Email Preview Layout Has Different Format

[Amanda_Thomas6]

Sometimes the preview version of the email has a different format from what is actually sent (test and actual emails). Has anyone else run into this? Does anyone know how to solve it?

(I had to zoom out in order to fit the whole email in one screen shot.)

Preview	Actual Email

[Jenn_DiMaria2]

My experience is this usually has something to do with the code. When I've run into this issue, I'll dump the code into something like EmailOnAcid and see what happens across browsers and clients, then run a code check for any weird discrepancies where each client may be trying to fill in the blanks somewhere. I believe Marketo offers a similar service as an add-on, although EOA may have a free trial to help diagnose something quickly.

[Amanda_Thomas6]

Thanks for the resource!

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hey Amanda, yes it is a common problem with Marketo's preview pane so you are not alone. Marketo's preview pane is not a true view of what your email will look like across all the various browser and platform combinations you will be sending to, so it is best to use an outside Email testing solution (EmailOnAcid and Litmus are the 2 main ones) instead.

Like Jennifer, I too use EmailOnAcid (EOA). With it you simply send a sample email from Marketo to your EmailOnAcid autoprocess address and the next time you log in to EOA you will see the results in your dashboard. That is just a visual though EOA can't help you solve the problem. Solving the problem is another matter entirely! I posted a couple blogs on that topic in the Houston User Group if you are interested.

[Amanda_Thomas6]

Thanks, Trevor. I have still sent out these emails based on the test ones I receive in my inbox. It's good to know I'm not alone. Thanks for the resource!

[John_Westley]

Amanda, we don't have the budget right now for EOA or Litmus so I always send to an Outlook, Gmail and Yahoo test account and review on mobile and desktop to see if the email is setup properly.

We recently switched to knak. responsive marketo templates and have had great consistency across all email clients, browswers and devices.

[Amanda_Thomas6]

I have heard so many good things about Knak. I'll definitely have to look into it more in 2016!