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Smart Preview and Send Test for SMS Templates

Blair Matheson
Note: This feature is currently available only for Optimove clients using Liquid Templating Language. Speak to your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to learn more about enabling Liquid across your Optimove Native Channels.

Before an SMS campaign goes out, you want to be sure it lands exactly as intended — the right copy, the right personalization, and links that work. Catching an issue after scheduling is far more costly than catching it beforehand.

Smart Preview and Send Test for SMS lets you see how your content will be received on a customer's handset, so you can validate personalization tags, conditional language, and links before anyone receives the real campaign.

This guide will walk you through how to preview an SMS template with customer data and send a test to a personal handset, from previewing to final validation.

Step-by-Step: How to Preview and Test an SMS Template

Step 1: Preview with Customer Data

One of the easiest ways to preview your SMS templates — and verify that your personalization tags and conditional language work as expected — is to use your own customer data. You have two options for previewing an SMS template this way.

Instructions:

  1. Open the SMS template you want to preview.
  2. Choose how you want to populate the preview:
    • Random Customer Data — Optimove randomly selects a customer from the database and uses that customer's data to populate any personalization tags in the template.
    • Specific Customer ID — preview the exact content a specific customer would receive by entering their Customer ID.
  3. Review the rendered preview to confirm that text, personalization, and conditional content appear as expected.

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Step 2: Send a Test

Once the preview looks right, send a test to a personal handset to validate the live experience before scheduling your campaign.

Instructions:

  1. Enter a valid phone number for a personal handset to receive the SMS version.
  2. Send the test.
  3. On your handset, confirm that all text, personalization, and links are correct.
Please note: When using Send Test for SMS, the test bypasses SMS Consent status. This means that even if you've tested an unsubscription flow, it will not prevent the test SMS from being delivered to your handset.

How Smart Preview and Send Test Works

Smart Preview and Send Test gives you two complementary ways to validate an SMS template before it reaches your audience:

  • Preview renders the template against real customer data — either a random customer or a specific Customer ID — so you can confirm personalization and conditional logic without sending anything.
  • Send Test delivers the actual SMS to a personal handset by phone number, so you can confirm the end-to-end experience, including links.

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