You might want to show different variants based on specific cookie values for your shipping test, but you are not sure how to preview the variants. This article will guide you on how to preview variant shipping rates with cookie filters.
How Cookie Filters Works
The ABConvert shipping test script runs and checks the cookie key-value pair to assign the visitor to your designated group. For instance, you might set up a cookie filter like:
In the example above, when a visitor session has the cookie: test = true, they will see the Variant B shipping rate.
Why is the cookie filter shipping rate not showing up?
After setting up a cookie filter to assign a shipping rate variant, you might find that the correct variant isn't being displayed in your preview, even though you've correctly set the cookie value.
This issue occurs because a shipping configuration was cached (stored) in the preview webpage before the cookie value used for this new preview was assigned. In other words, the cookie value for the preview was assigned after the shipping script had already assigned a group (original/test) to the preview session. As a result, even after setting the cookie value, the displayed rate remains unchanged.
How do I correctly preview my cookie filter shipping rate?
While visitors will see the correct shipping rate if they match your cookie filter, it is still important to preview the variants yourself. With your intended cookie value set up, you simply need to clear the shipping configuration cache to view the variant shipping rate.
Here's a step-by-step tutorial:
Check if the correct cookie value is set up: Right click on your store website and select
Inspect > Application > Cookies. You should see the same cookie key-value pair as in your test settings. If not, double click in a new row to type in the cookie key and value.
Clear the shipping configuration cache: Go to
Application > Local storageand locate theabconvert-shippingxpitem and delete it.
Refresh the page and add products to checkout. Make sure to start from the homepage or product page to re-add products to the cart. You will not see the changes if you stay on the checkout page.
In the checkout page, you should see the correct shipping rate for your cookie filter.
For detailed instructions, check out this video demo.
Other causes that might affect the cookie filter preview
If you still cannot see the variant shipping rate for your cookie filter:
Check if you deleted the original shipping rates that you are running the test on. Go to Why should I delete my shipping rate for more details.
Your IP is not in the test zone for the particular shipping rate. To resolve this:
Use a VPN to connect to an IP address that is in your shipping rate zone.
Append
?country=<code>&preview=<group-index>to the preview URL. For example: https://abconvert-test.myshopify.com/checkouts/?country=US&preview=1Original group: group-index = 0
Test group: group-index = 1 (For multiple test groups, enumerate the index. For example: input 2 for test group 2)
Feel free to reach out to our support team via the in-app messenger if you have any more questions. Happy testing 🎉