A checklist for testing a campaign before it goes live

The checklist

Work down this list in order. Nothing can reach a shopper until step 9, because a campaign needs to be published and its trigger switched on before a real checkout can start it.

Step 1 is quick. Review & Launch names any step that still needs attention, such as a missing campaign brief, a brand profile with no support email, or an offer with no code that has not chosen to go without one.

What the Test button runs

Every setup step has a Test button in its footer. It asks for a first name, a channel (call, text message or email), a phone number and a language, then simulates a conversation against your current setup, including changes you have not published. An AI plays the shopper and you get a written transcript.

A call test holds a simulated phone conversation. A text or email test shows the first message the agent would write, a simulated reply and the agent’s answer. The cart is a sample, so expect to see “Sample item” at $84.00 and a placeholder link.

You cannot choose what the simulated shopper objects to. On a call they are unsure about the size. By text or email they ask about your return policy. So a price objection may never come up in a test. Read your offer rules yourself, and check each code against your store, because ACR does not check that a listed code exists.

What to look for in a transcript

Run the test once per channel, since texts and emails can carry their own guidelines. Then read for these:

• The agent names your store and, with the default setting, says up front that it is an AI assistant.
• Every date, price and policy appears in your brief or brand profile. When one does not, add the fact or forbid the claim.
• It makes no promise about delivery dates, free shipping or refunds that you have not listed.
• Any code it mentions is one you listed, offered on your terms.
• If the conversation touches something on your hand-off list, it says your team will follow up.
• It stops when the shopper is not interested, and it sounds brief on a call.
• The first text carries “Reply STOP to opt out.” An email has the subject, sender name and signature you want.

Change the setup and press Run again. A few rounds per channel usually costs less than fixing a brief after real shoppers have heard it.

What to listen to

A call test gives you words on a screen, with no sound. The audio you can check before launch is the voice sample on the agent’s Configuration step, so play it. If your brand name is easy to say wrong, fill in the pronunciation on the brand profile.

Calls are recorded by default, so the first real calls are the ones to listen to. That is one reason for the cap in step 8.

What a test leaves out

A test lead in a test run skips the consent, country, night-time and daily call cap checks. A clean transcript shows you what the agent says. It tells you nothing about how many real shoppers will pass those checks, or whether a carrier delivers a text or a mailbox lands in the inbox.

Real runs never skip those checks. If a real checkout comes in from a number marked as a test lead, ACR clears the test flags before the checkout can start a run. Abandon your own live checkout with your test number and you will be treated as a real shopper.

Publish first, trigger last

Review and publish shows what changed since the last publish. Publishing saves the version ACR runs, and it switches nothing on. A new campaign’s triggers start off, and the switch stays locked until the campaign is published.

With the campaign published and its trigger still off, an admin can mark a lead as a test lead and assign the campaign to it. That run moves through the sequence at its real delays, records every message and reaches no carrier, which makes it useful for checking timing. The change to the lead is written to the audit log.

Next, open the lead source step. The store connection should say Reading checkouts. An admin switches reading on for the whole store under Settings, Integrations, and until then no checkout can start a campaign.

Before going live, set a cap under Start Conditions: choose Custom limits and fill in Most shoppers this campaign takes. We would start small enough to read every conversation. When the cap is reached you get a notification, and new shoppers skip the campaign until you raise the cap or reset the count.

Then switch on the triggers. ACR asks you to confirm, because from that moment “shoppers who match start the published version of this campaign”.

For the first few shoppers, open their records under Leads. A shopper who was passed over has a reason in their history, such as “The lead has not consented to any channel this campaign uses.” A cluster of the same reason usually points to a setting. Our post on what makes a step skip or wait lists the rest.

After launch, remember that Test runs your draft while shoppers get the published version. Review & Launch says “Published, with changes waiting” when the two differ. Triggers, start conditions and overrides do not wait for a publish: they apply as soon as you save them.