Test sends & preview

Before you send a campaign to your whole audience, send a test — the real message, rendered on a real device, exactly as your contacts will see it. The Send a SMS test button (or Send a RCS test, depending on the channel) sits below the preview in the Message step of the campaign editor.

Who a test goes to

A test is sent to your project's test numbers. Open the test sheet, pick one or more numbers, and send. You can manage those numbers in your project settings, or add one right from the sheet (the first time, when there are none yet, you'll see Add your first test phone). A number you add from the sheet is saved to the project's test-number list: it stays available for future tests, not just this one send.

What the test contains

The test carries the assembled message, not the template with its blanks unfilled: personalization is resolved against a sample contact from your audience, so a field like the name shows a real value and links appear exactly as they'll be sent. Use the country selector — and the Android / iOS toggle above the preview — to check how the message looks for contacts in different places and on either device, then send the test to see it on an actual handset.

For an RCS campaign, the test sends the RCS message itself.

Cost and limits

Test sends are free: they don't consume your campaign budget and reach only your test numbers, never your audience. Because they only reach those numbers, they aren't part of the real campaign or its analytics either.

To prevent abuse, free tests have a safety limit. The panel tells you when you hit it: if a test send isn't delivered, you'll see a notice explaining you may have run out of free tests for the moment. That limit isn't a public number — it's not disclosed and can vary from one account to another. If you reach it, wait a little before retrying, or contact support if you need help.

Testing an RCS campaign

An RCS test has a few more requirements than an SMS test:

• Your RCS Sender must be approved and active in the test number's country. Until then you can't send RCS — see RCS sender verification.
• The test number's country must be among your sender's approved countries. Test numbers outside that list appear greyed out and can't be selected. The panel notes it: Test is only available for phones in countries approved for your RCS Sender.
• The device and carrier must support RCS — not all carriers and devices support RCS.