How to test Scenarios

The following guide shows how to conduct quality assurance (QA) for Bloomreach Engagement scenarios.

Quality assurance for Scenarios is useful at various stages to ensure that the scenarios are functioning correctly and delivering the intended outcomes. By performing QA in your Scenarios, you can ensure that your scenarios are reliable, effective, and aligned with your business goals.

There are three ways to test scenarios:

  • using the test lab,
  • using event triggers,
  • using "as live" email testing.

Use the Test tab

When to use the Test tab:

Use the Test tab when:

  • Building a scenario to check the number of customers flowing through.
  • Debugging existing scenarios.
    • For example, if something changes in the data, it can cause conditions to fail.
  • Non-event triggered scenarios.

Check the numbers of customers

You can always see the number of customers flowing through. In more complex scenarios, this number may seem too high.

When you start the scenario, a warning message will appear stating the number of customers affected. The numbers may not match, but for a simple scenario like this, the numbers match (4 customers).

Why these numbers of customers?

We are testing two triggers, so twice as many customers appear to flow through, even though both wouldn’t actually happen at once. Additionally, with two “action” nodes for each customer, so the warning message at the start will show 16 affected customers.

Use event triggers

When building a triggered scenario, include a separate testing flow to trigger the scenario for a dummy/test customer.

In the “add event” node, include any attributes required by the scenario (e.g. filters or email). Remember to tick the Allow scenario triggering checkbox.

Advanced tests

Your testing flow can be more complex and depends on the needs of the scenario you are testing.

You can specify custom timestamps to make sure that events occur in the correct order.

The Jinja snippet`{{ time - 60 }}` tracks the event 60 seconds **before** the current time.

The Jinja snippet{{ time - 60 }} tracks the event 60 seconds before the current time.

Use “As Live” email testing

You can use the custom recipient setting to send all emails to yourself. This is especially useful for complex scenarios which are difficult to test with dummy data.

You can set the scenario live for real customers, but the emails will be delivered to you. Afterwards, review the data. This test is a good “safety net” for accidental sends to customers during scenario development.