Previewing Personalizations

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Quick Reference

Using Preview Mode

SwapTopic offers powerful preview tools to test your personalizations before they affect real visitors.

Enabling Preview Access

Before using preview mode:

  1. Go to Settings tab
  2. Ensure Preview Mode is set to Enabled
  3. Save your settings

Learn more about SwapTopic Settings.

Accessing Preview Mode

There are two ways to access the preview interface:

  1. From the Dashboard:

    • Go to Settings tab
    • Click the Preview Site button

  2. Direct URL Access:

    • Add ?swaptopic=preview to any page URL on your site
    • Example: https://yourstore.com/?swaptopic=preview

Using the Preview Interface

Once in preview mode:

  1. The SwapTopic preview panel appears in the top-right corner
  2. Browse through all personalizations configured for the current page
  3. Click between variations to see how each one looks
  4. View rule conditions that trigger each personalization
  5. Test different variations without affecting your analytics data

Testing Specific Scenarios

To test personalizations for specific visitor types:

  1. Use the preview panel to switch between variations
  2. Each selector shows the HTML element being targeted
  3. Each variation displays its rule conditions (e.g., Returning Visitor, User Segment)
  4. Click “Default” to see the original content without personalization

Element Selection Mode

For creating new personalizations:

  1. Go to Settings tab and click Site Setup or add ?swaptopic=setup to any URL
  2. Hover over any element to see its selector
  3. Click on an element to copy its selector to clipboard
  4. Use this selector when creating new personalizations

Best Practices

  1. Always preview personalizations before activating them
  2. Test on different devices and screen sizes
  3. Check that content transitions smoothly without layout shifts
  4. Review default content to ensure graceful fallback
  5. Preview as different user types (first-time, returning, converted)

Exiting Preview Mode

To exit preview or setup mode:

  • Click the “Exit Preview” or “Exit” button in the control panel
  • Remove the swaptopic=preview or swaptopic=setup parameter from the URL