What Are Email Testing Tools?
Most marketers have a set of core email tools they use to send out email drip campaigns, triggered emails, batch and blast emails, etc. These include an email service provider (or hosting) platform, email marketing software, email tracking, email deliverability, and email encryption tools, etc.
Email testing tools are another critical piece of any marketing professional’s email tech stack. These tools allow the user to test out their email design and layout across various device types, browsers, and platforms—before sending it. They also can do email accessibility testing, URL validation, and spam testing.
Some of the products in this category also focus on email deliverability metrics and tracking things like delivery rate, bounce rate, open rate, click-through rate, etc. Other products may offer more proofreading features that check for spelling and grammar.
The main goal of email testing software is to help guard against email failures like emails landing in a spam inbox, not rendering properly in certain email clients or browsers, strange email formatting, etc. This also helps ensure your email campaigns are performing well and will help maximize your campaign’s return on investment (ROI).
Email Testing Tools Features
Most email testing tools will have this core set of capabilities:
Pre-send email testing
Email preview across browsers & devices
HTML validation
Spam testing
Email deliverability rates
Email accessibility testing
Email sender reputation scoring
Email analytics dashboard
Some email testing products have additional features such as:
Email editor and proofreader
Email templates
Recommendations for improvements
Email content A/B testing
Email Testing Tool Comparison
Before deciding to purchase one email testing platform over another, consider these key factors:
Free vs. paid: there are a bunch of free email testing tools available, but they usually have limited functionality or low email testing volume. For example, PutsMail (owned by Litmus) has a free HTML email sending tool, though users can only send emails to up to 10 recipients at a time. On the other hand, paid tools are more expensive by default but offer more functionality.
Scope of the tool: are you looking for a testing tool that focuses on a specific type of testing or an email testing suite of tools that provides a range of email testing and analytics capabilities? Some tools focus on specific areas of email testing, like HTML validation, pre-send testing, email content and subject line testing, etc. These point solutions are more likely to be free or cheaper than larger platforms. But larger email testing suites like Litmus and Email on Acid offer a greater range of features.
Pricing Information
Prices for paid tools vary based on the number of users and the range of features included in the platform. Starting prices for email testing suite software range between $70-$90 per month and typically include between 1-3 users. The cost per month can range up to a few hundred dollars, with additional users costing more as well.
There are also various free email testing tools available, which typically have limited or ad hoc email testing functionality. Here are a few examples of free email testing tools:
