Product testing campaigns allow you to reward members by sending them products for free in exchange for their content, reviews, feedback, and insights!
Product testing objectives
A product test can serve several strategic objectives:
- Acquisition: attract new members to the community and encourage them to create an account
- Activation: guide newly registered members toward their first value-added action
- Retention: bring existing members back to the platform
- Engagement and UGC production: generate reusable content (reviews, photos, videos, testimonials)
- Business impact: enrich e-commerce product pages with authentic reviews, providing social proof for future buyers
Create the campaign
Prerequisite: Make sure you have a product testing channel set up on your community. It allows you to display and list all existing product testing campaigns:
- Campaigns open for applications or awaiting responses to invitations
- Ongoing campaigns (no longer open to new participants)
- Completed campaigns
In Animation > Product Testing > Create a new campaign, follow these steps to create your campaign:
- Give your product testing campaign a name.
- Then add a description and format your text. Use this section to introduce the product that members will test and any other important information.
- Choose the start date of your campaign.
- Add a banner (640x200px) to the campaign so members can visualize the product.
- Click "Continue" at the bottom of the page.
To choose the product offered for this campaign, you have two options:
- Your product catalog is already imported into the community: directly select the product to test by searching for its name.
- No catalog imported / New product: manually add it by filling in its information (SKU, name, description, image, product URL). Note: Members only see the product image and name. The other fields are required for technical purposes only.
You can add only one product per campaign. If you want to run a campaign with multiple products, use option 2 to manually add your product bundle/pack.
You can use a fictional product ID; this will not cause any issues. However, it is important to make sure that this ID does not match an existing product. We therefore recommend keeping a file to track the history of created IDs.
Choose the type of campaign you want to create:
- Open campaign: the product test will be visible to the entire community, and anyone will be able to apply.
-
By invitation only: the product test will only be visible to selected members (and admin accounts) within the community, for a more exclusive experience. For this type of campaign, you must define the target by setting a maximum number of participants and applying a Field (for example: having at least 100 points), then click "Confirm testers".
To learn more about inviting testers, check out this article.
If an invitation-only campaign is modified before the final selection of testers, the invitation email will be sent again. This doubles the number shown in the Applicants/Invited column and may create confusion. Don’t worry, the number of testers remains the one you initially selected.
The campaign survey is the application form that members must complete to apply.
Questions configured for the testing profile (available in member profiles) will automatically appear, along with the shipping address. You should therefore select only the additional fields that may help you choose your testers later.
In addition to the default questions, you can also create a campaign-specific form by adding new fields. These fields will apply only to this campaign. To do so, scroll to the bottom of the list and click "Add a custom field", then:
- Choose the question (Label) and the question type (text, single or multiple choice, location).
- Define whether this field is optional or required.
- Enable "Is Read only" to simply display information without requesting an answer from applicants.
- Choose where you want the field to appear (Rank 1 to place it at the top, 10 to place it at the bottom, for example). Fields cannot be reordered after creation.
- For single or multiple-choice questions, add as many answer options as needed.
Answers to these questions will help you filter and select your testers in the future, so make sure to ask the most relevant questions.
Here, you can define the type of contribution you expect from your testers:
- Social campaigns: ask testers to post using a specific hashtag on social media. You can select a hashtag you have already defined or create a new one. Start and end dates are optional and can be removed or modified.
- Insights: ask testers to share their impressions of the product they are testing, for example through a review. They can submit text, photos, videos, tag a product, and you can also add custom fields if needed. Each element can be set as required, optional, or forbidden.
- Other: create any type of mission that testers must complete to validate their participation in the campaign. For more information about missions, see this article.
This step is optional and can be skipped (by clicking "Skip this step" in the top-right corner) if you do not require any action from users for the campaign.
You can configure a reminder for each campaign via notification and email. Select the number of days after the first tester selection when the reminder should be sent:
- If the selector remains set to 0, then no reminder is sent.
- If it is set to 7, for example, the reminder is sent 7 days after the date of the first tester selection.
Regardless of the time the tester selection is made, the reminder email is sent at 6 a.m..
It is sent to all testers who have not yet submitted a contribution (those with the "Testing" status). A tester who has already submitted a contribution will not receive a reminder, even if it has not yet been validated.
If a reminder is configured and the tester selection has already been completed, the reminder send date is displayed on the reviews page.
Manage the campaign
1. Editing the campaign
You can edit your campaign at any time after it has been created. To do so, go to Animation > Product Testing, then click on the campaign you want to edit.
Once it opens, click "Edit campaign" in the top right corner.
2. Closing the campaign
Closing a campaign categorizes it in the "Closed" section on the product testing channel and highlights new campaigns in this section. You will still be able to closely monitor your campaign analytics, such as its average duration.
You have two options to close a campaign:
- Click on "End campaign": Available at any time (even if you have not selected testers yet or if you have not received all reviews). Neither applicants nor testers are notified of this action.
- Validate all testers’ contributions: When all testers have submitted their reviews and you have validated them all, the campaign automatically moves to the "Closed" status.
Even if a campaign is closed:
- Testers who have not yet submitted their contribution can still do so.
- Admins can still validate reviews that have not yet been validated.
- Testers and admins can still use the discussion thread on the campaign detail page.
3. Deleting the campaign
Once the campaign has been launched, you can delete it. In Animation > Product Testing, a red trash icon is displayed on the right of each campaign. Click on it and confirm the deletion. A confirmation message appears once the deletion is successfully completed.
Important to know:
- Only admins with the
UpdateProductTestingpermission can delete a campaign. - This action is irreversible: even if it is a temporary deletion, there is no "recover" option.
- Deleted campaigns no longer appear in the campaign dashboard.
4. Removing a tester
Regardless of the campaign status or type, it is always possible to remove a tester (after testers have been selected). To do so, go to Animation > Product Testing and click on the campaign of your choice.
In the list of testers for this campaign, search for the relevant user using their User ID or username. To the right of the selected tester, click on the trash icon and confirm the action.
The tester will be permanently removed from this list and will no longer have access to the campaign page. This means that:
- Targeted missions from this campaign will no longer appear on their profile.
- Their activity in the discussion thread will be removed: they will no longer be mentioned and will no longer receive notifications related to the thread.
- The tester will no longer appear in tester or review lists.
- This tester’s contributions will no longer be counted in the mission completion tracking table.
No automatic message is sent; you are free to contact them by email or private messaging.
Track campaign progress
Click on the title of each tab to view its contents.
Depending on the selected campaign type, this tab displays applications submitted for this campaign (open campaign), or the number of invitations sent and accepted by testers (invitation-only campaign).
- If you created an open campaign, you can validate applicants by selecting them one by one directly from the back office. Alternatively, you can export the applicant list, sort it in Excel, then import the file to select them. to learn more about testers selection, check out this article.
- If you created an invitation-only campaign, you can wait until all invitations have received a response (the campaign automatically switches from Applying to Testing), or click “End invitation phase” if you believe you have enough accepted invitations to manually move the campaign to the Testing phase.
All testers who have been selected for the test are displayed here, along with their information and participation status. You can click "View profile" or remove them from the tester list.
If you have configured one or more missions with screenshot validation (requiring your manual approval to be completed), you can validate the screenshots submitted by testers directly from the campaign tracking, in the "Mission validation" tab.
- If you click Accept, the tester will be notified and will earn the points associated with the mission.
- If you click Decline, the tester will be notified and will be able to submit a new screenshot.
This tab has several objectives:
- Track the completion rate of each mission (percentage of testers who completed each campaign mission, if configured)
- Track completion of required tasks for each user
- Review the content of the review/contribution (configured in step 5)
- Validate test completion for each tester
The provided data will help you decide whether it is time to end the campaign or follow up with testers.
The bottom of the "Last step" tab allows you to track test completion. It is divided into two sections:
Validate test completion using the list of all testers with the "Pending" and "Testing" statuses:
- Testers with the "Pending" status are displayed first by default because they clicked "Last step" to indicate that they submitted all required contributions for the test.
- Testers with the "Testing" status are also displayed, which is useful when some missions are optional or when testers forget to complete the final step.
You will see the following information in the table:
- Username: profile picture + username
- Status: Pending (all contributions submitted) or Testing (the tester has not yet finished)
- Review: if configured, a Review column indicates whether the tester submitted their review. The "Check review" CTA indicates that it has been submitted and can be viewed.
- One column per mission: easily check whether the tester completed each mission.
- A "..." button allows you to chat with the tester from the back office or view their profile.
- A "Validate full test" button allows you to indicate that the tester has completed the test → this unlocks the associated rewards and changes the tester’s status to Validated.
Here, you can view only the contribution details of testers whose tests have already been validated.
Validate a test
If a reward is linked to the completion of a product test, validating a test allows the user to unlock that reward: completing a mission, earning points, reaching a status, receiving a badge, etc.
To do so, in the Last step > Ongoing tab, click on "Validate full test". The member receives an email and a notification indicating that their test has been completed and validated.
In the case of an automatic reminder configured to collect late reviews, validating a tester’s test prevents them from being reminded again.
If all testers’ tests are validated, the campaign is automatically closed.
Emails & notifications
Notification text can be edited in Config > Wordings > Platform > product_testing_campaign.
Automated emails are managed from Settings > Look & feel > Emails (which must have been configured during the project implementation phase).
- You can enable or disable them using the toggle.
- You can send a test email to admins.
- If you are not familiar with email UI changes, contact your CSM.
Focus on open campaigns
When an admin selects and approves a candidate as a tester, they automatically receive a notification and an email indicating that they have been selected and will soon receive the product to test.
- Email triggered by the admin clicking "Confirm" when selecting testers.
- Sent to all users selected as testers.
- By clicking the CTA, the user is redirected to the campaign detail page.
Focus on invitation campaigns
When an admin launches an invitation-only campaign, all invited users automatically receive a notification and an email prompting them to quickly respond to the invitation and participate. Here are a few details:
- Triggered by: The admin clicks "Launch campaign" at the end of the campaign setup.
- Sent to: All users selected as invitees.
- Clicking it redirects to the campaign detail page.
- Triggered by: The admin clicks "Launch campaign" at the end of the campaign setup.
- Sent to: All users selected as invitees.
- Clicking it redirects you to the campaign detail page.
Personalized targeted email
You can send fully personalized targeted emails directly from a product testing campaign. To do so, open the campaign of your choice and click "Send out email" in the top-right corner.
Select the recipients based on the desired status:
- Invitation pending
- Application pending / rejected
- Testing
- Test review pending
- Test review validated
Fill in your email subject and content, review it using the preview, then confirm the sending by clicking "Send out email". You can also send a test email beforehand by clicking "Test email".
The date and time of the last email sent are displayed (in UTC) at the top of the recipient selection, to prevent sending duplicate emails by mistake.
Similar to the Community Emails feature:
- You can preview the rendering on desktop and mobile.
- You can test the email before sending it.
- Only users with the
SendEmailpermission can send these emails. - These emails are displayed in the list of sent emails.
FAQ
Click on your campaign to open the details, then click "Download CSV".
Make sure you have selected the testers beforehand.
No, you can only add one product per campaign. If you want to run a test with multiple products, manually add your product bundle/pack (make sure the image you upload and the campaign description represent all products).
If you select a member to test a product and that person does not leave a review despite several reminders/messages, use the Tag feature in the Users table (User Stats). You can name the tag "Bad tester" or "Do not select". You will then see this information if the person applies for a new test, helping you avoid selecting them again.
When creating your product test, we recommend adding a custom field dedicated to Step 4, titled Survey. Click "Add a custom field" and configure your question directly there.
- If you only have a few shades available, you can choose a single-choice question and list your shades in the options.
- If you have many shades and do not have time to list them all, you can create a text field. Keep in mind that this option may be less reliable, as candidates could make typos.
Also make sure to link your Shade Finder somewhere in the campaign description so candidates can easily access it. You will not be able to link it directly in your dedicated custom field.
No, all missions configured in a product test are mandatory to complete a test (if you have a permanent mission that awards points for completing all product test tasks, members will only earn points if they complete all their tester missions).
If you do not have a permanent mission awarding points for completing all product test tasks, testers can still complete the tasks of their choice, and you can manually validate their test from the back-office.