Preview text is the second line of your inbox listing, and in most programs it is either empty or an accident. Left blank, the email client fills it with whatever comes first in the code, which is often an unsubscribe link.
Written deliberately, it roughly doubles the space you have to make a case for opening. It is the cheapest improvement available to almost every sender, and it takes a writer an afternoon rather than a quarter.
The forty characters after the subject line tend to be overlooked the most. It’s usually whoever is tasked with email timing that jumps in to write it, or not at all. If they are treated as a continuation of the subject line, then a pitch that would normally be nine words, becomes a twenty word pitch, without even touching the email.
Extends the subject line instead of restating it.
First forty characters carry the message on mobile.
Never left blank for the client to fill in.
Where AI falls down on preview text
Asked to generate sample text, the model paraphrases the subject line. A model must never do this. The listing then describes the same thing twice, and the reader is left no more informed as a result of the second description, and the extra space you wanted to use has been wasted on redundancy.
Subject, Message and CTA Writing for No-AI Preview Text
We create a preheader so the subject line, preheader, and email opening create one longer sentence. The length varies with the reading location of the audience. Apple Mail shows significantly less than Gmail. Mobile-centric lists require the message in the first forty characters.
How a preview text gets written here
Read the subject line and the first paragraph together.
Write the preheader as the sentence that follows the subject.
Front-load the meaning into the first forty characters.
Add padding characters so template text cannot leak through.
Keeping No-AI Preview Text Consistent With Your Brand
Any line you send drifts this much, but your lines are usually last where they get scheduled. One of your lines is a full sentence. The next are three words. The last line was most likely left over from a duplicated campaign. Writing a set of messages where you adopt the same sentence structure and punctuation habits is how inbox listings are deliberate.
A preheader written for every subject line in the batch.
Character counts for Apple Mail, Gmail and Outlook truncation.
Padding guidance so template text cannot leak into preview.
Alternate versions for mobile-heavy and desktop-heavy lists.
Copyright transferred to you on delivery.
What people commission preview text for
Campaigns where the preheader is currently empty.
Automated emails leaking view in browser text.
Testing inbox impression without rewriting the email.
Standardizing preview text across a whole program.
What preview text cost
One rate, whatever the format: $10 per 100 words. You are paying for the writer’s time and judgement, so the price scales with the words rather than with a package tier.
Typical preview text
Words
Writing
Fee (1%)
You pay
Test set of 12 lines
100
$10
$0.10
$10.10
Campaign set of 25 pairs
300
$30
$0.30
$30.30
Quarterly bank of 50 pairs
600
$60
$0.60
$60.60
The writer receives 100% of the writing price. Our 1% fee is added on top of it, and 0.5% is donated to tree planting.
Full pricing breakdown.
No-AI Preview Text: Frequently Asked Questions
A named human writer with a background in this kind of work. No model drafts, outlines, edits or researches any part of it, and nothing is run through an AI humanizer. Every draft is checked against multiple detectors before it reaches you.
A named human writer with a background in this kind of work. No model drafts, outlines, edits or researches any part of it, and nothing is run through an AI humanizer. Every draft is checked against multiple detectors before it reaches you.
Most clients are in the range of forty to ninety characters, but what is important is the first forty characters because that is what appears on a phone. Put the important content at the top of the forty characters and then add additional content below for desktop users.
It is worth doing when sends start becoming significant enough to read. Hold subject constant and run two preheaders against one another. Most teams do not test preheaders at all and does end up being an easy win.
Completely. Copyright transfers to you on delivery, with no attribution requirement and no licence back to us. Nothing written for you is resold, repurposed or republished.
Reviews
What clients say about our preview text
Reviews from completed, paid orders in this category.
VPVikram PFounder, Threadmark
Cold email that got replies
It now solves the issue of week three that some buyers experience when onboarding. We have seen a reply rate increase from under two percent to nine. After, I thought I could better it, but I made it worse by trying to rewrite it twice.
Verified orderSales emailsMarch 2025
LRLucía RContent Lead, Meridian Fold
Kept the quirks we enjoy
Our newsletter uses humor to describe the office kettle. I had mentioned it in the brief, and it’s there used in the right way, in the right register. Subscribers interacted with that newsletter more than any other we published this year.
Verified orderNewslettersMay 2026
CEChidera ECRM Manager, Adanna Home
Email four needed a rewrite
Five emails, four landed first time. The fourth leaned on urgency in a way our brand does not, and I said so. It was rewritten within a day and is now the best performer in the set. I’m most likely working with too general of a brief on tone.