In this article:
Summary
Preview Variants is a tool that allows you to pair your device to the Apptimize dashboard and test the variant on your actual device so you can verify that the variants are performing as you expect them to.
When connected to Preview Variants, a visual representation of the variant on the Apptimize dashboard is viewable via mirroring, a participation indicator, and a section to verify the targeting and representation of the captured events. We recommend this approach of testing for simple visual/UI debugging (especially if the Visual Editor was used to create variants) and/or event-tracking.
Preview Variants is a useful tool for front-end/UI testing. Product managers often prefer to do preliminary testing with the tool to confirm variants/events are appearing as they should - this is straightforward and fast due to the lack of coding required.
Preview Groups is a tool allowing you to assign Pilot Groups and individual Pilot Users to a Preview Group, granting the ability to preview specific variants of an experiment before launch or during a test. This feature can be leveraged to provide a “sneak-peak” of an experience to a specific group of users, or for QA purposes.
For complex QA testing beyond visual elements, our clients prefer to use our QA Console, programmatic and targeting-based QA. These methods are outlined in the sections you can find here.
How to connect to Preview Variants
The Preview Variants section can be found on Step 5, Preview & Launch, of the Experiment set-up process:
Once you are on this screen and have paired your device to the Preview Variants tool, you can select the variant you want to QA from the dropdown.
The Preview Variants Modal
Once you’re able to select a device, choose a variant to preview from the dropdown. This will launch a floating window similar to below:
- The experiment name and variant name are displayed in the top left
- Toggle “Mirror App” to mirror the display of your currently paired device
- Click the “Refresh” icon to refresh the display
- On the left-hand side, the participant’s “Status” will be displayed.
- For visual experiments the status will change to “Participating” if you are on the view that includes the variant, for code block experiments participation is triggered when the code block is executed, and for Dynamic Variable experiments it occurs when a dynamic variable involved in the experiment has its value queried. This is confirmation that participation is recorded.
- The “Targets” section will display the targeting for the experiment
- If you have any targeting criteria, the values (for example, App Version: 2.0) as well as an indication of whether the current device meets it will be displayed here. Participation cannot be triggered unless your device meets all of the experiments targeting criteria.
- An “Events” section will appear once you trigger an event in your app
- Any triggered events will appear here with the associated value (if available) will be displayed in this section
- Any events with a “to be imported” status signify that the events are successfully detected and will be imported approximately one hour after the event is triggered on a device which is enrolled in a live experiment.
Now you should be equipped to use the Preview Variants tool to preview your variants and ensure targeting criteria is evaluated as expected. If you have any questions, please reach out to use at support@apptimize.com
The Preview Groups Modal
Preview Groups can be found on the Preview & Launch tab during experiment set up. Select Manage to get started.
Here you can add your Pilot Groups and Pilot users to specific experiment variants you would like them to see.
Preview Groups can be run in two different modes:
Follow Experiment
Preview Groups set up to follow the experiment will not have access to their variants until the experiment is launched.
Launch Preview
For Preview Groups you want to give early variant access to, prior to an experiment launch date, you can select the Launch Preview mode. This mode will give users access right away!
Selecting a Winner
Selecting a winner while Preview Groups are Following Experiment will display the winner to these groups.
When you select an experiment winner, Preview Groups in the Launch Preview setting will continue to honor the variants that were set and will not be updated to see the winner.
To update Preview Groups in Launch Preview to see the winner, you must remove the Pilot Groups and Users by clicking on the X next to them until the group is empty.
Now you should be equipped to use the Preview Variants and the Preview Groups tools to preview your variants and ensure targeting criteria are evaluated as expected. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at support@apptimize.com
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