using the exact context of specific subscriber events—like abandoned cart data or purchase history—to validate complex personalization.

Testing lets you send sample messages to real phone numbers or email addresses (or your team) to catch any issues before reaching your full audience.

How do I use it?

Preview and test email messages

Preview an email

1. Click Preview in the email editor.
2. Review the Preview page to see how the email looks on Desktop and Mobile.
3. Toggle between view modes to verify display across devices:

1. Desktop & Mobile: Switch between standard desktop and mobile viewports.
2. Custom Device Previews: Select specific mobile device frames or custom screen dimensions from the dropdown to check how responsive designs break on varying screen sizes.
3. Dark mode: Click Preview dark mode to test how your email renders for subscribers using dark-themed email clients.
4. Review your Email size: Reduce the size of your emails to avoid clipping if larger than 102 KB.

4. Use the arrows next to Preview as to cycle through previews populated with actual values for up to ten different real subscribers.

   When you preview an email as a subscriber, variables resolve using that subscriber’s data. If a variable has a default value and the subscriber’s data is missing, the email uses the default. If no default value is configured, the email isn’t sent to that subscriber.

   Note: Product recommendations don’t support default values. If product data is missing for a product, the email is sent without that product. If all product data is missing, the email isn’t sent to that subscriber. Dynamic images also don’t support default values, so the email isn’t sent when the required product image data is missing. Transactional emails are an exception: unresolved variables resolve to an empty string instead of blocking the send.

5. To preview as a specific person: Click Preview as > A specific subscriber > enter their email address.

Send a test email

1. In the Send this preview to field, type at least one email address.
   • Max 20 recipients per test send.
   • For larger groups: Send in multiple batches, or select Send to all company users.
2. Click Send.

Preview and test text messages

Preview a text message

To preview a text message:

1. Go to the text message in a campaign or draft journey you want to preview
2. Click Preview: default above the message preview

3. Use the dropdown to preview as:
   • A random subscriber
   • A specific subscriber (enter their phone number)
   • A subscriber in a segment
   • A subscriber not in a segment
4. Click Submit to see the resolved message

The preview shows actual subscriber data in place of variables. For example, if the subscriber's first name is Sam, the preview shows "Sam" in place of {{subscriber.firstName}}.

Send a test text message

To send test messages:

1. In the Send this test to field, enter at least one phone number
2. (Optional) Check Send to all company users to send to everyone in your Attentive account
3. Click Send

Important: When you send a test text message to a real phone number, variables and dynamic links appear as-is (e.g., {{subscriber.firstName}}), not resolved. The preview in-app shows resolved values; live messages to subscribers will show personalized data.

Preview and test push notifications

Preview a push notification

Push notifications use the same preview process as text messages:

1. Click Preview options on your push message
2. Toggle Preview as a subscriber to see resolved variables
3. Use the dropdown to select which type of subscriber to preview as
4. Click Submit

Send a test push notification

Push test sends work identically to text:

1. Enter phone number(s) or check Send to all company users
2. Click Send

Key differences from email:

• Text and push test sends show unresolved variable names; email test sends show actual values
• In-app previews (for all channels) show resolved values; test sends to real devices show variable placeholders
• Character count for text messages increases based on resolved macro lengths per subscriber

(Optional) Customize event payload 

For event-driven messages, you can preview how the message renders based on specific event data. This will only appear when the {{triggerEvent.product.name}} macro is present in your message. Edit or manipulate the JSON payload data for the selected event to simulate different scenarios (e.g., testing different product quantities or edge-case variables).

1. Once a subscriber is loaded in the preview, locate the Customize event payload section. 

2. Select a specific event from the list of recent events associated with that subscriber. The preview will immediately re-render using that exact data.
   1. You can test up to 10 events

Why should I use it?

These tools allow you to validate the appearance, links, and complex personalization logic of your messages before sending them. By inspecting subscriber attributes and previewing emails with specific event contexts, you can QA event-driven messages faster without needing to manually trigger events or send numerous test emails.

Important Requirements and Caveats

Review these limitations regarding preview functionality and dynamic data.

Supported Journey Types

Previews and test emails with actual subscriber data are only available for emails in these journey types:

• Added to cart
• Checkout started
• Made a purchase
• Back in stock
• Low inventory
• Price drop
• Order/Shipment status (Confirmed, Shipped, Delivered, Out for Delivery, Canceled)
• Refund status (Failed, Refunded)

Unsubscribe Links

Unsubscribe link functionality varies based on your settings:

• Custom unsubscribe page: Link works as expected in previews and tests.
• Default unsubscribe page: Link may not be clickable or may lead to a 404 error. This only affects previews; live emails will handle the links normally.

Missing Data and Dynamic Variables

• Event Data is Required: You can only preview actual values if event data exists. (e.g., in a cart abandonment journey using {{triggerEvent.product.name}}, you can only preview subscribers who have actually added items to their carts).
• No Event Data = No Values: If no subscribers have event data to populate the dynamic variable, you won't see actual values for any variables (even static ones like {{companyAddress}}).
• How missing data appears: The preview will display <Missing variable.Name>.
• Default Values: If a default value is set (e.g., “friend” if a first name is missing), the preview will show that data is missing, but the live email will send using the default value.
• Missing Product Data: When product data is missing, the email is sent without those specific products. If all product data is missing, the email is not sent.