Collecting feedback on email campaigns shouldn’t feel like herding cats. If your inbox turns into a mess of conflicting comments, vague suggestions, and “just one more tiny change,” you’re not alone. This guide is for anyone who wants to run cleaner, faster review cycles—whether you’re a marketer, designer, or wrangling feedback from the whole team.
Litmus Proof is one of the few tools built specifically for email feedback—not just general docs or PDFs. If you’re already using Litmus, Proof is built in. But even if you’re just curious, I’ll walk you through how to actually use it (not just what the marketing page says).
Why Use Litmus Proof Instead of Just Emailing Around a Draft?
Let’s be honest: emailing out drafts is easy, but reviewing them is chaos. Here’s why Proof is usually better:
- All feedback in one place: No more sifting through endless threads or Slack messages.
- Pinpoint comments: People can comment directly on specific parts of your email.
- Threaded discussions: Clear back-and-forth, so you don’t get “Did we fix this?” confusion.
- Automatic reminders: No need to chase folks for feedback.
Stuff to keep in mind: It’s not magic. Proof won’t fix unclear expectations, office politics, or people who never read emails. But it does make the process a lot less painful.
Step 1: Prep Your Email Draft
Before you even open Litmus Proof, make sure your draft is ready for review:
- Send yourself a test: Make sure links and images work. Obvious, but worth doing.
- Decide what kind of feedback you want: Are you looking for copy edits, design tweaks, or legal approval? Spell it out in your request. If you don’t, you’ll get a little of everything (and a lot of nitpicks).
Pro tip: Don’t throw a half-baked draft into Proof. People get distracted by typos or layout bugs and will fixate on them—derailing the whole review.
Step 2: Upload Your Email to Litmus Proof
Here’s the nuts and bolts:
- Go to your Litmus dashboard and select Proof.
- Click Create New Proof.
- Choose how to upload:
- Forward an email: Send your test email to the unique Proof address.
- Upload an HTML file: Good if your ESP spits out HTML.
- Paste HTML: For the control freaks among us.
Proof will render a visual preview—what your reviewers will see.
What’s good: The rendering is usually accurate, and you can see both desktop and mobile views.
What’s not: Sometimes, very complex dynamic content can look slightly different than in some email clients. Don’t use Proof for pixel-perfect rendering QA (that’s a separate Litmus feature).
Step 3: Invite Stakeholders—But Only the Right Ones
This is where most teams go wrong. You don’t need everyone and their dog on the review.
- Click “Invite” and add stakeholders’ emails.
- Set permissions if needed (view only, comment, approve).
- Add a personal note. Be crystal clear: “Please focus on the subject line and CTA. Ignore design for now.”
Who to invite? - Only people whose signoff you actually need. - If you must invite a big group, assign clear roles (e.g., “Marketing: copy only. Legal: compliance only. Design: ignore for now.”)
What to ignore: Don’t just “CC the team”—that’s how you end up with 17 versions of “can we make the button bluer?”
Step 4: Collect and Manage Feedback
Proof’s main value is letting people comment right on the email. Here’s how to make the most of it:
- Ask reviewers to pin comments exactly where they have feedback. No more “the third paragraph needs work” confusion.
- Threaded replies help clarify questions (“Do you mean this section or the one below?”)
- Mark comments as resolved as you go. Keeps things moving.
Pro tip: If someone leaves vague feedback (“This feels off”), reply and ask for specifics. Don’t guess what they mean.
What works: - Fast back-and-forth on subtle fixes. - Clear audit trail of who said what and when.
What doesn’t: - Endless “+1” or “Looks good to me!” comments. Just use the Approval button.
Step 5: Resolve Comments and Track Approvals
As feedback comes in:
- Reply, clarify, and resolve comments as you make changes.
- Upload revisions if needed. Proof keeps all versions, so you can compare.
- Ask for final approval (there’s a big button for this).
Honest take: Approvals in Proof are straightforward, but they’re only as good as your team’s discipline. If someone never clicks “Approve,” follow up outside the tool—don’t trust that everyone’s on top of notifications.
Step 6: Wrapping Up and Moving Forward
When everyone’s approved (or you’ve decided “good enough” is good enough):
- Download a summary if you want a record for compliance.
- Push to your ESP (email service provider) or move on to Litmus’s testing tools for final rendering checks.
Don’t overthink it: You don’t need to archive every comment or print out the summary for your wall. The goal is to get a clear, agreed-on version you can actually send.
Pro Tips for Smoother Reviews
- Batch feedback: Ask for feedback by a deadline, not “whenever you have a minute.” Otherwise, someone always chimes in late with a “tiny change.”
- Limit rounds: Two rounds of review is usually plenty. More than that, and you’re just tinkering.
- Set expectations: If you only want feedback on copy, say so. Otherwise, you’ll get “Can we try a purple background?” out of nowhere.
What to skip: Don’t bother with Proof for one-person reviews or simple transactional emails. It shines when things get complicated—big campaigns, a lot of cooks in the kitchen, or legal reviews.
What Litmus Proof Won’t Do
Just so we’re clear, here’s what Proof can’t fix: - People who don’t read instructions. - Disagreements about messaging, branding, or strategy. - Technical QA on rendering—use Litmus’s other tools for that.
But if you want less chaos, more clarity, and faster turnarounds, it’s a solid pick.
Keep It Simple, Keep It Moving
The best thing you can do is not overcomplicate the process. Use Litmus Proof to keep feedback in one place, don’t invite the whole company, and make the feedback you want really obvious. Don’t chase “perfect”—just get to “good enough” and send the thing.
Collect, review, resolve, and move on. The less time you spend arguing over button colors, the more time you have to actually improve your campaigns. Happy sending.