QA & QA Assistant

The QA (Quality Assurance) mode enables you to choose the method(s) used to perform the QA of your campaign.

QA mode aims to make your campaign visible to you only, permitting you to visualize the configured changes and perform the QA. Your targeted visitors won’t be able to see the campaign until you take it out of QA mode and formally launch the campaign.

To QA your campaign means to check that all changes, targeting, and tracking have been implemented correctly before making the campaign live for your visitors (the audience targeted by your campaign).

QA mode

The QA mode enables you to choose the method(s) used to perform the QA of your campaign.
The aim of the QA mode is to make your campaign visible to you only, in order to visualize the configured changes and perform the QA. Your targeted visitors won’t be able to see the campaign yet.
To QA your campaign means to check that all changes, targeting and trackings have been implemented correctly before making the campaign live to your visitors (the audience targeted by your campaign).

You can either target your campaign by IP and/or by Cookie

Targeting by IP is the easiest and fastest way to QA your campaign. It enables you to QA your campaign on all devices and browsers at the same time.

Targeting by cookie may be useful if you work in a big company with a shared IP address. 

Using this method is safer because when you QA your campaign by IP, your colleagues may be able to see your campaign on their own devices. The cookie method is local, meaning you have to manually add the cookie in your browser (the Cookie Editor extension can be useful) or in your Chrome console. You will be the only one to see the campaign. However, with this method, you will need to repeat the operation for each browser you want to QA.

When you enable at least one parameter, the QA mode turns On.  Once you have configured the QA mode, we recommend performing the QA of your campaign using the QA Assistant.

For more info on conguring the IP and/or Cookie parameters, refer to How to use the QA mode.

QA Assistant

The QA Assistant is an application (based on an iframe) that allows you to QA your campaign without having to open your browser console. It displays the campaigns that are live on the active page, those that are active on the website (other than the page you are viewing) as well as information related to the events configured in the campaign.

You can also use the QA Assistant on mobile devices.

a. Launch the QA Assistant on Desktop 

Before launching QA mode, make sure to add QA mode on your campaign.

The QA Assistant can be enabled on any website where the AB Tasty tag is implemented. 

There are two methods to launch the QA Assistant on your website.

• From any campaign creation flow in AB Tasty: 

From the QA step, click Open QA Assistant:
The URL set up in the Main Information step opens in a new tab. The QA Assistant opens in a panel at the bottom of your page.

Heads up ⚡️ The pop-ups blocked modal may display on your browser and prevent the QA Assistant from opening. To enable the page, select the option always allow pop-ups and redirects from abtasty.com and validate.

• Directly on your website

• Go to your website
• From the keyboard, type Ctrl+Q+A: the QA Assistant opens in a panel at the bottom of your page.

The QA Assistant displays three tabs, allowing you to view and control various information on your website/page:

• The Campaigns tab
• The Events tab
• The Transaction tab

b. QA Assistant: Check modification display

The Campaigns tab helps you to check that:

• The targeting is correctly applied: you are assigned to the campaign while meeting the targeting conditions.
  
  
• The modifications are correctly displayed: verify that there’s no regression on your website when displaying the campaign.

The Campaigns tab is displayed by default and is divided into two different sections:

• The top section displays all campaigns that are live on the active page (the campaigns you are assigned to)

From there, you can visualize the variations of your campaigns from the Variation Dropdown

• The bottom section displays all campaigns that are currently live on your website, regardless of whether you are assigned to them

Each line, which relates to a specific campaign, displays the test type, the campaign name, the campaign ID, and the targeting configuration, including the following information:

• Page URLs (Where): the page URLs where the campaign is displayed
• Segment (Who): the segment of visitors targeted by the campaign
• Trigger (How): the trigger based on which the campaign is launched
• QA mode: whether QA mode is enabled on the campaign or not

 On the right of each line, you can see the overall campaign status:

Targeting details

By clicking on the campaign row, you can see the details of the targeting configuration (page URLs, Segment, and Trigger) in a table with the exact values you configured in AB Tasty. On the right side of the table, you can see the current status for each targeting criteria and, if you are rejected, understand why you are not exposed to the campaign.

From there, you can go to the Targeting step of your campaign to edit the targeting set.

If you are looking for a specific campaign, you can enter the campaign ID, campaign name, or campaign type in the search bar.

c. QA Assistant: Check event tracking

Make sure you are assigned to the right campaign: from the Campaigns tab, you will find all campaigns you are assigned to, illustrated with the “Accepted” status.

QA the click action from the Events tabs: the Events tab enables you to perform QA in real-time and to verify that actions and custom trackings have been correctly implemented on your campaign.
The following tracking types can be verified with the QA Assistant: 

• Action tracking (click tracking)
• Custom tracking
• Transaction goal
• Element visible tracking
• Dwell time tracking
• Scroll rate tracking 
• Iframe click tracking

Page tracking is not compatible with the QA Assistant - your page goals won’t appear in the Events tab but will be displayed in the reporting interface.

To do so, click the element of the page where action tracking has been configured. The action name will automatically appear in the Events section, with the following information: 

• Event name
• Event type (action or custom tracking)
• Campaign name and ID where the event will be recorded
• Variation name and ID where the event will be recorded
• Time at which the event was triggered
  

When clicking on the event name, you can see the corresponding element highlighted on the web page.

If you are looking for a specific event, enter the event ID, event name, or event type in the search bar.

d. QA Assistant: Check a redirect test

Once you're exposed to a redirected URL of a redirect test, you won't be able to switch back to the original variation from the variation dropdown list.

On the original variation, make sure you've checked all click tracking actions before switching to the test variation.

How to use the mobile QA Assistant

There are two ways to launch the QA Assistant on your mobile device:

First, from the QA step, click Share Link.

1. Copy the link and send it to your mobile device.
2. Click the link OR scan the QR code with your mobile device.

The URL setup in the Main Information step opens along with the QA Assistant on the default browser of the device.

The QA Assistant on mobile displays two tabs that enable you to view and control various information on your website/page:

• The Campaigns tab
• The Events tab

a. Mobile QA Assistant: check modification display

The Campaigns tab is displayed by default and displays all campaigns that are live on the active page, regardless of whether you are assigned to them.

Each line, which relates to a specific campaign, displays the campaign type icon, the campaign name, the campaign ID, and the overall status.

Icon	Status	On click
	Accepted	You can see the variation you are assigned to by clicking the campaign row. Then, you can switch to another variation by clicking Switch Variation.
	Rejected	You can see the details of the targeting configuration (page URLs, Segment, and Trigger) with the exact values you configured in AB Tasty and understand why you are rejected.

b. Mobile QA Assistant: Check event tracking

The Events tab enables you to perform QA in real-time and to make sure actions and custom tracking (custom tracking, action tracking, and widget tracking) have been correctly implemented on your campaign.

The operating principles are the same as in the desktop version.

These types of tracking can be verified with the QA Assistant: 

• Action tracking (click tracking)
• Custom tracking
• Transaction goal
• Element visible tracking
• Dwell time tracking
• Scroll rate tracking 
• iframe click tracking

The page tracking is not compatible with the QA Assistant, your page goals won’t appear in the Events tab, but they will be displayed in the reporting interface.

You can clear the events list by clicking on the “Clear History” button.

How to use the browser console

a. Browser console: Check modification display

• Make sure you are assigned to the campaign and running checks 

When you use QA mode, to make sure you are assigned to the campaign and that the visual changes are displayed correctly, we recommend using your browser’s JavaScript console.

Use the ABTasty.results and the ABTasty.getTestsOnPage() commands to find out which campaign and which variation you are assigned to.

• Accessing Chrome’s JavaScript console

To access the console, take these steps:

1. Open a private browser window.
2. Enter the URL of the page you have targeted and want to check.
3. Right-click and select Inspect or F12 to open the Developer’s tool:

The console is displayed.

• Running checks
  

To find out if you are assigned to a campaign or variation, take these steps:

1. From your browser console, copy and paste the following commands:

• • ABTasty.getTestsOnPage(): displays the list of campaigns you are assigned to. Expand the list by clicking on the chevron and you will see each campaign with its ID and conditions.
    
    

• • ABTasty.results: displays the list of campaigns in progress on the website you are not assigned to. 
  • Accepted status: when all targeting conditions are met, the campaign status will show “Accepted”. In the example below, you would be exposed to Variation 1.
    
    

2. If you aren't assigned to the campaign, the main results displayed in the console are as follows: 

• • QA rejected: the campaign is currently running on a restricted audience for QA purposes and you’re not meeting the matching conditions.

Example 1: expand the line “QA Parameters” - you can see that the “cookie_scope” condition is not met, as the success status is “false”.

Example 2: the condition “ip_scope” condition is not met: the success status is “false”.

• URL_rejected: the issue stems from URL-based targeting. Either you aren't on the correct URL (this can be related to the HTTPS or the URL settings), or the condition isn’t met.
  
  

• Targeting rejected: the targeting conditions, other than the URL, aren't met.
  
  

• Trigger or Segment rejected: the active page doesn’t meet the Segment condition, this condition is on “false” success status. In the following example, the “device-desktop” condition is not valid.

• Missing_data: the reason depends on the website. This can happen on AJAX-coded pages, for instance. 

⚡	If the command returns the following errors, AB Tasty is not defined. This means that the AB Tasty Tag is not present on the page.  Please check with your technical team about the implementation of the tag on the page.

Browser console: Check event tracking

Before running QA, make sure you are assigned to the campaign. For more information, refer to 🛠️ [Troubleshooting] How to avoid being assigned to a test – the optout method.

To check that your click trackings have been deposited correctly in a standard A/B Test, apply the following steps:

1. Open your Chrome browser’s JavaScript console.
2. Go to the Network tab.
3. Check the Preserve log box for the data to be saved if you change pages.
4. Filter using the ariane.abtasty command.
5. Via the web page, click the tracked CTA.
6. Click the most recent Hit.
7. In the Headers tab, go to the Request Payload section.

Expand the “h” chevron and the following chevrons until you see the name of the CTA and the ID of the related test.

c. Browser console: Check a redirect test

Click tracking works differently in the case of a redirect test because the page isn’t displayed in the Visual Editor.

To QA the click trackings of a Redirect Test, follow the same steps as for a standard A/B Test.

d. Browser console: Check the Social Proof widget

The Social Proof widget enables you to display a message for your visitors, specifying the number of views or purchases for a specific product or page within a pre-set time period.

To collect the number of transactions for a specific product and display it via the Social Proof widget, you must implement the Item Hit and Transaction Tag.

Once the Social Proof widget is implemented and configured on your website, you can run the QA process. This way, you can ensure that the widget properly displays the number of views or the number of transactions (according to your configuration) for a specific product on the right product page.

For more information on the configuration of the Social Proof widget, refer to the Social Proof widget article.

• Check the widget display via the console
  

To check that the number of views or transactions for a specific product displays correctly, take these steps:

1. Go to the product page where you implemented the Social Proof widget

2. Check if the pop-in is displayed on the page:

If the pop-in is not displayed, it means that the widget is not working properly (the widget has not been saved, the test has not been launched, targeting has not been properly configured, etc.). The following steps are valid only if the pop-in appears on the web page

3. Open your browser console

4. Go to the Network tab

5. In the search bar, enter Social

6. Refresh the web page

7. In the Name tab, click the pv?key= (for page views) or i?key= (for items) key

8. Click the Response tab:
You can see the data for each time slot

9. Make sure the data displayed in the console is coherent

The Response and Preview tabs display the following information:

• A part of the URL of the product page where the widget has been configured (for the number of views) and the product SKU (for the number of transactions)
  
  
• The count of pages viewed or transactions by time slot (within the last hour, within the last 3, 7, 12, 24 72, and 168 hours)

If the widget displays and the number of views or transactions matches the data appearing in the console, this means the Social Proof widget is working properly.

For instance, if you want to display the number of views for a specific product within the last 24 hours, you must check that the number displayed in the pop-in is the same as the number that matches the count_24hours line in the console.

If the widget is properly displayed after running the QA process, some issues may remain. For instance, there may be an issue with the collection of product-related transactions.

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How to QA the Transaction Tag

AB Tasty lets you save the data related to transactions made on your website (e.g., transaction amounts, payment methods, number of items purchased, etc.), along with information related to the purchased items (average cart value, item price, etc.).

To send transaction data to AB Tasty and display it in the reports, you need to add the Transaction Tag to your purchase confirmation page, after the generic AB Tasty Tag.

This data is available in the reports of each campaign in the form of indicators. 

Once the transaction tag is implemented on your website, you need to run it through the QA process to make sure that for each purchase, the information is correctly collected by the AB Tasty tag, and that the transaction goal is visible on the goal configuration page.

Verifying that transaction data is collected properly

There are three ways to verify the transaction data collection: 

• With the QA Assistant
• With the console’s Network tab
• With the Application/Local Storage tab of the console

The first part of the Transaction Tag generates a “type=TRANSACTION” query and the second part generates a “type=ITEM” query. Use the Chrome browser console to make sure the transaction tag hit is collected properly. Do this via your browser’s Network tab, in the Local Storage section.

Good to know 💡

To verify that the Transaction Tag is set up properly, you can create an A/A Test on all the pages of the website. When the first transaction has been made by a user on the A/A Test, you’ll see the data in the report.
 

To verify that the Transaction Tag is set up properly, you can create an A/A Test on all the pages of the website.When the first transaction has been made by a user on the A/A Test, you’ll see the data in the report.

a. QA Assistant: Check Transaction Tag

The QA Assistant allows you to QA both tracking and transactions. Transaction data can be found in the dedicated Transactions tab:

You can place a fake order on your website and access the confirmation page. If the Transaction Tag is correctly installed, you should see the transaction data accordingly. If nothing is sent to the QA Assistant, it means that data was not collected and the Transaction Tag has not been implemented correctly. If that’s the case, refer to How to Implement the Transaction Tag? or the Transaction Tag FAQ.

b. Browser console: Check Transaction Tag

Depending on the settings configured when implementing the transaction tag, these will also be listed with the transaction hit. 

To make sure the Transaction Tag is sending hits correctly, apply the following steps:

1. Go to your website.
2. Open your Chrome browser console.
3. Go to the Network tab.
4. On the web page, add products to your cart and confirm your purchase.
5. In the console, select the ariane.abtasty.com transaction hit.

Click the Payload tab and make sure the “TRANSACTION” and “ITEM” settings are there.

👍  The transaction name (ta) appears just as you configured it when implementing the transaction tag. The AB Tasty Tag automatically fills in the generic settings such as vid, vp, ul, sn, sen, sd, etc. to qualify the hit.

The transaction name (ta) appears just as you configured it when implementing the transaction tag. The AB Tasty Tag automatically fills in the generic settings such as vid, vp, ul, sn, sen, sd, etc. to qualify the hit.

c. Application/Local Storage: Check Transaction Tag

You must also make sure the “transaction” and “item” type data has been collected and is present in your browser’s local storage.

To do this,

1. Go to the Application tab of the console
2. In the left-hand column, expand the Local Storage entry
3. Select the ABTastyData key:All “transactions” and “items” type information is displayed

d. Goal configuration page

Once the transaction hit has been collected and the usual processing time is up (between 45 minutes and 4 hours), you can add the transaction goal to your campaigns (for more on this, refer to New Reporting - Configuring Goals).

To do this,

1. Create a new campaign in QA mode
2. Go to the Goals step of your campaign
3. Click the Transaction goal
4. Select your transaction goal to add it as a main or secondary goal

👍 The goal name matches the value assigned to the ta setting during transaction tag implementation.

The goal name matches the value assigned to the ta setting during transaction tag implementation.