An email marketing mockup is a realistic preview of an email, shown to the people who must approve it before it goes to your list. It catches the wrong date, the broken link and the partner who hates the headline while fixing them still costs nothing. This article answers how to produce a mockup on the levelpartner.ai platform, who should see it, and how to run an approval loop that takes a day rather than a week.
What you get once it is set up
A repeatable approval process. A writer builds the email in the platform, sends test copies to reviewers on phone and desktop, gathers comments in one place and makes changes before scheduling. Nobody approves an email from a screenshot in a chat thread or a document that looks nothing like the final send.
The mockup is the real email, rendered in real inboxes. That is the point. A design in a slide or a word processor hides the problems that only appear in an inbox: clipped preview text, images blocked by default, a button that falls below the fold on a phone.
Before you start
Decide who approves which type of email. A newsletter might need one marketing lead. A campaign with an offer might need a partner and, for mortgage brokers, a compliance check. Write the list down so writers know who to send the mockup to.
You also need a verified sending domain so test sends reach real inboxes, and reviewers who agree to respond within a set time.
How to set it up
- Go to Marketing, Emails, and open the campaign or template.
- Switch to the Design Editor tab.
- Click Preview and compare the Desktop, Tablet and Mobile views.
- Open the three dots beside Preview and choose Test Email.
- Fill in Sender Email, Sender Name, Receiver Email, Preview Text, Email Subject.
- Click Send Test Email, once for each reviewer.
- Ask reviewers to reply with each change on its own line.
- Make the changes and send a second test marked revised.
- Record each approval in the reply thread.
- Schedule only when every listed approver has confirmed.
What reviewers should check
Give reviewers a short checklist so they look at the same things.
- Subject and preview text read well together and make sense without opening.
- The first screen on a phone shows the headline and, ideally, the button.
- Every link opens the right page.
- Dates, prices and names are correct.
- The email still makes sense with images turned off.
- The footer is present and correct.
Reviewers should not redesign the template at this stage. Design decisions belong in the master template, not in each send.
Picture a 50-person consultancy that circulates email drafts as documents. Partners comment on wording, then see the real email only after it is sent and ask for changes nobody can make. With test-send mockups, suppose approval took one round instead of three and each email went out two days sooner. Across 24 sends a year, that would be 48 days, almost seven weeks of waiting removed. The timings are assumed.
What it is for in a firm with flat revenue
When revenue has stalled, partners and directors often want more say in marketing. A good mockup process gives them that say without slowing everything down, and protects the firm from errors that damage trust with clients.
It replaces approval by document, by screenshot and by hallway conversation. The time cost is usually 15 to 30 minutes per email for the writer, plus a few minutes per reviewer. Agencies, consultants, mortgage brokers and real estate firms all benefit; regulated firms benefit most.
For the design decisions that should be settled before mockups start, see email marketing design on the platform. For the nine parts reviewers should look for, read about email marketing format. Ready-made starting points are in our guide to email marketing email templates.
Approving from the builder screen alone. The builder shows a close approximation; real inboxes differ. Always approve from a test that arrived in an inbox, opened on a phone.
When not to use a full mockup loop
Automated emails that rarely change, such as booking confirmations, need approval once, not every time they send. Personal one-to-one emails need no approval at all. Keep the full loop for list sends and campaigns.
Troubleshooting
Reviewers never reply. Set a deadline in the test email subject, such as "Approve by 2pm Thursday", and agree that silence after the deadline counts as approval for routine sends.
Test emails land in spam for reviewers. Their mail system filters bulk mail. Ask IT to allow your sending domain, or send tests to a personal inbox as well.
Comments conflict. Two approvers want different headlines. Name one final approver for each email type.
The mockup looks different from the live email. Merge fields show placeholder text in tests. Test with a real internal contact who has all the fields filled in.
Frequently asked questions
What is an email marketing mockup?
It is a preview of the final email, ideally a real test send viewed in a real inbox, used to approve content and catch mistakes before the email goes to your list.
Can I create a mockup before the email is built?
You can sketch a layout on paper or in a design tool, but the approval that counts should be on the real email. Sketches are useful for new templates, not for routine sends.
How many people should approve an email?
As few as possible. One approver for newsletters and two for campaigns with offers is enough for most firms. Regulated content may need a compliance reviewer as well.
Do automated emails need mockups too?
Yes, once, when the workflow is built. Send a test of each automated email to reviewers before publishing the workflow, then review them again each quarter. See how template emailing works for keeping those templates current.