How to Send a Test Email in Mailchimp

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

Learn how to create and send a test email using Mailchimp before sending a final version to your email subscribers.

[Featured Image] A women working on her laptop at home, is sending a test email in mailchimp for a marketing project.

Mailchimp is an online digital marketing platform that allows you to send out emails and newsletters from your organization or business to your email subscribers as well as other recipients. Mailchimp has various layouts for you to design and craft an email as part of your digital marketing campaign with the intent of getting recipients to open the email and click through to a landing page you want them to visit.

Before you send out an official email on behalf of your company or business, you may want to do a test to ensure everything looks right and the attached links are functioning properly. Additionally, not all email browsers operate and display information similarly, so a test is important to ensure everything looks good on the recipient's end. To do so, you’ll need to send a test email to yourself to view the contents of the email you intend to send. Once you’ve done that, you can modify the email until you deem it ready to send to your recipients.

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How to send a test email in Mailchimp

Sending a test email in Mailchimp requires you to design the email to your liking. Mailchimp offers a preview feature that allows you to view what the email would look like in an example email browser. However, it is still best to send a test email to yourself to ensure everything carries over in your specific browser.

Here's a summary of the steps you'll follow to send a test email in Mailchimp:

  1. Design your email on Mailchimp.

  2. View the preview to see what your email will look like on mobile and desktop.

  3. Access the attached links in the email to ensure they’re not broken.

  4. Choose an email address as the test email recipient.

  5. Send a test email to said address and view it from your email account.

Let’s take a closer look at each step.

1. Design your email on Mailchimp.

You can use Classic Builder (Mailchimp’s default format) or its New Builder beta feature when designing your email. Both operate similarly, but New Builder has additional functions. 

When creating an email in Classic Builder, follow these steps:

  1. Pick template: Choose a template to design your email. Mailchimp offers many layout options, including templates that focus on selling a product, making an announcement, or operating as a newsletter. You have the option to switch templates anytime throughout the process.

    [Body image] A screenshot of a Mailchimp template selection page highlights three featured email templates: "Sell Products," "Make an Announcement," and "Tell A Story," each with a brief description.

  2. Add content: Choose content blocks to fill out the template. You can fill the space with images, text blocks, buttons, and other elements.

  3. Remove conflicting styles: If you added additional content blocks, use the Clear Styles button to ensure conflicting styles do not exist within your template. To do this, click the content block and select the Clear Styles button near the text options.

  4. Save design: To use your design in the future, you can save it as a template by clicking the Save and exit drop-down menu and selecting Save as a Template.

The next four steps are your route if you use Classic Builder.

2. View preview.

Before you send a test email, Mailchimp allows you to switch to Preview mode, allowing you to view the email as if you are the recipient. With this function, you'll test your images before using one of your free test emails. To do this, select the preview drop-down and choose Enter preview mode

[Body image] A screenshot of a Mailchimp "Preview" menu with the user's cursor highlighting the "Enter preview mode" option.

Check the following once you’ve entered Preview mode:

  1. Preview on desktop and mobile: Check your email on both desktop and mobile to see how it looks on both devices. Once in Preview mode, you can select Desktop and Mobile to see the different layouts of your email.

  2. Preview subject line: Click Header Info to preview the email addresses of the recipients and the sender, as well as the subject line and preview text that appears when the email is in a recipient’s inbox. If any information is incorrect, you can fix it once you exit Preview mode.

  3. Exit Preview mode: When you’re ready to exit Preview mode, click the X button in the corner of the page to return to your email template. From there, you can make any necessary changes to your email before sending it out.

3. Check the links.

After exiting Preview mode, you can use the same preview drop-down menu to check the function of your links. Select Open Link Checker (only available in Classic Builder) in the preview drop-down and go to Link Details, allowing you to click the link URL and see if it takes you to the intended destination. If the link isn’t working properly or the URL is incorrect, now would be the time to fix it.

[Body image] A screenshot of a Mailchimp "Link Details" section shows the URL for a Facebook page and the user's cursor over the "Edit link" button.

4. Choose an email address

You can send a test email after checking your links and loading Preview mode. The first step is to choose an email address to send the test.

[Body image] Screenshot of a Mailchimp "Send a test" window, the user's cursor on the "Send a test to" email field.

5. Send out the test email.

Once you’ve chosen an email address, use the same preview drop-down as before and choose to send a test email. It will prompt you to type in the chosen email address, and once you’ve done that, you can click the Send a test email button.​​

[Body image] Screenshot of a close-up of a user's cursor on the "Send test email" option on Mailchimp.

Next, you’ll find what you need if you use New Builder to send a test email in Mailchimp.

Mailchimp’s Classic Builder vs. New Builder

Mailchimp allows new users to create and send a test email with either the Classic Builder or New Builder. The New Builder’s features include a form for collecting feedback from your email audience, making edits quickly using the redo and undo editing functions, and integrating third-party platforms.

When designing your email, you can use either Classic Builder or New Builder. However, you can switch back to Classic Builder anytime if you choose the latter.

The primary difference when sending a test email in New Builder mode is where the drop-down to send a test email is located. Instead of clicking the preview drop-down, you can select the drop-down near the Save and exit button. From there, the process will be the same.

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Troubleshooting Mailchimp

If your images aren’t loading in the preview or test email, ensure they’re uploaded properly to Mailchimp. To do this, check:

  • The image size to ensure that it isn’t too large and meets Mailchimp’s requirements

  • Your browser meets the minimum system requirements

  • The image file name is written correctly

  • The image is not on a password-protected site

Limitations and alternatives 

On your Mailchimp account, you’re allotted a specific number of free test emails per campaign before you have to start paying for additional ones. Mailchimp’s current free plan allows 12 emails per campaign or 24 within 24 hours to six recipients. The current paid plan grants you access to more test emails, allowing you to send 70 per email and 200 within 24 hours to 20 different recipients [1].

Getting started on Coursera

If you’re interested in starting a career in digital marketing, consider the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate on Coursera. Learn the skills to build a digital platform and market your business online.

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professional certificate

Strategic Leadership: Impact, Change, and Decision-Making

Become a Better Business Leader Today. Using Professor Sydney Finkelstein's renowned research into the art and science of leadership and years of experience working with managers and executives around the world, this specialization will help you build the wisdom and skills you need to grow and change as a leader—and as a person.

4.9

(478 ratings)

17,515 already enrolled

Beginner level

Average time: 2 month(s)

Learn at your own pace

Skills you'll build:

Career Fulfillment, Self Awareness, reflection, Personal Development, Decision-Making, Strategic Leadership, Management, Learning How To Learn, Leadership Development, Change Management, Learning, Learning from Failure, Growth Strategies, People Development, Leadership And Management, Influencing

Article sources

  1. Mailchimp. "About Test Email Sending Limits, https://mailchimp.com/help/about-test-email-sending-limits/." Accessed February 3, 2025.

Updated on
Written by:
Coursera Staff

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