To avoid skewed data and polluted analytics when testing boards, configure your user profile as the strong identity on the Folloze platform.   

The testing process is an integral part of your board’s development and ensures that your board is functioning properly before its launch. Each time you test your board, whether to check if links or personalized designs are working properly or to simply preview the board’s look and feel, is recorded in the analytics data.  Since you’ll probably be testing your boards using customer accounts, you must configure a strong user profile for yourself. 

To configure a strong user profile:    

1. Click your profile image at the top-right of the screen.  

2. Select My Settings > Campaigns.
3. Enable the toggle Use my profile for lead testing.

By default, this setting is on. This setting affects new engagements and does not affect previous testing sessions retroactively.

If you choose to disable the toggle, the following popup message appears.

How to test your board and avoid cookie confusion

Folloze tracks user identities by attaching a unique cookie to each user’s account. When testing boards using different credentials, you may have issues with the board’s analytics as a result of cookie confusion.

Setting yourself as the strong user identity makes it impossible for your cookies to be overridden by any other user’s cookies.  

For example, let’s say you created a campaign for a specific customer using personalized links. You would like to check the board and see if the links are working properly. By clicking on a link on the board, the browser recognizes you as the customer and the board delivers the customer’s cookies. This skews your board’s analytics because the account engagement looks like the customer landed on the board and clicked the links.  

Moreover, the issue continues as you navigate to other boards with the customer’s cookies attached to you. These incorrect cookies pollute the other board’s analytics as you are repeatedly identified as the customer and it seems like the wrong person landed on a board without access permission.  

Tips to avoid cookie confusion  

• Open an incognito browser and use URL parameters to simulate your customer’s domain for testing your board. An incognito browser session begins as a clean slate without browsing history or cookies.
  • If you open a customer’s personal link in the incognito mode, the customer’s name is written in the board analytics.
  • If you open a public link on the board in the incognito mode, the lead name with which you identify yourself on a form, is the name written in the board analytics. In your next visit to the board, if you are in incognito mode you will be identified as “guest.” Or, if you’re not incognito you will be identified by the strong user profile.  

 

• To simulate testing, you can add custom URL parameters to the link domain. For example,
  • Domain (will drive all account data)                                     https://boards.autodesk.com/manufacturing?dom=exxonmobil.com
  • Person https://boards.autodesk.com/manufacturing?em=johnp@superrito.com
  • Role/Title https://boards.autodesk.com/manufacturing?em=johnp@superrito.com&ro=CTO

 

• You can submit a form on the board using your credentials and remove the testing data from the Pulse table before launching your campaign. For more information, see Remove Testing Data.