Send a test email before going live

Open any campaign in Draft or Ready status, click Send Test, enter 1–3 email addresses (yours is pre-filled), and the email arrives in those inboxes within seconds — subject prefixed with [TEST], variables substituted with sample values. Test sends are free: no quota deduction, no stats change, no real unsubscribe.

---

Open the Send Test dialog

1. Sign in to app.brixus365.com.
2. Open Spark → Campaigns and click any campaign in Draft or Ready status.
3. In the campaign detail header, click Send Test (next to Send Now / Edit / Duplicate).

The button is only visible when:

• The campaign’s channel is Email.
• The campaign’s status is Draft or Ready (not Scheduled, Active, Paused, or Completed).
• Your role can send campaigns (Owner, Admin, Manager, or Operator).

---

What the dialog asks

A modal opens titled Send Test Email with the description: Send a test version of this campaign to up to 3 email addresses. Test emails are prefixed with [TEST] and do not affect campaign statistics.

A few things to know:

• The first field pre-fills with your own email — the one you signed in with. You can replace it.
• Click Add another email to add a second or third recipient. Useful if a colleague is QAing the design before launch.
• Each address is validated as you type. The Send Test button stays disabled until at least one address looks valid.
• Maximum is 3 recipients per test send. If you need to share with more people, send multiple tests or share a screenshot.

Click Send Test. The button shows Sending… with a spinner, then a toast confirms: Successfully sent N test email(s). The dialog closes on success and stays open on error so you can retry.

---

What the test email looks like

The email arrives in each recipient’s inbox within seconds, identical to the production email except:

• Subject is prefixed with [TEST] — to flag it as a test, not a real send.
• Variables show sample values:
  • {{ name }} → a name guessed from the recipient’s email local part (john.doe@example.com → John Doe).
  • {{ email }} → the test recipient’s email.
  • {{ unsubscribe_url }} → a placeholder stub. It’s intentionally not a real unsubscribe link, so clicking it during QA won’t accidentally unsubscribe anyone.
  • {{ company_name }} → your workspace name.
  • Custom variables you’ve defined (e.g. {{ order_id }}) — if the campaign has already sent at least one production email, the test re-uses that recipient’s value. For a brand-new draft with no prior sends, custom variables show fallback values.
• No tracking pixel — opens and clicks aren’t recorded for test sends, so they won’t pollute your campaign analytics.

---

What test sends don’t do

A test send is deliberately lightweight:

Production send	Test send
Increments campaign stats (sent / delivered / opened / clicked)	Doesn’t change stats
Includes a real, working unsubscribe link	Stub link only — clicking it does nothing
Tracks opens and clicks via tracking pixel	No tracking — won’t show up in analytics

This means you can test as many times as you want without worrying about throwing off your numbers or burning credits.

---

If a test email doesn’t arrive

A few common reasons:

• No sender address configured — the campaign needs a verified “from” address. If you haven’t set one, you’ll see Sender address not found in the toast. Set up a sender via Settings → Sending Domains first.
• Domain not verified — sender addresses can only be created on verified domains. The first time you send anything from Brixus365, you have to add and verify a domain (DNS records). See Settings → Sending Domains for the walkthrough.
• Spam folder — the [TEST] subject prefix can sometimes trip aggressive spam filters. Check your spam folder.
• Typo in the email field — the validator catches obvious errors, but a typo like gmial.com will pass. Re-send to a corrected address.

If none of the above explain it, the toast tells you exactly which addresses failed (e.g. Sent 2 of 3 test email(s). 1 failed.).

---

What’s next

You want to…	Go to
Add or fix the recipient list	Add recipients
Customise the template before testing	Customise a template
Schedule the campaign for later	Schedule a campaign