Testing a Landing Page is not only a great way see how it looks, but it's also a good opportunity to complete and submit the Landing Page (truly "test" it) so that you can make sure that it works as intended. This is important because each Landing Page type (Form, Content Only, Unsubscribe Form, and Custom) has distinct behaviors based on its distinct purpose.
If your account is integrated with an AMS/CRM database, you can learn how to Test a Landing Page for IPM, as described in this article.
This article describes the different ways to trigger a Landing Page test; how to interact with the test page to truly test it; and how to test preference-management in your integrated AMS/CRM database.
Access & test a Landing Page
You can test existing Landing Pages and you can test new ones, during the create process, as you create them.
To test a Landing Page, access the Admin interface and navigate to Landing Pages.
NOTE: You cannot test Landing Pages on the Archived tab.
On the In Progress and Active lists:
- Hover over the menu icon and click Test. The Landing Page opens in a new tab.
On the In Progress list only:
- Hover over the menu icon and click Edit.
TIP: Consider specifying your own email address in the Notify section of the Process tab for the test.
- In Landing Page Designer, click the Activate tab.
- Click either Test Landing Page or Test Mobile Landing Page. The Landing Page opens in a new tab.
See Landing Page Tabs for information about the functions of the Landing Page Designer tabs.
The Test page
When the test page opens, it displays exactly as it will when published, complete with all of your Landing Page content. The Test Mode message at the top of the page indicates that:
- any test data that is included on submission is saved to your account and
- only a valid email address should be used.
As shown below, the test page displays as it will when published.
- The text on the action/submit button (e.g., Save) reflects whatever has been set up on the Design tab.
- Complete all required fields (and optionally, any others) and click the button to complete the test.
Notes
- Any post-submission actions that are set up on the Process tab (such as a redirects and email notifications) will be triggered as configured.
- Any action that the test triggers will be reflected in any reports that typically include the action.
- Content Only Landing Pages are static-content pages that do not solicit user interaction; they do not include an action/submit button.
Content Only pages
Because Content Only pages do not collect subscriber data or require user action, the test simply displays the page.
Unsubscribe Form pages
Unsubscribe forms are populated with subscriber data.
However, when testing an unsubscribe form, there is no subscriber data to populate the form, so it displays the email placeholder, %%EMAIL%%.
- Clicking the "unsubscribe" action button does not submit the form. Instead, it displays the following message.
NOTE: This click action will create an "unknown subscriber" record in your Landing Page Reports.
Test a Landing Page for IPM
When you test a Landing Page for IPM, it's important that you test to an existing record in the host AMS database so that you can confirm that the Landing Page is picking up the subscriber data in the database. To do this:
- Insert a link to the IPM Landing Page in a template.
- Create a message using that template.
- Send a test message to an existing database record.
- Have the test recipient click on the link for the Landing Page form, and then compete and submit the form.
- Check the host AMS database to ensure that the selections were applied to the test recipient's record.