Testing and Troubleshooting

How to test a customer experience template before you launch it, and how to fix the most common things that look wrong. Most issues come down to a variant's status, its stock, or where the customer experience template is scoped, all of which you can check yourself in a couple of minutes.

Before you go live

Run through this quick checklist on any product you are about to launch:

• The customer experience template has the feature you want, and the feature shows as Active on the Features tab.
• The product is attached to the template (from the Products section), and its Start Date has been reached.
• The variant's status reads Active where you expect the feature to show, not Pending. Active means it is live now; Pending means the template is set up but its stock condition is not met yet.
• The variant's Shopify stock matches the Stock Management mode you chose (see the per-feature notes below).
• If you use Specific countries, Shopify markets, or Specific locations, your store is on the PRO plan, those scopes require it.
• If you added a language, it is published in Shopify and the customer experience template's text is translated in Translate & Adapt.

How to test

1. Preview in a fresh session

Open the product page in an incognito or private window. This avoids cached sessions and shows the storefront the way a real shopper sees it.

2. Check each variant

Availability is evaluated per variant, so the button depends on the selected variant. Open the product, then switch between variants (sizes, colors) and watch the button and badge change. You can also load a specific variant directly by adding its ID to the URL, for example /products/your-product?variant=1234567890.

3. Know what each state should look like

• Active variant: the feature button and message (and badge or timer, if you enabled them) appear.
• Pending variant: the storefront still shows the normal Add to Cart or Sold Out, because the stock condition is not met yet.
• A variant with no feature attached: normal Add to Cart or Sold Out, untouched.

This is expected behavior. A product that mixes Active and Pending variants will switch appearance as you change variant.

4. Place a test order

Confirm the whole flow, including checkout, with a real test order. Follow Shopify's guide here: Shopify test orders. The simplest option is Shopify's Bogus Gateway, which simulates payment without a real charge. Remember to turn test mode back off afterwards, customers cannot place real orders while it is on.

5. Verify the order

After the test order, open it in Shopify and confirm the pre-order or feature applied as expected, then check Analytics for the recorded event. Cancel and refund any test order placed with a real provider.

6. Test notifications

If you use Built-in emails, open the notification and use Send Test. If you route through Klaviyo or Shopify Flow, use their own preview and test tools.

7. Test per market (if you scope by market)

If a customer experience template is scoped to specific countries or Shopify markets, test from that market, for example using your store's country or market selector, so you see the version a shopper in that region gets.

Troubleshooting

The button does not change to the feature button

• Likely cause: the variant is Pending, not Active, so its stock condition is not met. Or the product is not attached to the template, the Start Date has not been reached, or the shopper's market is not in the template's scope.
• Fix: open the product in the Products list and check the variant's status. For a feature that activates when out of stock (Pre-Order in that mode, Coming Soon, Back in Stock), the variant's stock must be 0. For Low Stock, the available quantity must be at or below your Quantity Threshold. For Pre-Order set to "regardless of levels," it should be Active immediately. If stock is right and it is still Pending, confirm the inventory location scope is reading the location that actually holds the stock.

The badge is not showing

• Likely cause: the badge is disabled by default on every feature.
• Fix: open the customer experience template, go to Product page (and Collection page if you want it there too), open the Badge section for that feature, and enable it. The badge only appears on variants that are Active, so also confirm the variant's status as above.

The button does not update when switching variants

• Likely cause: switching to a variant that is Pending or has no feature attached correctly shows the normal button, that part is expected. If the button does not change at all on any variant, it is usually a theme compatibility issue with how your theme swaps variants.
• Fix: first confirm the variant you switched to is actually Active. If an Active variant still does not show the feature button after switching, this needs a theme-side adjustment on our end, reach out to us with the product link.

The feature is set in admin but nothing shows on the storefront

• Likely cause: the product is not attached to the template, the Start Date is in the future, the variant is Pending, or the shopper's market is outside the template's scope.
• Fix: re-check the four items in the checklist above. Attaching the product and reaching the Start Date are the two most common misses.

It works on one variant but not another

• Likely cause: status and stock are per variant, so each variant is evaluated on its own.
• Fix: check the status of the specific variant that is not working, it is likely Pending while the working one is Active.

It stopped working right after editing variants in Shopify

• Likely cause: editing or recreating variants in Shopify can change their variant IDs, which breaks the link to the customer experience template.
• Fix: reach out to us with the product link so we can relink it. Avoid recreating variants on a live pre-order product where possible.

Translated text is not appearing

• Likely cause: the language is not published, or the template's text was not translated and saved for that language.
• Fix: in Shopify, Settings, Languages, confirm the language is published, then translate the customer experience metaobject for it in Translate & Adapt and save.

A pre-order email did not arrive

• Likely cause: the notification is set to Draft, the channel is routed elsewhere, or, for a custom sender domain, the DNS records are not verified.
• Fix: open Notifications, confirm the notification is Live, confirm the feature's channel is the one you expect, and if you use a custom domain, confirm its DNS records show verified.

A PRO option is locked

• Likely cause: Specific countries, Shopify markets, and Specific locations require the PRO plan.
• Fix: upgrade to PRO, or use Global market scope and All locations, which work on every plan.

Known limitations

• Cart settings (cart label and cart pop-up) are available for Pre-Order only. Other features have no cart configuration.
• Some features are display-only and have no notifications yet, for example Coming Soon and Low Stock.
• Some features cannot be combined, for example Pre-Order and Coming Soon are mutually exclusive on the same product.

Still stuck?

If something is not working after these checks, reach out to us with the product link and which variant you are testing, and we will take a look. Theme-level adjustments, such as a button that will not swap on variant change, are handled on our side.

Updated on: 06/30/2026