Email Preheader Text: The Most Ignored Open Rate Booster

Preheader text. That little preview snippet that appears after your subject line in the inbox.

Most marketers either ignore it completely or let it default to "View this email in your browser" or whatever random sentence starts their email.

That's like writing a great headline and then mumbling the first sentence of your article. Weird.

For tips on A/B testing your preheaders, keep reading.

What Preheader Text Actually Is

When someone looks at their inbox, they see three things: your from name, your subject line, and your preheader text.

The preheader is that gray or secondary text that previews the email content. On desktop, it usually shows 100-130 characters. On mobile, more like 40-90 characters depending on the phone and subject line length.

Here's the thing. Your subject line only has maybe 50 characters to work with. The preheader gives you another 40-130 on top of that.

You're literally doubling or tripling your headline real estate. For free.

And most people just... don't use it. Wild.

The Default Preheader Problem

If you don't set a preheader, email clients pull whatever text appears first in your email.

Usually this ends up being:

• "View this email in your browser"
• "Having trouble viewing this? Click here"
• "Logo image description alt text goes here"
• Some random navigation link text

Nice. Really compelling stuff.

I've seen emails from major brands with preheaders like "Forward to a friend | Unsubscribe | Update preferences." They spent hours on the subject line and then let the preheader say that.

It's like wearing a tailored suit with your shirt untucked and mustard on your tie.

What Actually Works in Preheaders

Your preheader has one job: make the subject line more interesting so people open the email.

That's it. Not summarize the email. Not add legal disclaimers. Make people curious enough to click.

Expand on the subject line curiosity.

Subject: "We need to talk about your cart" Preheader: "Those 3 items aren't going to buy themselves (and one is almost sold out)"

Subject: "The email mistake I see constantly" Preheader: "It's not what you think. And you're probably doing it right now."

See how the preheader adds information? It doesn't just repeat the subject line. It extends the thought.

Add a specific detail.

Subject: "Your March performance report" Preheader: "Open rate up 12%. But your click rate needs work."

Now they HAVE to open it. The preheader created a new reason to click.

Create a second hook.

Sometimes your subject line does one thing and your preheader does something completely different.

Subject: "Quick update on your order" Preheader: "Plus: 20% off your next purchase (48 hours only)"

Two separate reasons to open. Doubles your chances.

The Character Count Reality

Here's where it gets annoying. Different email clients show different amounts of preheader text.

This is why you front-load your preheader. Put the important stuff in the first 40 characters. Everything after that is bonus.

Don't write a 130-character masterpiece where the good part only shows up at character 90. Outlook users will never see it.

The Hidden Character Trick

Here's something sneaky that actually works.

If your preheader is short, email clients will pull additional text from your email to fill the space. Back to the "View in browser" problem.

The fix: add invisible characters after your preheader.

Most email platforms let you add a preheader, then follow it with whitespace characters or zero-width spaces that are invisible to the reader but take up space.

<span style="display:none;font-size:0;line-height:0;">
Your actual preheader text here
&nbsp;&zwnj;&nbsp;&zwnj;&nbsp;&zwnj;&nbsp;&zwnj;&nbsp;&zwnj;
</span>

The ‌ and   characters fill the remaining space so email clients don't grab your navigation text.

Is this annoying to set up? Yes. Does it work? Also yes.

Preheader Formulas That Work

You don't need to reinvent the wheel every email. These patterns consistently perform.

The Continuation Subject line makes a statement. Preheader finishes the thought. "New arrivals just dropped" → "Including that jacket you looked at twice last week"

The Question Subject asks. Preheader answers (partially). "Ready for this?" → "Probably not. But you're going to want to see it anyway."

The Tease Subject is vague. Preheader adds intrigue without revealing. "Some news" → "Not good news, not bad news. Just news you should know."

The Benefit Stack Subject states primary benefit. Preheader adds secondary. "Your account just got an upgrade" → "Faster checkout + saved addresses + something we're not supposed to tell you yet"

The Contrast Subject says one thing. Preheader contradicts or adds tension. "Everything's fine" → "Except for one thing we need to fix before Friday"

Common Preheader Mistakes

Repeating the subject line. If your subject line says "50% off everything" and your preheader says "Shop our sale with 50% off everything," you wasted the preheader.

Being too long and burying the good part. "We've been working hard on some exciting new products and we wanted to give you an exclusive first look at what's coming next month" is garbage. The action is at the end.

Generic corporate speak. "Dear valued customer, we appreciate your business" tells me nothing and makes me want to unsubscribe.

Forgetting mobile. If your preheader only makes sense with the full 130 characters visible, mobile users are going to be confused.

Testing Your Preheaders

You can A/B test preheaders the same way you test subject lines. Most platforms support this.

What to test:

• Curiosity-driven vs benefit-driven
• Short (30 chars) vs long (100 chars)
• Question format vs statement format
• With emoji vs without

We've seen preheader changes lift open rates by 5-15% with no other changes to the email. That's real.

The fact that it takes 30 seconds to write a preheader and most marketers skip it entirely is one of those things that doesn't make sense to me.

The 3-Second Test

Here's how to know if your preheader works.

Read your from name, subject line, and preheader together as one unit. Quickly. Like you're scanning an inbox.

Does it make you want to click? Would it stand out in a sea of other emails?

If the answer is "meh," rewrite the preheader.

You've got maybe three seconds of attention in someone's inbox. The from name gets them to notice you exist. The subject line and preheader together have to close the deal.

Use all the real estate you're given. It's free.