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Why send a sample?

The editor’s preview is faithful, but nothing beats the real thing: your actual mail client, your actual dark mode, your actual spam filter. Send Sample delivers one copy of an email — or an email template — to any address you choose, so you can look it over in a real inbox before a blast or flow sends it to people who matter.

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Where to find it

The same dialog is available wherever you work with emails and templates. For emails:
  • Email editor — the Send Sample button in the top bar, next to Approve.
  • Emails list — select an email, then choose Send Sample from the Email Actions dropdown.
  • Email details page — the Email Actions dropdown, top-right.
A screenshot of the email editor's top-bar controls showing the Send Sample button between Preview as and Approve. A screenshot of the Email Actions dropdown on the Emails list with a Send Sample item. For templates:
  • Template editor — the Send Sample button in the top bar.
  • Templates list — select a template, then choose Send Sample from the Template Actions dropdown.
Reviewing an old version in Generation History? The history toolbar has its own Send Sample — it opens the dialog with that generation pre-selected. This works in both the email and template editors.

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Send a sample

  1. Send to — enter any email address. It doesn’t need to belong to a contact.
  2. Version — defaults to the latest generation. Pick any past generation from the dropdown; your approved version is marked Approved.
  3. Personalize as contact (optional) — search by name, email, or phone — or paste a contact ID — and personalization tokens render with that contact’s real values. The sample still goes only to the Send to address, never to the contact.
A screenshot of the Send Sample Email dialog with a recipient field, a version picker showing the latest generation, an optional contact personalization search, and a note that the subject is prefixed with TEST. Without a contact, tokens render the way they would for a contact with no data: defaults like {{contact.firstName:default=there}} kick in, and everything else renders blank. Click Send Sample, and go check the inbox.

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Drafts welcome

Samples work for drafts and approved emails alike — no need to approve first. Two things to know:
  • If a draft doesn’t have a from address yet, the sample falls back to your workspace’s default email headers.
  • A verified sending domain is still required. Samples travel the same delivery pipeline as real sends — that’s what makes them a meaningful test — so an unverified domain blocks them too. See Setting Up Email.

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Sampling a template

Templates don’t send to audiences, but a sample is a great way to check how one renders in a real inbox before your team builds emails on top of it. Since a template only carries optional default headers, the sample resolves its subject and sender in two steps:
  1. The template’s own defaults — default subject, from name, from address, and reply-to — are used wherever you’ve set them.
  2. Your workspace’s default email headers fill in anything left blank.
If neither the template nor your workspace defaults provide a from address, the send is blocked until you add one. Everything else — personalization tokens, sender-profile tokens, the version picker — works exactly as it does for email samples.

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How a sample differs from a real send

A sample is built to match a real send as closely as possible — same footer, same link handling, same rendering. The differences:
  • The subject is prefixed with “TEST: ” so nobody mistakes it for the real thing.
  • Opens and clicks are never recorded. Links are still rewritten through your click-tracking domain — so you can verify they work end to end — but nothing ever shows up in a results dashboard.
  • The unsubscribe link is inert. It’s present and clickable, but leads to a page explaining that unsubscribe is not supported for sample emails. Clicking it never unsubscribes anyone.
  • Nothing is counted. Samples don’t count toward your send usage, and they never appear in campaign metrics.

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What’s next?

Ready for a real audience?

Pick a list, pick a time, and launch your first email blast.