Skip to main content
Français (Canada)

Testing Your Uplifter Site

Updated

 

Overview

Testing your site is an important piece of your success. To ensure that user experience, discounts, and fees are all acting as desired you will want to run through as many use cases as you can think of. This article will help you determine where the bumps are and discuss how best to iron them out.

Available On:
Bronze
Silver
Gold
Enterprise
Some features in this article may only be available on certain tiers.

 

Getting Started

To ensure your success in testing your site, please ensure you have reviewed the following elements before starting so as to gain a better understanding of the system and processes.

More Information

Testing vs. Live Mode

Before you begin, you will want to verify if your site is live or in testing mode. Navigate to Settings > Uplifter Settings > [Site Options] tab.

Testing Mode

If you are in testing mode, you will see this in your Registration Status section:

2.png

Testing mode means you can test all elements on your site, including payments. Once you are done, you can purge your test invoices. This does not remove any categories, programs, or products you create. Only the testing invoices. See Purging Your Test Data for more information on this process.

Live Mode

If your site is set to live you will see the following in your Registration Status section:

1.png

Live mode means that your site is taking live registrations and real payments. You can test all elements, including payments, but with one caveat. When testing non-payment items you can proceed up until the site needs you to pay, then abandon the test. However, if you need to test the payment process you will need to make some adjustments.

Since you will be charged by Bambora at a percentile rate for payments that you process, you will want to adjust the costs of the items you are adding to the invoice down to $0.01. This way you are only seeing the per-transaction cost and have minimized the percentile costs. Note that is important for you to test new payment types, even if you have already gone live. See our Invoice Actions article - Adjust The Cost section for more information on this process.

 

Using a Test Account

More often than not, testing in your admin account works perfectly fine for your needs. However, if you want to truly experience what your end user will experience on your public site, it can be quite handy to have a test account. 

Create Your Test Account

  1. Log out of your Uplifter site
  2. Select Login at the top right
  3. Fill in the First Time Registering form with fake data. Note that you do not need to use a real email address, but you do need to use a proper password to protect the account. Of course, remember both!
  4. With the account created, log into your admin account and navigate to People & Accounts > Member accounts and select the Verify User VerifyUser-A.png icon next to their name.
  5. Once the account is created and you are automatically logged in, select My Account (top right), then Participants
  6. Add some fake participants to be used for registration

For more help creating a member account please see our Members article - Creating A Member Account section. For more help created participant profiles please see our Participants article - Creating A Participant Profile section.

Set Permissions

  1. Log into your admin account
  2. Navigate to Settings > Permissions
  3. Select Add Group
  4. Name your group as you would like, add your test account, and give the group the Beta Purchasing permission
  5. Select Save
You won't want your test account to have the same level of access as your standard admin account. However, you do want it to have the Beta Purchasing permission. This is to ensure that your account can test without worrying about setting your programs, etc. to live.

For more information on permissions please see our article Permissions.

Double Log-Ins

It's probably that you will want to log into your admin account and test account at the same time. To do so, you will either need to use two different browsers, or use the Incognito version (Ctrl+Shift+N on many browsers) of your browser of choice to log into the secondary account.

Please see our Non-Uplifter Tips & Tricks article - Frequently Asked Questions section for more information on suggested browsers.

 

Public vs. Admin Tests

When testing your site for the various elements noted below, you can often test from either the admin or the public side of your site.

Public Side

Public testing is important because it emulates the experience your standard members will go through.
  1. Select Public Site if on the admin side (top right)
  2. Select Registration and add your desired items to your cart
  3. Select Shopping Cart to proceed to the checkout
  4. Review the items, costs, fees, and discounts
  5. Select your payment method and proceed through the payment process (if testing payments)

Admin Side

Admin testing is important because this will be your primary method of interacting with invoices within the system. 
  1. Select My Account if on the public side (top right) > Admin
  2. Navigate to Accounting > Invoices > Add Invoice
  3. Select an existing member or create a new one
  4. Add your desired items to the invoice
  5. SELECT CALCULATE*
  6. Review the items, costs, fees, and discounts
  7. Select Select Payment Method & Post and proceed through the payment process (if testing payments)

* Calculate prompts the system to review the current items on the invoice and apply any fees or discounts that the invoice qualifies for. Unless you explicitly need it to not do this, you should always hit Calculate.

 

Beta Status

Within Uplifter your programs, products, subscriptions, and tickets can all have one of three statuses. Unavailable - which will show on the admin-side of the site only. Beta - which will show on the admin and public side, but only for those who have the Beta Purchasing permission. Public - which will show on the admin and public side to all users.

During your testing of any items or practices on your site, it is best to have all items being tested set to Beta status.

 

Testing

Now that you are prepared and aware of the standards and basics of the site you are ready to begin testing!

Hero-Blog.png

 

One and Done?

When testing your site it is very important to test thoroughly. This means you should test more than one invoice. In fact, you should test multiple invoices from the same account, different accounts, different circumstances, etc. Push your system to the limits of what you think your members might do.

 

General Invoice Tests

General invoice testing offers a base understanding of the system. These are your first steps in your testing practices and really only serve to familiarize you with your site and how basic functions work.

From both the public and admin side of your site, in turn, create an invoice, add a few items and see how the system works.

Public

  1. Navigate to the Public side of your site
  2. Select Registration and add a program (or programs) to cart
  3. Select to navigate to your Shopping Cart and proceed through the checkout process
  4. Complete the checkout process while reviewing how the site works, where things are displayed, and ensuring that pricing, etc. are displaying as you would like.

GeneralInvoice1.gif

Admin

  1. Navigate to the admin side of your site
  2. Navigate to Accounting > Invoices > Add New
  3. Create an invoice for yourself/your test account and add a few items to your cart
  4. Complete the checkout process while reviewing how the site works, where things are displayed, and ensuring that pricing, etc. are displaying as you would like.

GeneralTestAdmin.gif

 

Subscription Tests

ProductsTicketsAndSubscriptions.png

Subscription testing focuses on ensuring that mandatory and non-mandatory subscriptions and fees are displayed and applied when desired. Be sure to review the Offering Products, Tickets & Subscriptions section of the Products, Tickets & Subscriptions article to ensure your preferred settings are enabled. 

For more information on products, tickets, and subscriptions please see our article Products, Tickets, and Subscriptions.

Public Side

  1. Navigate to the Public side of your site
  2. Select Registration and add any required programs that instigate your subscriptions
  3. Select to navigate to your Shopping Cart
  4. Review the non-mandatory subscriptions that display in the suggestion pop-up
  5. Review the mandatory subscriptions that automatically apply to your invoice

TestSubsPublic.gif

Missing a non-mandatory subscription?

Be sure to check the following:
  • your display settings for subscriptions/products
  • the checkout filters applied to your non-mandatory subscription. Note that you will have to add an applicable program to have the system suggest a subscription with checkout filters.
  • the status of your non-mandatory subscription. To have them suggested on the public side you will need to have them set to Beta status.

Missing a mandatory subscription?

Be sure to check the following:
  • the checkout filters applied to your mandatory subscription. Note that you will have to add an applicable program to your cart to have the system add the mandatory subscription with checkout filters.
  • the status of your mandatory subscription. To have them suggested on the public side you will need to have them set to Beta status during testing and Public when you go live.
  • any past invoices you may have created. If the past invoice has the mandatory fee, the system may be recognizing that it is no longer needed for your participant(s). 

Admin Side

  1. Navigate to the admin side of your site
  2. Navigate to Accounting > Invoices > Add New
  3. Create an invoice for yourself/your test account and add any required programs that instigate your subscriptions
  4. Select Calculate
  5. Review the mandatory subscriptions that automatically apply to your invoice
  6. Select Add Subscription or Product
  7. Add any desired non-mandatory subscriptions. Note that the system will not suggest non-mandatory subscriptions on the admin side.

TestSubsAdmin.gif

Missing a non-mandatory subscription?

Be sure to check the following:
  • the status of your non-mandatory subscription. To have them display as options in the Add Subscription or Product drop down, the item must be set to Beta status during testing and Public when you go live.

Missing a mandatory subscription?

Be sure to check the following:
  • the checkout filters applied to your mandatory subscription. Note that you will have to add an applicable program to have the system apply a subscription with checkout filters.
  • the status of your mandatory subscription. To have the system apply a fee after hitting Calculate the fee must be at least Beta status.
  • any past invoices you may have created. If the past invoice has the mandatory fee, the system may be recognizing that it is no longer needed for your participant(s). 

 

Discount Tests

Discount testing focuses on ensuring that the discounts you have set up within your system apply where and when you expect. To ensure this is the case for all discounts, it is often required that you create multiple invoices for the same member account, so as to test out how seasonal discounts apply under various conditions.

For more information on discounts please see our article Discounts.

Public Side

  1. Navigate to the Public side of your site
  2. Select Registration and add any required programs that instigate your discount
  3. Select to navigate to your Shopping Cart
  4. Review the discounts that have applied to your cart

NOTE: If you have discounts that can/do apply under similar circumstances it is often easiest to test from the admin side to ensure they are applying under the right conditions.

Admin Side

  1. Navigate to the admin side of your site
  2. Navigate to Accounting > Invoices > Add New
  3. Create an invoice for yourself/your test account and add any required programs that instigate your discount
  4. Select Calculate
  5. Select Payment Method & Post
  6. Review the discounts that applied to your invoice

NOTE: To review line item discounts in more detail, select to Edit Edit-L.gif the line item.

TestDiscountAdmin.gif

Not Seeing A Discount?

Be sure to check the following:
  • the date range for the discount includes the current testing date
  • you have met all requirements of the benefit to instigate the discount
  • you have met all requirements of the condition - on a single invoice - to instigate the discount

 

Payment Tests

security-with-uplifter.png

Payment testing focuses on familiarizing yourself with the various payment options presented to your members as well as those you may maintain as admin-only options. For more information on payments options please see our article Payment Methods.

Public Side

  1. Navigate to the Public side of your site
  2. Find and add any desired items to your cart (note that if you are testing a specific payment method you may need to add a specific item)
  3. Select to navigate to your Shopping Cart
  4. Proceed the the invoice payment section
  5. Review the payment methods you have available to you
  6. Proceed with your desired payment method to test it to completion

PaymentTest_-_Public.gif

Missing Payment Method?

Be sure to check the following:

Admin Side

  1. Navigate to the admin side of your site
  2. Navigate to Accounting > Invoices > Add New
  3. Create an invoice for yourself/your test account and add any required products/programs
  4. Select Calculate
  5. Select Select Payment Method & Post
  6. Select to Edit Edit-L.gif the pending payment line that is generated
  7. Review the payment methods made available to you and 
  8. Proceed with your desired payment method to test it to completion

PaymentTesting-Admin.gif

Missing Payment Method?

Be sure to check the following:

 

Invoice Tests

Policies.png

Invoice testing focuses on the admin-only features and functions that allow site administrators to truly control the system and the outcome of various purchases/registrations. For more information on invoice actions please see our article Invoice Actions.

Admin

  1. Navigate to the admin side of your site
  2. Navigate to Accounting > Invoices
  3. Select to Edit Edit-L.gif any one of your test invoices
  4. Practice performing the following actions:

 

Reporting Tests

Report testing can be just as important as the items above. Most often, this should be performed by (or in tandem with) your organization's treasurer/accountant. For more information on reports please see our article Reports.

Admin

  1. Navigate to the admin side of your site
  2. Navigate to Reports
  3. Review the reports available and find one that pertains to your position
  4. Practice performing the following actions:

 

Public Page Tests

Public testing is focused on ensuring your site is accessible, convenient, and easy to use. Because this does not necessarily require direct testing, so much as reviewing and comparing to person preference, many of these items listed below are not direct steps.

Public

  1. Navigate to the public side of your site
  2. Navigate through the pages you have created
  3. Are all pages organically accessible (using links or menus)?
  4. Would the flow of your site make sense to someone looking for information about your organization?
  5. Would the flow of your site make sense to someone looking to register for the first time 1?
  6. Log out of your system and review the site. How do things look? Is everything still accessible? Would you know how to sign up?

1 We do our best to make sure Uplifter sites are easy to navigate, access, and register with as soon as they are created. However, some users are truly new to the online registration/purchase process. As such, having steps or instructions for your members on how to make an account and register can be highly useful.

 

Purging Your Test Data

When you have completed your testing and you are happy with your site, it is time to purge your test data and go live with your site. These steps are captured in the Going Live: Purging Your Test data article.

 

Related articles