RegFox offers a few different ways to test your registration page depending on your needs and preferences. Testing is an important process to ensure everything is looking and exporting just as you'd expect. Testing allows to review the entire registrant and admin experience.
Preview Mode will not allow you to save data, but will allow you to text the registrant experience.
Testing on a Tester Payment Processor will allow you to both test the registrant experience as well as reporting, exporting, editing registrants, integrations, etc.
Testing on a Real Payment Processor will allow you to do all of the above, as well as ensure your processor is successfully accepting transactions.
Jump to...
Test in Preview Mode
The first and easiest way to test your page is using Preview Mode. This method is best for testing the visual and communication experience of your registration page, including the purchasing experience, confirmation page, and confirmation email. It respects actions and dates so you can test your page in real-time.
Dummy credit card data will be placed in the billing details, allowing you to test as much as you'd like without having to enter billing details.
How to Test in Preview Mode
From the Pages screen, click the pencil icon on the page you would like to edit.
Save any changes you've made and click the Preview button in the upper-right corner of your screen.
This will launch your registration page in a new tab and place a red border around the entire page letting you know the page you're viewing for testing and previewing only. Do not share this URL with registrants as it will not accept real registrations or payments.
Note: Since Preview mode will not accept real credit card info (even if you try). Due to this, Preview Mode will not issue real confirmations so you won't be able to scan it with the check-in app. It will not alter any capacity limits or inventory of any items you are selling and it will not generate any reports or be reflected in your analytics, integrations or exports.
To test reports, analytics, integrations, and exports, with real data, you will want to choose another testing method.
Summary of what can and can't be tested through Preview mode:
No data is saved when using preview mode so nothing captured in Preview mode will be stored in reports, exports, or analytics
Preview does not generate real confirmations that can be viewed, printed or scanned
Apple wallet does not work in preview mode since no QR codes are issued
Preview mode does not alter registration capacities or inventory limits
Preview mode doesn't allow you to access a virtual event
Preview mode does not preview if you have closed your registration page or set a future opening date. We do this so you can make changes to the registration page and experience while the general public cannot access your registration page.
Test With a Test Payment Processor
In the list of payment processors in your RegFox account, you can choose an option that is called "Tester (For Testing Only)". This is essentially a fake payment processor that will accept certain fake credit card numbers. The reason you might want to add a Tester payment processor is if you want to test the exports, reporting, analytics, and integrations without spending real money.
The Tester payment processor is best when deep and extensive testing is needed. For example, if you are setting up an integration with Salesforce, Quickbooks, Mailchimp, or any other integration through Zapier, you will want to test certain workflows and review how the data flows to those services. Since Preview mode does not work for this and you won't want to pay real money, the Tester Payment processor is an excellent use.
Using the Tester payment processor will allow you to issue a real confirmation to test the check-in app and you can practice editing registrations making upgrades, downgrades, cancellations and more. All exports, reports, and analytics will work with the exception of Payout Summaries and Payout Reports because there was no real funds being processed.
NOTE on Test Data:
Be advised that data captured and processed with the Tester payment processor is just like real transactions and cannot be deleted.
Most commonly, when customers are done testing, they will clone the page and then add their real payment processor to the new page (and archive the old page linked to the Tester payment processor). This will also archive the data and allow you to start fresh on the new page with no test data cluttering up your reporting.
Add a Test Payment Processor
You are welcome to watch this video tutorial on how to add a tester payment processor to test your registration page.
From the Pages screen, hove your mouse over the gear icon in the upper right potion of your account
Select Payment Processors from the dropdown
Click the Add Payment Processor button
Select Credit Card from the dropdown
Scroll to the bottom of the list and select Tester (for Testing Only)
The Tester payment processor will ask for Merchant ID and Merchant key. Make up a set of numbers to enter in there such as 11111111
Click the Save button
Publish your page to the Test Payment Processor
Click the pencil icon on the page you'd like to add the Test payment processor to
Click the Publish button
Select the newly added Tester payment processor
Now when you place registrations through the Published page enter one of the following dummy credit card numbers (and be sure to enter an expiration date in the future and make up the CVV number
Tester Visa Card number: 4111-1111-1111-1111
Tester American Express number: 3782-8224-6310-005
Tester Mastercard number: 5555555555554444
Test a Declined transaction
To simulate a decline, use 4111-1111-1111-1111 card number but make sure the amount to be charged is $5. Using the dummy credit card number for a $5 charge is programmed to always give a decline so you can test that workflow.
Testing With a Real Payment Processor
A second way to test your registration page is to publish your registration page with a REAL payment processor and enter a real credit card. The primary benefit of this method is to test that your payment processor is successfully accepting and processing credit cards as expected, but is not useful for repetitive testing. A frequent trick to test with a real registration page is to make a low-cost registration option or issue a coupon code that makes the checkout price very low. It's not recommended to test with high-dollar test transactions.
NOTE: Many credit card processors may flag your account as fraud if they see the person who setup the payment processor running transactions through it.
We would recommend:
Being sure to cancel and refund yourself before the transaction is included in your payout, because the paying of yourself can be seen as money laundering.
Or, see if you can use someone else's credit card to perform the tests to avoid this. You can always cancel and refund the transaction later.
Testing with a real credit card will issue real confirmation, capacities and limits will be deducted, all data will be saved, and reports and analytics will all be generated with the registration. You cannot delete this data or tests, but you can cancel the registrations or archive the page. Testing with real credit cards should be reserved primarily for testing the payment processor. If you test your own credit card too many times, your own bank may flag your activity as suspicious and lock your card.
FAQ's
Q: Am I charged RegFox fees for registrations that use the tester payment processor?
A: No fees are charged that run through the tester payment processor.
Q: What credit card numbers should I use when testing with a Tester Payment Processor?
A: You can use any of the following tester credit card numbers:
Tester Visa Card: 4111-1111-1111-1111
Tester American Express: 3782-8224-6310-005
Tester Mastercard: 5555555555554444
Q: What if someone tries to place a registration with a real credit card when my page is published to a tester payment processor?
A: If someone tries to use a real credit card on a page linked to a tester payment processor, the registration will be declined and they will receive this error message:
