Testing an Email Message with Litmus

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The Litmus integration for Act-On lets you preview your email messages across many different email clients and devices so you can confirm your message looks correct wherever it is opened.

Once you connect your Litmus account to Act-On, you can access Litmus previews directly from the Email Composer.

We are aware of possible issues with Litmus previewing emails, specifically column stacking based on available screen width, when using Apple Mail or Outlook on iOS on iPhones running on iOS 15 or earlier.
The older device previews can be misleading because they do not represent what most users on that device type will experience after they update iOS. In Litmus, the iPhone device previews are linked to the iOS version they were released with. For example, an iPhone 13 Apple Mail preview renders using iOS 15 in Litmus, however most iPhone 13 users will have updated to a later iOS version.
Quick Reference (Advanced Users) - Click to Expand
  • Open your email in the Email Composer.
  • In the Design tab, click  Preview in the top right.
  • At the top center, choose Inbox.
  • Click Generate previews to send the message to Litmus.
  • On the right, select an email client to see that preview in the main area.
  • To change which Litmus clients are available, click Manage clients to open your Litmus settings.
Try it like this: Design your email, open Preview, switch to Inbox, click Generate previews, then compare how your header image and main call to action look in a few key clients such as Outlook, Gmail, and an iPhone client. If something looks off, go back to Design, adjust spacing or image sizes, and generate previews again.

How Litmus works with Act-On

The Litmus integration includes access to all 90+ clients and devices available on the Litmus platform. However, most Litmus subscription plans limit the number of previews that are permitted through third parties. For this reason, Act-On only shows the clients and devices you have configured in your Litmus account. If none are selected, Act-On returns a default set of popular clients.

Testing with Litmus can be accessed from any version of the message composer in Act-On. This article focuses on the new Email Composer. A separate article covers the Legacy Email Composer.

Requirements

To use Litmus testing inside Act-On, you need:

  • An active Litmus account (Core or Enterprise).
To use Litmus functionality within Act-On, first configure your account in the Connectors section of Act-On.
Go to Settings > Connectors > Other > Litmus.

This is a one-time step unless your Litmus connection fails, for example after a password change.
Connectors.png

Test a message in the Email Composer

For emails created in the new Email Composer:

  1. In the Design tab, at the top right, click  Preview.

Testing an Email Message with Litmus 01.png

  1. At the top center, select Inbox.
  2. Click Generate previews.

Testing an Email Message with Litmus 02.png

  1. Select the email client on the right to see that preview in the main area. For example:

Testing an Email Message with Litmus 03.png

  1. To change the available Litmus previews while testing, at the bottom right click Manage clients. This opens your Litmus account, where you can customize the clients and devices that Act-On uses.

Test directly through Litmus (optional)

You can also test via Litmus by sending your Act-On test message directly to your Litmus email address.

Be aware that Litmus clicks the links in your test message, including the unsubscribe link. By default, this will opt out your Litmus address from future emails. To prevent this, tell Litmus to ignore the opt-out link:

  1. Edit the footer of the message you want to test (either by creating a new footer or by updating an existing footer template under Content > Email Footers).
  2. Open the HTML view and locate your opt-out link.
  3. Add the attribute data-litmus-ignore="" to the HTML of that link, for example:
<a href="https://marketing.yourcompany.com/acton/rif/{{Env.AccountId}}/{{Env.MsgId}}/-/{{Env.RecId}}/{{Env.SrcId}}/zout" data-litmus-ignore="">Unsubscribe</a>

Litmus will now ignore the unsubscribe link when it clicks through your test.

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