This article...
- Explains how the Send Test feature allows you to preview message design, links, sender details, and Global Settings without affecting campaigns.
- Provides step-by-step instructions to send test emails for individual Smart Campaign messages.
- Clarifies what test emails include and exclude, emphasizing safe validation that never enrolls Contacts, trigger criteria, or affect reports.
The Send Test feature for Smart Campaigns lets you email a preview of any individual campaign message to yourself or colleagues so you can confirm how it renders in a real inbox before activating or updating the campaign.
Test sends use the message’s current subject line, content, and Global Settings (including any campaign-level overrides), but they never enroll Contacts, trigger campaign criteria, or affect reporting, giving you a safe way to validate design, links, and branding across your Smart Campaigns.
Why this is useful
- Verify inbox rendering - Ensure fonts, spacing, images, and buttons look right across email clients.
- Check links - Click through CTAs and confirm message links.
- Validate sender and footer details - Confirm from/reply-to, logo, address, and unsubscribe/footer settings are pulling from Global Settings as expected.
- Review copy with SMEs and stakeholders - Share message content with colleagues for feedback on tone, clarity, and calls to action.
- Increase confidence in AI-generated content - Gives you and your colleagues a low-risk way to inspect and fine-tune AI-crafted Smart Campaign messages before they go live.
- Maintain brand consistency - Ensure every Smart Campaign email aligns with organization-wide voice, design, and compliance settings defined in Global Settings.
Send a test email
- Access the Admin Interface in your Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Professional or Thrive Communications account.
- Navigate to Campaigns > Smart Campaigns > List.
- Your account's list of Smart Campaigns are presented. Click one to open its Details page.
- In the campaign workflow area, click the Message step you want to test.
- In the message dialog, click Send Test (top-right).
- In the Send Test dialog, enter (or paste) one or more email addresses. Separate multiple addresses either with commas or spaces. Basic email validation is applied to each address you add.
- Click Send Test.
A "Test email sent successfully" message should display. If not (e.g., invalid address or send failure), a clear error message is displayed so you can correct and retry.
NOTE: Personalization fields may appear blank in test messages. This does not mean they will render incorrectly when campaign messages are "officially" sent.
What the test email includes
Each test email is rendered as closely as possible to what a real recipient will see:
- The message’s current subject line.
- From and Reply To settings and footer details from Smart Campaign Global Settings, including any per‑campaign overrides configured on the campaign’s Details page.
- The current HTML content of the message, including layout, images, and links.
What a test email does not do
Sending a test never interacts with live campaign logic.
It does not:
- enroll any contact in the campaign.
- trigger entry criteria or success criteria.
- update reports or affect campaign progression in any way.
You can safely send as many tests as needed without impacting Contacts or campaign results.