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A Tutorial On Placing A Test Order

A Tutorial On Placing A Test Order

Introduction

During the initial setup of your UltraCart store, and periodically as you make changes to your configuration, it's important to place test orders. Test orders verify that your checkout process, shipping calculations, taxes, and payment gateway are functioning correctly.

UltraCart provides two primary ways to place test orders:

  • Through your StoreFront or external website (simulating a customer experience)

  • Through the Back-End Order Entry (BEOE) tool

This guide will walk you through both methods.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Ensure that your items, shipping methods, taxes, and payment methods are configured before placing a test order.

Placing Test Orders

Testing Through StoreFront or External Website

The most accurate way to test your checkout is to place an order as your customer would.

  1. Navigate to your StoreFront or external website.

  2. Add items to your shopping cart.

  3. Proceed to checkout.

  4. Complete the order using your test or real credit card (see sections below).

Tip: This method allows you to verify:

  • Branding elements (logo, colors, etc.)

  • Shipping cost calculations

  • Sales tax calculations

  • Checkout flow and user experience

Testing Through the Back-End Order Entry (BEOE) Tool

The Back-End Order Entry tool allows you to place test orders quickly, especially useful when testing specific configurations like shipping or taxes without going through the entire StoreFront checkout process.

  1. Navigate to Main Menu → Orders → Back-End Order Entry.

  2. Create a new order or clone an existing one.

  3. Adjust item quantities, shipping address, or other details as needed.

  4. Select your payment method and place the test order.

Note: The BEOE tool is ideal for quick tests of backend configurations.

Performing Test Checkout Using a Test Credit Card

UltraCart provides a Test Credit Card configuration to allow safe, fee-free test transactions.

Configure Test Credit Card

  1. Navigate to Main Menu → Configuration → Payments → Test Payments.

  2. Enable test credit card processing.

  3. Follow the instructions provided to configure the test card credentials.

Warning: Test credit card transactions do not process through your live payment gateway.

Tip: Verify that the settings for the test credit card conform to your test scenario, especially based on the How do you want to handle the payment and affiliate processing? configuration. This ensures that affiliate commissions, order statuses, and payment simulations match your intended test conditions.

Place an Order Using Test Credit Card

  1. Complete checkout via StoreFront or BEOE.

  2. Enter the provided test credit card information.

  3. Verify that the order processes successfully and that all configurations are functioning as expected.

Example Test Order Placed Via BEOE Using test Credit Card

Download link to the above video: BEOE -Test Order.mp4

 

For more details, refer to the Test Payments in UltraCart documentation.

Performing Test Checkout Using a Real Credit Card

It is strongly recommended to place at least one live test order using a real credit card to ensure your payment gateway is properly configured and functioning.

  1. Complete checkout via StoreFront.

  2. Use your real credit card for payment.

  3. Verify that the transaction processes successfully and that you receive a confirmation email.

Note: This validates full end-to-end processing, including communication with your payment gateway.

Performing Attribution Analysis

You can perform an Attribution Analysis of an order from the Diagnostic menu when reviewing an order.
Attribution Analysis involves evaluating the effectiveness of different marketing channels in driving conversions. Here's a summary based on the available information:

  1. Internal Attribution: The analysis primarily attributes the $31.12 order to an internal source, specifically a "demo" campaign, due to the absence of external tracking parameters and affiliate activity 1.

  2. UTM Analysis: The report confirms a single-touch attribution model, with 100% of the revenue attributed to the internal UTM source. No external UTM parameters were detected, indicating incomplete tracking for broader attribution 1.

  3. Affiliate and Pixel Tracking: There were no affiliate parameters or pixel activities detected, leading to gaps in attribution visibility. This suggests that external sources might not be accurately reflected in the attribution analysis 1.

  4. Revenue Breakdown: All attribution models assign the full revenue to the internal source, with no multi-touch distribution or affiliate involvement 1.

  5. Potential Issues and Recommendations: The analysis highlights the absence of conversion pixels across networks like Google Ads and Facebook, suggesting a need to review and enable integrations. It also notes potential underreporting of paid traffic due to missing parameters 1.

Overall, the analysis suggests reliable tracking for internal sources but highlights potential gaps in capturing external paid traffic and affiliate contributions

Conclusion

By placing both test and live orders, you can confidently verify that your store is fully functional before going live. For further details on test orders, please refer to: Test Payments in UltraCart

FAQ

Question: How can I inspect my test order?
Answer: From the review order actions menu, mouse over ‘Diagnostics’ then select ‘Attribution Analysis’. If this was a test order placed with a real credit card, you should also mouse over ‘Payments’ in the review order actions menu, then choose ‘Transaction History’ to review the transaction response.

Next Steps