Free cold email inbox preview.
See the row your prospect actually reads before they open anything: from name, subject and preview text, at the widths real clients give you. Three fragments decide whether the email gets opened, and they are almost always written as though they were three separate things.
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The inbox row at a glance
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| What the recipient sees first | From name, subject, preview text. In that order of attention |
| Subject on a phone | Roughly 35 characters before it truncates |
| Where most first reads happen | A phone, which is the narrowest case and the one to design for |
| Preview text source | The first readable text in the email, unless you set a preheader |
| The common waste | Opening with a greeting, which spends the preview line on the recipient's own name |
What is the inbox row?
The inbox row is the single line a mail client shows for your message in a list view, made of three fields: who it is from, what the subject says, and a snippet of the opening text.
It is the only part of your email most recipients will ever read. The decision to open happens here, in about a second, against a backdrop of calendar notifications and invoices. A carefully tested opener is irrelevant if the row above it did not earn the click.
The mistake worth naming is that these three fields are usually written separately, often by different logic: the from name comes from the mailbox configuration, the subject gets attention, and the preview text is whatever happens to be at the top of the body. Read together, as the recipient reads them, they frequently repeat each other or waste the line entirely.
How to read your preview
The tool renders your three fields as a row, at the widths a real client gives you rather than the width of your monitor.
Check the truncation point, not the length. What matters is where the cut lands, because a subject cut mid-phrase can change what the line appears to say.
Read the three fields as one sentence. That is how they are received. If the subject and the preview text say the same thing twice, you have spent two of your three fragments on one idea.
Check the from name is a person. A real first and last name reads as a human before a single word of the subject is processed. A company name reads as a broadcast.
Preview it at phone width and treat that as the real version. Desktop shows more but gets scanned faster, so the narrow case is both the harder constraint and the more common one.
What each field is for
| Field | Its job | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| From name | Establish that a person sent this. | Using the company name, or a first name alone. |
| Subject | Earn the open without over-promising. | Writing for cleverness rather than for the first 35 characters. |
| Preview text | Add the second idea the subject did not have room for. | Leaving it to default to the greeting line. |
Roughly where each client cuts
| Context | Subject visible | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone, portrait | Around 35 characters | The case to design for. Most first reads happen here. |
| Desktop web client | Noticeably more | More room, but scanned faster and in a denser list. |
| Desktop with a preview pane | Least of all | The narrow column squeezes the subject hardest. |
Exact cut-off points vary by client, version, font size and window width, so treat these as planning figures rather than specifications. The safe approach is to front-load regardless.
How to write the three fields as one unit
- Set the from name to a real first and last name that matches the signature and the mailbox.
- Write the subject to survive 35 characters. Put the words that earn the open at the front and assume the rest disappears.
- Write the preview text deliberately. Either set a preheader or make the first line of the body worth reading in a list.
- Never open with a bare greeting. A greeting plus a first name is the single most common way to waste the preview line.
- Read the three together and cut the repetition. Three fragments, three separate ideas.
Common questions about the inbox row
How much of my subject line will actually show?
On a phone, roughly 35 characters before it truncates, and the phone is where most first reads happen. Desktop shows more but gets scanned faster. Either way, the words that earn the open belong at the front.
What is preview text and where does it come from?
It is the snippet shown after the subject, pulled from the first readable text in the email. If your email opens with a bare greeting and the prospect's first name, that is exactly what the preview says, and a third of your inbox row is gone. Open with something worth reading in a list view.
Does the from name matter more than the subject?
Often, yes. A real first and last name reads as a person; a company name reads as a broadcast before a single word of the subject is processed. It is the first thing scanned and the fastest thing to change.
Why check this at phone width specifically?
Because that is the screen deciding the outcome. A subject that fits comfortably on a laptop is frequently cut mid-word on a phone, and the cut often lands somewhere that changes what the line appears to say.
Should the preview text repeat the subject?
No. They are two of the three fragments you get, so spending both on one idea wastes a third of the row. The subject earns the glance and the preview text adds the reason to open, which means writing them together rather than one after the other.