Preheader
Qué es Preheader?
Esta entrada está disponible actualmente solo en inglés.
A preheader (also called preview text) is the short line that follows an email's subject line in the inbox listing, pulled by Gmail, Apple Mail, or Outlook from a hidden block at the top of the message. Because subject, sender name, and preheader are the three fields a recipient scans before deciding to open, marketing teams write preview text intentionally instead of letting the inbox clip the first line of body copy.
More detail
Technically the preheader is a hidden HTML element injected at the very top of the body — usually an invisible div or a snippet of white-on-white text — and inbox clients lift that first text node as the preview. An email without one just shows the first visible line, which is often 'View this in your browser' or the first clause of the headline.
Keep preview text under roughly 90 characters: Apple Mail and legacy Outlook truncate longer text, and the preview replaces the subject line entirely in some Apple Watch and mobile push views. Pairing a specific subject line with an intentionally written preheader is one of the highest-leverage open-rate levers a sender controls — it reads as a two-part headline rather than a subject plus an accident.
In Orbit, preview text belongs in the marketing wrapper template alongside the subject line and the one-click unsubscribe footer, so every campaign built on that wrapper carries a deliberate preheader instead of inheriting whatever the body happens to start with.
Preguntas frecuentes
- Where does the preheader text appear?
- Directly beneath (or beside, on desktop) the subject line in the message list of Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook, and most other inbox clients. It renders as subdued secondary text before the recipient opens the message, in the same scan as the sender name and subject.
- What happens if an email has no preheader?
- The inbox client falls back to the first visible text in the body. That is frequently the 'View this in your browser' link, the logo's alt text, or the opening clause of the headline — none of which helps the recipient decide to open. An intentional preheader avoids that accident.
- How long should preview text be?
- Keep it under roughly 90 characters. Apple Mail and legacy Outlook clients truncate longer strings, and some mobile and smart-watch views drop the subject line and show the preheader alone, so the first few words must carry the hook. Writing it deliberately is part of the open-rate toolkit, alongside the subject line and sender name.
See also
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