Move "This is a test" message on test sends up to top of email

[MiriamC31]

It would be extremely helpful to move the red text indicating the email is a test to the top of the email. We've had countless situations where a test email was forwarded thinking it was real. You have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see it's a test, and most people just don't do that! This would be a very intuitive move for Constant Contact.

[FredericC4]

When sending a preview, it would be great to put "DRAFT" at the beginning of the subject line so that it is clear that it is a draft, and so that sorting by subject will bring up all drafts together. Sometimes we have been confused thinking that a draft was actually the email being sent out and not taking action correctly.

The text in red that is inserted at the top of the email does not draw attention enough to signal that it is a draft. And most of the time, I do not put any text in that area, so it looks even more like the actual email. I have to scroll down all the way to the bottom to see the disclaimer.

[Beatriz_R]

Hello @FredericC4. That is a great idea and I've opened it for voting. Thank you for the feedback!

[NeilE53]

Receivers of test emails are always overlooking the test emails because they are not obvious enough. If Constant Contact would automatically put the word "test" in big letter in the subject line of every test email, then receivers would not overlook it. 

[Ariana_L]

Thanks for the feedback @NeilE53.

Currently there is a red paragraph added to the footer of every test email to let the recipient know that it is a test email, but I can see how you would want it in the subject line. Please check back here for updates as we open this idea for voting!

[DebbiR]

We send previews of our emails  on a regular basis, to have multiple sets of eyes on a communication piece before it goes out to our members. When we do that, there is a "THIS IS A TEST EMAIL ONLY...' blurb of text that currently appears on the bottom of the email. It would be much more convenient for that message to be on the TOP of the email, so everyone can see right away at a glance if they are seeing a preview or a final email. It has been missed at the bottom many times in our office alone, and creates confusion.

[OrionO8]

That's not enough. Directors who are busy won't notice that or the tiny sliver of text on top. The test text area needs to be a lot more conspicuous and support basic formatting.

[StavenB4]

YES
I think there should be options we can select for the reason we're sending a test email, for example if the subject line automatically included something like "PROOFREAD" or "CHECK FORMATTING" the people I send test emails to would be able to differentiate the test emails from a sent campaign.  That way they would also know if they need to send feedback back to me or not.  Putting the "This is a test email only" thing at the bottom in red text is very inefficient, as the guys I send to rarely ever scroll that far down. 

[JulieL34]

Maybe there could be a really noticeable emoji along with the word TEST in the subject line.

Mailchimp puts the word TEST in brackets but frankly it is still not all that noticeable.

[Marisa_M]

AGREED!! I manually type "TEST" before my actual subject line before sending a test message but then have to remember to take it out before scheduling email. It would be MUCH better if CC could actually prepend the Subject line with the word "TEST" to make it more obvious.

[Tagg_Design_Inc]

A solid red bar at the immediate start of the email would suffice as well. You know, TEST - FOR PROOFREADING - EMAIL STARTS BELOW type of thing.

[SandraT415]

We send test emails out all the time before we sent the real one but sometimes the test email gets forwarded because the "Test Only Notification" is at the very bottom and people don't usually tend to scroll to the very bottom. I myself have missed it and end up forwarding the wrong email, because of this I do tend to scroll all the way to the bottom but it would be such a huge improvement to have it at the very top where you can't miss it at all, especially for people who are not familiar with Constant Contact or don't use it as frequently.

[Kyle_R]

Great feedback, thanks for sharing @SandraT415 ! We do try to keep the test notification at the bottom of the email so that it doesn't interfere with the preheader text (should you choose to add a preheader). That way you are also test and see how the preheader will look in your email client. However, that doesn't mean we can't do something to make it more obvious that this is not the final version of the email.

I don't know if this will help you, but if you choose to add an optional note when you send a test that will appear at the top of the email. Since that text doesn't have any color it could be easily overlooked as well.

[Frankie_P]

Hi @MiriamC31 would you want this test warning to only display on the top of your email? Or have the option to choose between your header or footer?

[MiriamC31]

Only at the top. I can't imagine a scenario where we'd want it at the bottom, so it seems an unnecessary choice. 

[Frankie_P]

Hi @MiriamC31  thanks for following up with this detail! We have opened up your idea so other users can weigh in as well.