Preview and test my email campaign before I send it
Preview and test answer different questions.
The prompt
“Show me the exact saved preview for [campaign], then prepare a private test to [account member]. Tell me the version and digest before asking for approval.”
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A preview shows the exact saved email on screen. A test sends one copy to a person on your own Bernard account so you can inspect it in a real inbox. Neither one emails the audience.
Preview the saved version
In Your customers → Email campaigns, open a draft and choose Preview exact email. The preview uses the same strict rendering path as delivery, including the automatic unsubscribe link and the safe greeting used when a contact has no first name.
Each saved draft has a version and digest. The digest is a fingerprint of the exact content you saw. Editing the subject or body creates a new fingerprint, so an earlier preview cannot be used to approve the changed email.
A reusable template has a preview too. Its example values prove that the design and the changeable parts fit together before the template is saved. Those sample values do not become a mailing list or a live campaign. See Send the same kind of email without rebuilding it.
Send one private test
You can do this in two places, and they behave identically.
In Your customers → Email campaigns, a saved draft has a Send me a test button. It shows the current members of your account as a list to choose from, then names the one destination, the saved campaign version and the fingerprint for that version. Approve those exact facts and one email marked Test is sent.
In the Workshop, ask Bernard to prepare a test and he walks the same two steps.
Either way the choice is a list of people already on your account. There is nowhere to type an address, a former account member cannot be used, and the campaign’s audience is untouched. A test does not count towards your monthly sending allowance.
Any member of your account can send a test. Approving the real campaign is still the account owner’s decision.
The audience still needs a separate yes
A successful test proves how one saved version arrived in one inbox. It is not permission to contact the audience. The final send quote adds the exact eligible recipient count, any schedule and the cancellation hold, then asks for a separate approval. Send an email campaign to my audience covers that last step, while How do email campaigns work? shows the whole path.
Questions people ask
- Does opening a preview send anything?
- No. Previewing renders the saved message on screen. It emails nobody and asks for no send approval.
- Who can receive a test email?
- One current member of your Bernard account, chosen from the list Bernard shows. There is nowhere to type an address, in the page or in chat. The test is marked Test and never touches the campaign audience.
- Can I send a test without opening the Workshop?
- Yes. A saved draft under Your customers, Email campaigns has a Send me a test button. It walks the same two steps as chat: choose one member of your account, read the version fingerprint, then approve. Any member of the account can send a test; approving the real campaign still needs the account owner.
- Why is Bernard asking me to preview again?
- An edit changed the saved version or digest, so the older preview no longer proves what will be sent. Preview the new saved version, then approve a test or audience send against that exact fingerprint.
- Does approving a test also approve the campaign?
- No. Test approval covers one message to the named account member. The real audience send has its own later approval with the exact recipient count, timing and cancellation hold.