Preview personalization

If you use personalization in your subject line or email, you can use the personalization test in the content builders to preview the way it renders. For this function to work correctly, you must attach a contact source to the email.

1. Open the email.
2. Click the Preview tab.
3. In Preview, click Test with Contact.
4. Enter an email address from the contact source that is attached to the email to test personalization.
5. Click Test. The subject line area changes from the personalization text, such as %%NAME%%, to the content of your personalization field within your contact source, such as the name field. Your email will also render the personalized values.

Preview dynamic content

Preview your dynamic content to see how each rule will display to your contacts. You can view the dynamic content without providing a contact.

1. In Preview, click the Preview Dynamic Content icon.
2. Select the rule from the Rules drop-down list.
3. Click Refresh to see the selected rule that is applied in the email template. The preview shows the default rule content.
4. Choose a different rule and click Refresh. The content changes again to match the new rule.

Test personalization with a specific contact

You can also send a test email to show how personalization looks for a specific contact.

1. In the email, click Test Options > Normal Test.
2. On the Test Settings page, select Individual Email Addresses.
3. For Use Different Contact Source for Testing Personalization, click On.

Alternatively, select a contact source and enter the email address of a contact who is in that contact source.

Personalization in your email is populated as if the email is directed to that contact, however, the system sends the test email to the Individual Email Addresses (or Contact Source) that are provided in Select Test Recipients.

For more information about test settings, see Test your email.

Note: If you click links in a test email, you might change that contact's status. For example, if you click the opt-out link, that contact is opted-out.

Use live emails to test dynamic content

As a best practice, you should use live emails to test dynamic content. While you can certainly test dynamic content with a test email, there are some limitations and certain features (such as personalized links or click-to-view in the browser content) might not preview correctly.

Note: Quick tests will not show personalization.

We recommend that you create a query from the database that you can use for the email. Include your email address and the email address of some colleagues and send a regular email using this query.

Troubleshooting personalization

There are several reasons why the personalization in your email may not behave as expected:

Contact data is missing from the field.

To resolve this issue, set a default value to avoid sending an email with the name of the field instead of the value that is listed as the personalization.

You changed the contact list field names after you set the personalization in the content builder.

Personalization isn't available if there is no list present in the recipient field of the email summary.

You used Test Personalization and the personalization in the email is visible but the personalization in the tracked links and in the Click to View link are not present.

To resolve this issue, when you test personalization, make the links "untracked". Then, make sure to switch back to "tracked" before you send the email.

You send a test email to individuals instead of to a contact source. When you previewed the personalization in a template that has a flexible database as the contact source or the parent contact source, unexpected values displayed in the personalization fields.

To resolve this issue, send a live email to a query that contains a sample set of contacts.