Overview
Launching a campaign with Element451 means harnessing powerful features designed to tailor and personalize each message, ensuring students, parents, counselors, and every recipient get the right message at the right time.
We want you to send your Campaign with confidence, knowing every element is crafted to connect and engage. That's why we've built these tools for you to test and preview your Campaign:
Send a test of your email, SMS, or both to an individual or a Segment
Preview personalized versions, so you see what the recipient sees
Copy and share a public preview link to receive feedback
Test vs. Preview
A test allows you to send a real version of your Campaign to a designated email address or cell phone number. This step is important to get an idea of how your message will appear in your recipients' inboxes, ensuring all elements like subject lines, content, and links function properly. It's your final check before the actual send-off, letting you catch any errors or make last-minute tweaks.
On the other hand, a preview is more about visual verification within the Campaign builder itself. It gives you a snapshot of how your content looks, but it doesn't fully simulate the email recipient's experience. Previews are instant and helpful for quick checks during the editing process, allowing you to spot formatting issues or content placement errors without sending the actual email or SMS.
Email Renderings in Outlook
To learn about the limitations of Outlook when it comes to displaying campaign emails to your recipients, check out this article.
Sending a Test Campaign
This tool allows you to send a test email, SMS, or both to either:
A single recipient by entering their details directly, or
To a pre-configured Segment of test users for broader testing (for help creating a segment, click here).
Important Considerations: Send Test to Individual or Segment
Using the direct input method is a great tool to use as you iterate Campaigns and want to send yourself (or someone else) a quick test to review formatting to see how it looks. However, this method of testing won't populate token values.
To fully test token functionality, opt for Send to Segment, ensuring the Segment includes users with relevant data for those tokens.
If you are testing an SMS campaign with an attachment, use the Send to Segment option to view the attachment.
How to Send a Test
With your Campaign open, click the blue Test button in the top right corner.
Select Channels: If your Campaign utilizes email and SMS channels, you will be prompted to select which channel you wish to test. If you are sending to both, we recommend testing both.
Send to Segment: Select if you wish to send to a test Segment. For example, you may have a Segment created for your team for testing purposes. Be sure to read our considerations when deciding to send the test to an individual or test segment.)
Yes: If you choose to send to a Segment, you will be prompted to select the segment.
No: If you choose not to send to a Segment, you will be prompted to enter the recipient's email address (for testing email Campaigns) and/or the recipient's phone number (for testing SMS Campaigns). Each field supports sending the Test to one person.
When entering a phone number, include a country code. When testing, including the country code (i.e., +1 for US numbers) is essential. This is especially true when testing MMS messages, as the deliverability of portions of your message could be impacted.
To run the Test, click Test in the top right corner.
When finished, click the X in the top left corner to close out and return to your Campaign.
Public Preview Link (Email + SMS)
The Public Preview Link is a shareable URL accessible by anyone with the link; logging into Element451 is not required.
When viewing the public preview, viewers can:
Toggle between email and SMS previews (if using both channels)
Download a .HTML file (emails)
Preview the Campaign from a desktop or mobile device format (emails)
View the default version only (if using personalized versions)
There are two ways to access and copy the public preview link for a Campaign:
Option 1 (Easiest + Preferred)
Open your Campaign.
In the heading, under the Campaign name, click Preview.
Share the URL.
Option 2
Because you will access the link in the Configure Email section, this option only works if you are using the email channel for your Campaign. Note: The URL will be the same as option 1, so if you use SMS, it will still be included.
Open your Campaign.
Click edit
in the top right corner of the Campaign header.
Scroll down to the Configure Email section.
Click on the Preview tab in the right corner of the email editor.
Click the link icon in the top left corner of the email editor.
Share the URL.
Preview Versions (Email)
If you have multiple versions of your email message, you can preview the different versions in the Configure Email section when the Campaign is open and in edit mode.
Open your Campaign.
Click edit
in the top right corner of the Campaign header.
Scroll down to the Configure Email section.
Click on the Preview tab in the right corner of the email editor.
Click the person icon in the top left corner of the email editor.
To preview how the email will appear for different people, choose an audience or select an individual.
Preview Versions (SMS)
If you have multiple versions of your SMS message, you can preview the different versions in the Configure SMS section when the Campaign is open and in edit mode.
Open your Campaign.
Click edit
in the top right corner of the Campaign header.
Scroll down to the Configure SMS section.
Next to Outbound Phone Number or SMS Text, use the Version dropdown to select the Version you wish to preview. The preview will be generated on the right side in the gray box.
