A preheader is the top section of an email; it is the initial piece of your mailing that your recipients will see. While this area is often populated with substantive text, such as “Click here to download images,” it's typically better to include something more inviting.

Preheaders and why you should use them

When recipients look at your mailing, they'll see your sender address and subject line. The preheader is an additional tool that works alongside these elements to create a stronger allure. Think of your preheader as an extension of your subject line in the inbox. It is both a first impression and a preview that occupies a valuable location in your message.

Below is an example of a preheader on a mobile device:

You will typically use a preheader for two reasons:

Marketing - A preheader lets you include additional elements that will draw your recipients into a mailing.
Preview - A preheader also gives recipients a sense of what is to come within a mailing.

Where does a Preheader live?

A preheader will live in the HTML code of your mailing – typically a bit below the <head> tags. You may also want to include a preheader as a Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Professional (Thrive Marketing Professional) location code at the top of your template.

Nuances

Preheaders, while quite useful, are not foolproof, and there are some nuances you must be aware of when using them. For example, many email clients do not recognize or display preheaders. Similarly, if you are not conscious of your content, you may find yourself with HTML text in the preheader instead (i.e., an email client might parse the code rather than the message).

Ultimately, failing to understand these nuances could be detrimental (e.g., you could end up placing unwanted content in your subject line).

Create a Preheader template story location

One of the best ways to add a preheader is to create a table row (<tr>) at the top of your first content table.

NOTE: Your content doesn't have to reside in a table to use a preheader. As long as the first piece of viewable text within the code is the preheader content, it will appear as a preheader. With that said, because tables make it easy to organize content, let’s walk through the steps to create a preheader in an existing template that uses this format.

HTML version

Navigate to Mailings > Templates > View.
Hover over the menu icon next to your desired template and select HTML to access the editor.

In the editor, make sure that you navigate to the first available table row (use the provided breadcrumbs to help locate this row).

Right click in the selection and click Row > Paste row before.

A new, blank row will be added to the top of the content table.
Enter the following location code into the new row: %%LOC(PREHEADER)%%
Click Update. The preheader location code will now be part of your HTML template.

Text version

There is one additional step you will need to take to complete your preheader process: Adding the location code to the text version of the template.

Navigate to Mailings > Templates > View.
Hover over the menu icon next to your desired template and select Text to access the text editor.

Enter the following location code as the first piece of content in the text version: %%LOC(PREHEADER)%%

Click Update.
The preheader location code will now be part of your HTML template.

Create Preheaders in TD2/MD2

See Create a Preheader (TD2) to learn how to add a preheader in TD2
See Create a Preheader (MD2) to learn how to add a preheader in MD2