This article explains how to preview an experiment in the browser before and after it launches.
Requirement: the Evolv snippet must be installed on the target site for the Web Editor's QA mode to render preview links.
On this page:
- How preview links actually work
- How to use preview links in the Web Editor
- How to use preview links from the Manager
How preview links actually work
Preview links are generally used for QA and approval of variants.
A preview or "share" link allows you to test a combination of variants for an experiment in a browser, outside the scope of the experiment.
When you generate a preview link, whether it's in the Web Editor or the Manager, the system creates a brand new experiment in its own environment. This is why the experiment and environment IDs are different to what you expect, particularly if the experiment is already live. It's this isolation that keeps your real experiment's data clean.
Compare preview functionality
The preview links work slightly differently depending on whether they were generated via the Web Editor or the Manager. Here is a table highlighting the key differences.
| Web Editor | Manager | |
| Variant & Context Code | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Environment Config / Integrations | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Audience | ⚪ | 🟢 |
| Include Other Active Experiments | ⚪ | ⚪ |
How to use preview links in the Web Editor
Preview links allow your work on variants to be reviewed by others. Those other users may not have the Web Editor installed, but still need to review your work.
- Open the Web Editor.
- Click on the account icon in the top-right corner and log in using your Evolv Manager credentials.
- Select QA Mode from the dropdown.
- Select one or more variants from the combination list, then click the Play icon.
- The selected variants render in the preview window.
- Click on the SHARE button and select COPY LINK.
- Open your browser of choice and paste in the link.
The preview functionality in the Web Editor respects the environment settings for the selected account. This means integration code assigned to the environment in the Manager is available during the preview.
There is no audience applied to the experiment, so it will show for all users using the preview link.
How to use preview links from the Manager
You can preview a combination in the browser with a link that’s available through the Manager. This is helpful for having the most accurate representation of how a combination will behave in browsers. You can do this either from a staging environment or in production.
Preview links are good for:
- Allowing non-technical users who don’t have the Web Editor installed to view combinations.
- Validating combinations as you monitor live experiments.
- Viewing combinations when an optimization goes from initialization to evolution phase.
In production, you can preview any combination, including those in the optimization phase that contain multiple variants.
- Navigate to the Combination page in the Manager.
- Select the Combination that you would like to preview in your browser.
- At the top of the combinations detail drawer that slides out from the right, there is an option to “Preview” the combination.
- Click the Preview in Browser text to open the preview in a new tab of the current browser.
- You can also copy the link by clicking on the icon.
Generating preview links from inside the Manager gives you an identical experience to what users see in production.
Only the selected experiment will render with a preview link. Other experiments may be present on the page, but those are not represented here.