Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
They say, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” I'm not entirely sure who “they” are, but in this case I agree with them.
With email, your first impression consists of three parts: the sender or sender name, the subject line, and the preview text. Everyone remembers the “From” name and subject line because your email service provider (ESP) won’t let you send an email without it. But preview text is a completely different situation. And if you forget, you're leaving this part of your first impression up to the whims of your subscriber's email client.
In this post, you'll learn how to take control of your preview text to ensure your email's first impression is flawless.
What the heck is email preview text?
Preview text is the text below or next to the subject line of an email in the inbox that provides additional insight into the content of the email. We use the term “preview text,” but you may find other names for it:
- Gmail calls these snippets
- Apple Mail calls it a preview
- Outlook calls it a message preview
No matter what it's called, this copy is the preview text. Here is an example of what the preview text looks like:
Preview the text in Gmail
Preview text is well supported in all email clients these days (at least those based in the US). Most email clients display the email preview text by default, meaning this is a widely available way to engage with your subscribers and support your subject line.
However, the mechanisms by which email clients retrieve this content depend on the email client itself and the subscriber's inbox settings.
While email clients typically retrieve preview text from the first few lines of text in your email, there are some that retrieve it from an image ALT text. In rare cases, email clients generate preview texts from code such as: Keywords. However, reading code is not as common as it used to be.
Examples of preview text rendering differently in different inboxes
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What does your preview text look like? See what appears by previewing your emails in over 100 email clients, apps and devices with Litmus Email Previews. And make sure you send the perfect preview text for every email in every inbox. Find out more → |
Why is email preview text important?
You only have limited space (and time) to convince subscribers to open your email, so every character counts. How email preview text improves your subscriber experience and increases performance.
Increases open rates
Email preview text allows you to add more context to your subject line, which can increase your email open rates.
Don't you believe us? Run some preview text tests yourself. When Autoplicity started using preview text, Autoplicity saw its open rates increase by almost 8%. And WeddingWire saw a 30% increase in click-through rates through testing.
Email preview text that explains what else is included in the email
Builds anticipation and raises expectations
Your email preview text can build on your subject line to further entice subscribers. For example, if your subject line announces a sale, the preview text might read “Up to 60% off!” or “Now through Friday” to help subscribers better understand what they are seeing in the email.
The subject line reveals an offer, but the preview text suggests more
Improves personalization and relevance
The email preview text is a bit like a note attached to a standard subject line. This means you can lean into that personal feel and add a name or relevant details based on a subscriber's actions.
Strengthens the brand’s voice and message
Is your brand straightforward or playful? Are you joking or talking about statistics? Preview text provides more space to highlight your brand's tone. If you need help getting your point across, Litmus Assistant's AI tone-of-voice editor can help.
The style of your preview text should fit your brand and audience
The difference between preview text and preheader text
What about preheader text? Some marketers use these terms interchangeably, but they are actually two different things.
- The preview text appears in the inbox right after the subject line
- Preheader text is the text that appears above your header area in your email (hence the name preheader).
Example of an email with preheader text “Forecast: Sandals all day, every day.”
In the past, hiding content in your emails was looked down upon and not considered good practice. The preheader text had to be visible in your email to avoid ending up in the spam folder. But as email has evolved, hidden content has become more common and no longer affects your deliverability like it once did.
These days, visible preheaders are much less common because they take up valuable space at the top of your email and typically don't add much value to your design. If you use visible preheader text, make sure it makes sense in your email and in your subject line. If the preheader text only serves as support for your subject line, don't display it in your email.
You can also add hidden preheader text that only appears in the inbox, and then include visible preheader text that matches the email design, like in this abandoned cart email from Rudy's:
Reference: Don't miss out on free shipping
Preview text: Make it easier for us with free shipping
Preheader text: YOUR FREE SHIPPING EXPIRES
Example of an email with preheader text that differs from the preview text. Preheader text: “Your free shipping is about to expire.”
Adding preview text to your email is easy
Adding preview text to your email is pretty easy – let's go step by step.
1. Create your compelling snippet
Do you want your email preview to increase sales? Arouse curiosity? Make subscribers laugh? Your first step is to choose a goal or topic that aligns with the message. Here are some you can try:
- Curiosity: Arouse interest with a question, a cliffhanger, or an exclusive offer teaser.
- Personalization: Use dynamic tags like names or purchase history to make them relevant.
- Call to Action: Gently encourage the recipient to open the email.
Then start writing! AI tools like Litmus Assistant can help you brainstorm options, and your final decision should balance cleverness and clarity. You probably don't want your preview text to leave subscribers scratching their heads and saying, “Huh?”
2. Add preview text via your email tool
The way you add preview text to your email code depends on your email tool and whether you also want clear preheader text.
There is no right or wrong answer here and you can always test methods to see what your audience responds to.
If you want the same text for the email preview and preheader:
You don't need to do anything to insert the preview text into your email if your email design already has a visible preheader or you plan to use the original copy in your email.
First, copy the preview text into your email, including over images or links, to prevent alternative text from appearing in the preview text. You could paste this copy as alt text for each image above your copy, but then you would end up with a duplicate copy and the alt text wouldn't relate to the image, which doesn't benefit accessibility.
If you would like custom preview text:
Many ESPs have a field you can fill out (usually next to the field where you insert your subject line) if you want another snippet of text to appear as the preview text. Adding preview text to these special fields in email tools automatically adds the code to your email.
If your ESP doesn't have a dedicated field for preview text, you can easily add it manually at the top of your code right after
day, something like this:Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
