Before launching your survey to respondents, thoroughly test your survey logic, skip patterns, and question flow. The MX8 Labs platform provides several tools to help you catch issues early and collaborate with teammates during the review process.

Creating Test Links

Secure one-time test links allow you to preview your survey without affecting your live respondent data. These links are secure and can be shared with stakeholders for review.

1. Navigate to your survey's settings or testing section
2. Select Create Test Link
3. (Optional) Specify a starting question if you want to jump directly to a particular section of your survey. This is helpful for testing specific branches or later questions without answering the entire survey each time
4. A unique, one-time link will be generated; copy and share it with reviewers

Test links support the same respondent data that your survey does. For example, if your survey uses a text respondent source, test links include a phone number entry field so you can test SMS-based surveys realistically.

Using Test Mode

When you access your survey via a test link, you enter Test Mode, which gives you a floating moveable toolbox with testing controls that won't interrupt your survey preview. You can navigate backward through your survey questions to verify skip patterns and conditional logic work as intended, and undo responses if you want to change an answer.

One of the most useful features is the ability to comment on questions directly during review. Each comment automatically creates a checklist item that links back to your survey code, making it easy to track feedback and requested changes. This is especially valuable when reviewing with teammates. Every comment becomes a trackable item that references the exact question being discussed.

Managing Test Responses

As you test, you'll accumulate test responses. The platform lets you delete any individual test response, not just the most recent one, so you can clean up and start fresh without affecting your survey setup. This flexibility lets you test multiple scenarios across different skip paths and conditional branches, then tidy up your test data before launch.

Catching Problems Before Launch

The platform automatically detects common issues that could break your survey. Programming errors like syntax issues or logic problems are highlighted directly in the interface, and you can use the Quick Fix option to resolve many common errors without manually editing code.

The platform also simulates respondent responses to flag unreachable questions; questions that can never be reached due to skip logic or conditional branching. This helps you identify and fix broken paths in your survey flow before any real respondent encounters them.

Finally, comprehensive batch checks cover syntax, simulation, report generation, translation, and weighting. Any failures are displayed with clear error messages and retry options, so you can fix issues and rerun the checks.

Testing SMS and Text Surveys

If your survey uses a text respondent source, test links automatically include a phone number entry field. This lets you experience exactly what respondents will see when they access your survey via SMS, ensuring the respondent flow is seamless.

Best Practices

Share test links with stakeholders: Rather than asking teammates to edit the survey directly, generate test links and request feedback. Comments on test links create a documented review trail.

Use comments to create review checklists: Add comments to questions that need revision or clarification. Each comment becomes a checklist item linked to your survey code, making it simple to track and complete requested changes.

Test multiple paths: Use the "start at question" feature to jump to different sections of your survey and verify all conditional branches work correctly.

Review before adding respondent sources: Complete your testing and fix errors before adding your first-party respondent lists. This ensures clean data from the start.