Review your variations to catch issues, then launch with confidence.
Before you launching a new or edited variation, it’s important to make sure it looks and behaves as expected. Previewing lets you experience the variation as a visitor would — so you can catch and fix any problems before they go live.
- Check functionality — make sure the variation appears and works as intended
- Catch issues early — identify and fix any visual or behavioral bugs
- Avoid conflicts — ensure compatibility with other optimizations running on the page
How to preview a variation
Note
It can take up to 5 minutes for a variation to be previewable after it's saved.
Open your Optimize site in Webflow, then:
- Click Optimizations in the Navigation panel
- Click your optimization
- Hover over a variation and click the Preview icon
- Click View now to see the preview
About the preview module
When previewing a variation, a module appears over the page with several options:
- Share preview — share this preview with anyone, even if they can't access your Optimize site
- Collapse — the four inward arrows at the top-right collapses the module so you can see more of the page
- Expand — while collapsed, a green double-bar icon at the top-right will expand the module again
- Extend preview duration — the preview expires after 10 minutes. Click this option to reset the timer.
How to switch variations
You can toggle on or off several variations that run on this page so that you can see how they interact with each other.
- Preview a variation
- Click Edit Previews at the top of the preview module
- Choose a variation to preview from the Variation Name (ID) menu
- Click Add an experience variation to add variations from another optimization
You can mouse over a variation and click the Remove icon on the right to stop it from showing.
How to turn audience restrictions on or off
The audience restrictions option disables or enforces the audience rules, which determines who can view variations.
- Preview a variation
- Click Edit Previews at the top of the preview module
- Click Settings
- Toggle Ignore experience audience restrictions to:
- ON — disables audiences so you can see the variations even if you don't match
- OFF — enforces audiences so that you must match in order to see the variations
Troubleshooting variation errors
If the preview module displays a red exclamation mark next, it means something is preventing that variation from running in the preview module. Mouse over the icon to see the error type. Not all errors are critical, and some may not affect the variation when it’s live. Review each error and troubleshoot as needed. Here are some examples:
| Error type | Details |
|---|---|
| URL mismatch - experience URL does not match the current URL | This is a good thing for a redirect variation — it means it's working. The error means the variation began on one page but you're now viewing a different page. |
| Page Definition failure (URL mismatch) | The variation is trying to run on a page that isn't configured in the page definition |
| Audience mismatch | You don't meet the audience requirements configured for this variation |
| Experience (or Variation) precondition failure | A precondition failed to be met, so this code-based variation won't run |
| Variation Code Failure | There's an error in the JavaScript or CSS for this code-based variation |
Troubleshoot no preview loading
If the preview module does not load, your browser's cookie settings or a plugin is blocking the module. Review our troubleshooting guide to allow the preview module to load.