Available on the Free plan
The Preview button in the email editor shows you what a real customer will actually receive — their name, their order or cart, and real products — instead of the same example customer every time. It works in flow emails, campaigns and saved templates.
How it works
Click Preview in the email editor toolbar, just before Send test email. A panel opens showing your email filled in with a real customer's data.
Preview renders your current draft, including any unsaved changes. Closing it takes you back to the editor with those changes still there.
Use the desktop and mobile toggle inside Preview to check both layouts.
Choosing which customer you see
How you pick a customer depends on what you're previewing:
Flow emails — Preview opens on the most recent real event that triggered the flow, for example the most recent abandoned checkout or new order. Use the arrows to step through older and newer events; a line under the customer's name shows what triggered the email and when, e.g. Checkout abandoned, Jul 24. There's no search for flow emails, since choosing an event already chooses the customer.
Campaigns and templates — use the Recent | Search toggle. Recent steps through your contacts, newest signup first. Search finds one contact by their full email address — a partial address won't find anyone. On a campaign, you can only preview customers in the campaign's audience; Preview shows how many recipients are in it.
What you might see
Blank sections — if the customer has no value for something, that part of the email shows blank. Nothing is made up. For example, a Welcome email that mentions an order will show a gap, since Welcome emails send before the customer has ordered. The one exception is a blank first name, which shows Hi there, — the same greeting the real email sends.
Sample data — if your store has no activity for that email yet, Preview shows sample data with a banner, e.g. No abandoned checkouts yet. Preview is showing sample data. Preview switches to real data automatically once your store has subscribers, orders or checkouts.
Product blocks — best sellers and random products come from your real catalogue. Products for Customer's last cart come from the chosen customer's own order.
The unsubscribe link — this doesn't work in Preview, on purpose, so previewing an email can't unsubscribe the customer you're looking at.
Personalized text on the canvas — while you're editing, personalized text like
{{ customer.first_name }}shows exactly as you typed it. Click Preview to see it filled in for a real customer. The same applies to flow email thumbnails, campaign previews and template library previews.
Considerations
Preview changes nothing — it sends nothing, saves nothing and records nothing.
Send test email still uses sample data, even when Preview is showing a real customer.
Preview doesn't show emails that have already been sent.
Preview doesn't translate the email into the customer's language.
Preview shows the discount code you've already set on the block — it doesn't generate a new one.
Troubleshoot
Why does the editor show {{ customer.first_name }} instead of a name now?
Why does the editor show {{ customer.first_name }} instead of a name now?
That's exactly what you typed, and it's what gets replaced when the email sends. Click Preview to see the email with a real customer's data in it.
Why is part of my email blank in Preview?
Why is part of my email blank in Preview?
Because that customer has no value for it. Preview shows you exactly what that customer would receive, gaps included, rather than making something up.
Why did my test email arrive with different details than Preview showed?
Why did my test email arrive with different details than Preview showed?
Send test email always uses sample data — we don't send a real customer's details to a test inbox, even when Preview is showing a real customer.
Why can I only preview certain customers on a campaign?
Why can I only preview certain customers on a campaign?
A campaign preview is restricted to the audience the campaign sends to, so you're always previewing someone who will actually receive it.
Does opening Preview send anything or change my email?
Does opening Preview send anything or change my email?
No. Preview only reads your data — it sends nothing, saves nothing and changes nothing.
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