Test and launch a journey

Test a journey in stages: simulate its logic, check the destination sync, then confirm real timing and delivery with a small live cohort.

Before launching broadly:

1. Test the journey logic.
2. Check the destination sync, if the journey sends to one.
3. Run a small live cohort.
4. Activate the journey for its intended audience.

1. Test the journey logic

Select Run test on the journey canvas to open Configure a journey test, which simulates how members move through the configured logic. Tests don't send data to destinations, and time delays are skipped.

1. Open the journey and select Run test.

   

2. Set the Start date & time. It defaults to the current time. To test an event-based journey against historical events, choose a past date and time. The test uses events with timestamps after the selected start time.

   

3. Choose a test size:
   • Single event or Single profile — Simulates the path for one member.
   • Set of events or Entire audience (default) — Simulates all qualifying members and is useful for validating branch distribution.

     

4. Select Run test. When it finishes, the Path breakdown shows how many members entered, exited, and continued at each step, with destination steps shown as simulated sends. The Profiles tab lists the evaluated profiles, and the canvas highlights the paths taken.

   

Because a test evaluates journey logic in a single pass with delays skipped, it doesn't:

• Replay future runs over time.
• Trigger syncs or send data.
• Model cross-journey interactions or priority-list behavior.
• Reflect destination-platform rules such as consent filtering or deduplication.

Use a journey test to validate paths and conditions. Use a small live cohort to validate behavior over time.

2. Check the destination sync

A Send to destination step runs its sync as part of journey evaluation, not on its own schedule. Open the step before launch to review the sync.

Each sync shows its destination and Type (Trigger or Cohort). Recent Runs stays empty until the journey triggers the sync for the first time.

To review or change the destination-specific configuration, select View sync details to open the full sync. Because the journey test only simulates sends, validate the sync's real output with a small live cohort. To send one member's real data through the sync without running the whole journey, run a test sync.

Run a test sync

A test sync runs a single Send to destination step's sync for one member — with real data, against the real destination — without running the rest of the journey. Use it to confirm a sync's payload and destination behavior before you launch, or to spot-check a sync on a journey that's already live.

Start a test sync from one of three places, depending on which members you want to send:

• A sync tile — Open a Send to destination step, open a sync's actions menu, and select Test sync. Members come from the entry audience, so a selected member isn't guaranteed to reach this step in a real run.

  

• A journey test — After you test the journey logic, select Send test on a destination step to use a member from the simulated path.

  

• A live journey — On an active journey, select Send test to use a member who has already passed through the step.

Choose the member and data to send

When the test opens, pick whose data to send and adjust it if needed:

• Choose a random member, or search by primary key to select a specific one.
• Upload a CSV to test several rows at once. Each row needs at least a primary key, and blank fields fall back to the member's original values. Download the template to see the expected columns.
• Override individual attributes with test values — most importantly recipient fields — in the Table or JSON view. Unchanged fields sync their original values, and you can reset your overrides at any time.

A primary key value is required to run the test.

Run the test and review the result

Select Test to send the selected data through the sync immediately. If you haven't overridden any values, Hightouch asks you to confirm first, since the sync is real.

On success, check the destination to confirm the content arrived. If the sync fails, the result shows the destination's error along with the request and response, so you can see what it returned. Select Restart to run another test.

3. Run a small live cohort

After the journey test confirms the logic and you've reviewed the destination sync, validate the full journey with a small live audience.

1. Create a narrow test audience, such as internal users or a small segment of real users.
2. Configure the journey to use this audience for entry.
3. Activate the journey and monitor the first several runs.
4. Check destinations to confirm that data arrived as expected.
5. After validation, update the entry audience to the production audience.

A live cohort validates real timing, exit behavior, sync execution, and destination delivery. If you use destination rules, verify them separately because they can filter records at sync time.

Pre-launch checklist

Before launching broadly, confirm:

• Entry — The intended members qualify for the entry audience or event.
• Priority — If the entry audience belongs to a priority list, its ranking is correct.
• Journey logic — Branches and conditions behave as expected in a journey test.
• Destination configuration — The Send to destination sync has the right destination, type, and field mappings. Review it with View sync details.
• Exit criteria — Exit conditions remove members at the intended point.
• Delivery rules — Destination rules, consent, and suppression won't filter members unexpectedly.
• Live behavior — A small cohort completes the journey with the expected timing and delivery.

Activate

Select Activate to start the journey. Hightouch begins evaluating it on the configured schedule: an interval schedule starts within seconds, and a custom recurrence schedule starts at the next matching time.

Next steps

• Monitor and troubleshoot journeys to inspect live performance, member paths, and run failures.