Testing and Troubleshooting

Testing

Using the final edit of the campaign HTML, test the campaign in the production environment. Recommendation relevance can only be tested in production, because there, the user ID is valid.

The strategy for production testing Recommend in email is to repeatedly:

  1. Edit the image URL

  2. Copy and paste it into a browser

  3. Load the URL.

Each iteration requires a fresh random order ID and one of the following:

  • A fresh user ID

  • A fresh product ID

  • A fresh category ID

The objective of testing is to verify that:

  • Image size is correct for the email.

  • Relevant recommendations are being served.

  • We are seeing the correct individual images that clicking each product should invoke – not just a possibly inappropriate cached image.

When these tests are successful, the Recommend email campaign is ready for production.

Troubleshooting

Same Recommendations Returned During Testing

To get a fresh image returned, change one of the three items: user id, date, or order id. If these parameters are static by design, Algonomy will return a previously cached image. This prevents an image from being changed if an email is opened by a customer multiple times or if the email is forwarded to a new individual. Additionally, for the image map solution, the parameter &testMode=true can be added to the URL to refresh the images but should be removed from the production site once deployed. Similarly, for the responsive design solution, the parameter &devMode=true can be added to the URL to refresh the images but should be removed from the production site once deployed.

Empty 7x7 Pixel Image Returned

This indicates that the request correctly hits the server, but it is unable to create a recommendation image. Ensure that all the required query string parameters are in the URL with correct API key and campaign ID. Confirm that a layout exists for the email campaign.

No or Broken Image Returned

This can be caused by an incorrectly formatted URL. Check that all the required query string parameters are included and verify that the campaign ID and API key are correct.