SiteSpect QA Best Practices

SiteSpect supports various campaign types (Visual Editor, Origin, Find & Replace, Client-Side Factor), but some recommendations may depend on your. For additional tips, refer to Best Practices for Working with SiteSpect.

It is important to always QA everything before making it active in a production environment. Be sure to preview the campaign on multiple browsers and mobile devices if those are part of the target audience. 

Test any actions a user might perform and verify the variation changes are persisting as expected. Try navigating away from and back to the target page - Adjust filters/options/input values. Form fields, payment details and orders may be necessary depending on your changes. 

It is important to test the campaign across different URLs and page types on your site. Make sure the desired experience triggers where it should, and does not trigger where it should not. You can use the summary tab in a preview to review the counted status.

Another useful approach to follow is to work through the four core sections of the campaign builder to review the critical elements in each. This approach assumes you are referencing a Campaign Design Guide (CDG) or design specifications that outline the campaign requirements.

Campaign Setup

General

• Confirm the appropriate campaign type: Overlay, Origin Experiments, or Non-Overlay.
• Ensure assignment frequency and variation group frequencies are updated as specified in the CDG.
• Verify Campaign Variations are correctly linked to campaigns and Site Variations are assigned to test traffic (when appropriate).
• Confirm an appropriate counting mechanism is in place (e.g., variation counting users or Metrics).
• Ensure counting symmetry between all variation groups.
• Verify host criteria in Triggers, Audiences, and other components for multi-subdomain sites.

Variations

• Confirm campaign Triggers point to the correct pages.
• Use Preview panel to check for the “Counted” status after visiting a test page or fulfilling a counting Metric.
• If using Regex-based Triggers, confirm the match type dropdown is set to "Regex" or "Does not match Regex."
• For Find & Replace Variations:
  • Verify that Find & Replace fields are set to Regex (not "Contains") if using Regex.
  • Add a Page Source Trigger to match the content being targeted (e.g., </head> or </body>).
  • Include a Header Trigger for Content Type HTML to avoid other file types.
  • If using </head> or </body> as insertion points in the Find field, remember to add them back in the Replace field.
• For client-side variations, ensure client-side triggers are applied, and URL triggers use "Path" instead of “URL Path.”

Metrics

• Verify requested Metrics are included and the correct KPI is set.
• Use Preview to confirm Metrics trigger on the correct pages or visitor actions.
• For non-page traffic (e.g., API calls), check the Network tab in Developer Tools for Sitespect-Info and Sitespect-Metrics-Info headers.
• Test purchase paths or other critical flows if Variations affect checkout or confirmation pages.

Audiences

• Confirm requested Include and Exclude Audiences are set. Users must match:
  • ALL of the Include Audiences.
  • NONE of the Exclude Audiences.
• Use Preview Settings to verify Audiences.
• If no Audience is specified, all visitors will be assigned.

Previewing

• Use Incognito Mode or clear cookies to avoid conflicts between a natural session and a preview session.
• Validate multiple use cases: logged-in vs. logged-out users, account types, or product display variations.
• Share Preview Links with team members to test across different browsers, devices, and audiences.
• Use the diagnostic Preview panel to confirm Variations, Site Variations, and Metrics on test pages.

JavaScript

• Check the console for any JavaScript errors introduced by campaign code.
• Remove debugging console.log statements.
• Ensure that JavaScript closures do not pollute the global scope.
• Verify that dependency checks are implemented:
  • If your script uses jQuery, ensure jQuery is loaded.
  • If using SiteSpect libraries (e.g., for EventTrack metrics) in a Find & Replace variation, wrap the code to pull in the libraries:

    window.SS && SS.Require(function () {
        // your code here
    });

• Use conditional checks (if statements) to avoid undefined errors.

• Run the code through JSHint or JSLint, and address major concerns.

Performance

• Follow best practices for performance:
  • CSS: Place just before the</head> tag.
  • JS: Use non-blocking scripts just before the </body> tag wherever possible.
• Verify compatibility across major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
• Use SiteSpect Debug Mode to monitor data flow, campaign objects, and timing between SiteSpect and the origin.
• Use Preview Settings to check your campaign alongside other active or scheduled campaigns to identify undesired interactions.

Contacting Help Desk

If you need assistance, the Help Desk is available:

• Email: helpdesk@sitespect.com
• Phone:
  • US: 1-844-859-1900
  • UK: +44 330 822 1715
  • EU: +31 20 82 020 83
  • AUS: +61 2 7908 6920

When reaching out, please include:

• Link to the campaign or metric.
• Steps to reproduce the issue.
• Screenshots or screen recording.
• HAR file export (if applicable).