Testing your site is a crucial step in ensuring that all aspects are working as you desired them to be. With many customized and automated processes, the system will work as it is configured to, therefore this article will walk through the different ways in which you can test different sections of the site prior to launch.
When testing your site, it is extremely helpful to have email accounts that you can use to test various processes in your site.
The process of adding a test user is the same as adding a live user to the site. In order to add a new user:
Within SurveyMonkey Apply, you can make use of Gmail's ability to spoof an email address. This process will allow you to set up multiple accounts within the site which appear to have different email addresses, however if an email is sent from the site it will be sent to the real email.
The way this works is, if your normal email is example@gmail.com you can create as many accounts as you need to under this email by adding a + and additional text after the initial part of the email. For example:
example+test1@gmail.com
example+applicant@gmail.com
example+100@gmail.com
This can be useful in testing how an email will be displayed when received and when in the process certain emails will be sent. See the Testing Emails section below for more details on this process.
NOTE: The value that goes after the + can be anything you need it to be as long as the characters adhere to a regular email format.
Once you have added a user as an Applicant to the site you can use this applicant to test the application process.
In order to test the submission process with applicant permissions:
If your application includes a recommendation task, you may wish to test this process.
NOTE: Ensure that the setting "Allow applicants to see completed recommendations" is set up correctly. If enabled, you will be able to see the recommendation when assuming the role of the applicant. If not enabled, it will only be visible within the Admin Application Preview.
Testing the application process will allow you to ensure that all active automations and piping variables in your forms are working. You can also refer to the specific sections below for more information on how to test each feature. Adding a user and a test application will be consistently referred to throughout the various sections of this article.
After testing the application process, you can move these applications to the Review Stage in order to test the review process.
To test the review process:
Try testing the review form, making notes on applications, downloading reviews and applications etc. This will also allow you to gain a better understanding of the process when it comes to Troubleshooting live reviewer issues.
Testing the review process will allow you to ensure that all active automations and piping variables in your forms are working correctly for you. You can also refer to the specific sections below for more information on how to test each feature.
When you have created an automation in the site it is important to test its functionality to ensure that the automation is correct. This is especially important for when you have conditions on your automations and want to ensure that it fires for the correct applications, and doesn't fire for applications that don't meet your conditions.
In order to test your automation
When creating emails whether through Manage Users, Manage Applications, or Notifications there is the ability to Send a Test. This feature will allow you to enter in an email and test the format and deliverability of the emails when being received. For example, if you have a logo uploaded to the Design section of the Email settings you will be able to see how it appears within the received email.
This test email will display the general template of the email, but it will not be personalized to the user receiving it. Therefore, if you have piping variables within the email these would not be sent when clicking Send Test instead they would be shown as a placeholder.
As mentioned above the Send Test button will not pipe in variables into the received emails, therefore if you are looking to test these variables you will need to send the email to a user/ application that those variables apply to. For example, if you are looking to pipe in a response from an applicant form, you will need to ensure that the test application you are using has completed that response.
This process is where Gmail Spoofing can come in handy. You can use a spoofed account to create an application, and then send the email to that account containing your piped variables. The email that is sent will be received to your real Gmail address and you will be able to see how the variables appear including any formatting and design that you have applied.
During the build process of a form you have the ability to Preview it within the Form Builder. This will allow you to see the form as an applicant would. It will also allow you to test any validation, advanced expression piping, in-form piping, or branching logic that has been created within the form in order to ensure that the correct questions are showing when they should be.
However, if you are looking to test piping variables within the form, such as pulling in the applicant's name, or a response to a question in a different form, you will not be able to test this within the Form Preview. This will need to be tested using a Test Application.
Although the Form Preview has a lot of capabilities for testing the form, you will not be able to test form-to-form piping variables, or piping specific to the applicant as a real user with this information will need to be used.
In order to test piping variables in this manner, we would recommend using a Test Application. Using a test application will allow you to test Piping Variables, as well as everything that can be tested within the Form Preview.
It is quite common to need to test a program in your site including the application process, review process, automations, etc. However, you may not be ready to make it visible to applicants.
If this is the case, you can take the following steps:
When you assume the role or log in as that user, the application will be available under My Applications and you will be able to use it to test in the site. However, the Program will remain hidden and applications can't be created by applicants.