Guides and Surveys - Testing in Preview and Production

Before you publish a tour, survey, or other content, confirm the design is polished and that everything behaves as intended. This article walks you through:

• What Preview mode is good for (and how it differs from production behavior)
• What to test in Preview versus live environments
• How to test safely before launching to customers

Learn more about previewing content:

• With the Chrome browser extension
• Without the Chrome browser extension

What Preview mode is good for

Preview mode is designed to help you with copy and design. It lets you check your copy, styling, and layouts without getting blocked by targeting rules or frequency limits. Once you are happy with the design, test your content in a staging or production environment to validate delivery behaviors, such as custom user properties and event triggers.

Preview mode intentionally bypasses some of the targeting and delivery rules you set:

• "Show once" rules: Paused so you can keep editing.
  • Production: Once a visitor dismisses or completes a guide, their progress is saved so they do not see the same content twice.
  • Preview: Every page refresh starts a clean test, so you can iterate on copy and layout instantly.
• Trigger conditions: Relaxed so you can inspect the design immediately.
  • Production: Content only triggers under specific session states or sequential event triggers.
  • Preview: Trigger rules are temporarily loosened, even if you would not meet the conditions in a live session.
• Anonymous test sessions: Preview does not use your live identity or segments.
  • Production: Targeting depends on custom backend integrations, synced user segments, or historical properties.
  • Preview: Runs on an anonymous test session, so segment and user property criteria are skipped.

What to test in Preview versus live environments

Use this table to decide when to use Preview mode versus when to test live in staging or production.

If you are still revising copy and layout, stay in Preview. If you are ready to verify targeting rules or other behaviors, move to a live environment (staging or production).

How to test safely before launching to customers

When you are ready to transition from validating content to validating behaviors, use these practices for testing in staging or live production:

1. Use a staging environment for comprehensive testing. If available, deploying your in-app content to a staging, test, or non-production environment is the safest way to test without impacting live users. These environments provide a complete sandbox that mirrors your production setup, so you can test full functionality—including targeting, triggers, and integrations—without risk to live users or your production data.
2. Test live with a URL parameter. To test live in-app content without exposing it to customers, use Page Targeting in content Settings. Add a rule like URL contains ?fs_test=true to your draft content. Once published, standard site visitors will not see it. You can experience the live guide by appending ?fs_test=true to your website's URL.

3. Test with the trigger set to Manually. Set the content Settings trigger to Manually and Everytime, then publish the content. You can share the link and view it in staging or production; only users with the link will see it. When you are ready, change the trigger setting. 

4. Target an internal segment or user properties. Create a segment containing only your company's internal IP addresses or employee email domains, or target a specific user property (such as user_email ends with @yourcompany.com). Because user property evaluations fire immediately, applying these rules to your audience targeting lets your internal team test on production.