Acquia recommends that you properly test all components that you create in Campaign Studio. Whether it is an email, form, campaign, or landing page, it is crucial to test every item to ensure that you get the expected results and can make the required changes before going live to contacts.
You must perform all testing in an Incognito window or in a browser other than the one your Campaign Studio user is logged into, because Campaign Studio uses cookies for tracking and recognizes the user session. If you use the same browser, Campaign Studio ignores tracking, considers you as a user rather than a contact, and affects the accuracy of the test results.
Tip
Use two different browsers simultaneously so that you can quickly switch between performing actions as a contact and viewing the results as a user. For example, if you are logged into Campaign Studio using Chrome, do your testing in Firefox or any other browser.
Create an internal testing segment
Acquia recommends that you create an internal test segment to test all components that you build in Campaign Studio.
Important
This segment must contain only internal contacts from your own team and company, and must not contain any customer contacts.
Create a new segment and name it “Internal Testing”.
Add internal contacts from your team or company to the segment.
This can include other Campaign Studio users or colleagues in your company who can help with the testing process.
You can add contacts from a static list using a UTF-8 CSV file upload or using a dynamic filter for ‘email>contains’ and your company’s email domain address. You can also add contacts to the segment manually.
Tip
Add additional internal contacts using their different email addresses to test email rendering across different email service providers. For example,
[email protected],[email protected],[email protected].Create as many of these internal testing segments containing different groups of appropriate team members to help with the testing as needed.
Use these internal test segments to test all components, content, and elements that you create in Campaign Studio before going live to contacts. This includes:
Testing such as sending and receiving emails to check that links are functional and styling is rendering properly.
Testing to check that forms are capturing data correctly and all campaign paths and elements are functioning as expected.
Important
Ensure that you complete your testing well in advance of when you actually plan to use the component or content, such as email, form, or campaign. If you test in advance, you get enough time to make any required changes and retest before going live to contacts.