How to Test Bolt Checkout

This article assumes that you have implemented Bolt Checkout, built a Merchant API, and created Transaction Webhooks. Use this guide as an overview for approaching your tests.

Before moving to production, merchants should self-certify that all applicable tests have passed. If a test fails, reach out to Bolt Success team for assistance.

Why Testing is Important

Catching bugs in the post-launch phase minimizes any issues before your shoppers encounter them, ensuring they have a positive experience with the new checkout. Testing in-house also leverages the expertise of your workflow SMEs.

Without testing, you may:

• Disrupt checkout and impact revenue
• Need to make order corrections manually
• Require a complicated rollback

Preventable Scenarios

• ERP marks unpaid orders as “ready to fulfill” and prepares them for shipping
• Unreviewed orders are prematurely shipped
• Sales tax is applied incorrectly
• Orders canceled by customer service are still shipped
• Discounts not being used as expected

Manage Testing

Testing for your Bolt Checkout integration should be performed by internal staff who have expertise in the following:

• Standard order workflows
• Phone or back-office order placements
• Refunded and canceled order processing
• Payment capture workflows
• Shipping rules and restrictions
• Discount policies and codes
• ERP and fulfillment triggers and workflows
• Transactional email workflows
• Conversion tracking and front-end javascript callbacks

Create a Testing Plan

Plan for around 6-12 hours worth of testing to ensure your mission-critical scenarios are working. When possible, test in a staging environment. Consider all major browsers and phones for each test. Bolt recommends performing tests every time you upgrade your integration.

1. Product Testing

Validate that a shopper can purchase the following:

• Physical products
• Virtual products
• 2 Similar products
• 2 Different products

2. Payment Testing

Validate that a shopper can pay with the following (if applicable):

• Standard Credit Card
• Affirm
• AfterPay
• ApplePay
• Paypal
• Store Credit
• Combination of Store Credit & Other

3. Shipping Testing

Validate that a shopper can use the delivery methods you have generated through the Merchant API, such as:

• Default shipping options
• Express shipping options
• Free shipping options

4. Tax Testing

Validate that a shopper’s total has accounted for tax amounts calculated through the Merchant API.

5. Discount Testing

Validate that a shopper can apply the discount codes that you have made available through the Merchant API:

• Flat-amount discount codes
• Percentage discount codes
• Multiple (stacked) discount codes
• Free shipping discount codes
• Conditional discount codes (> $100 spent)

7. Operations Testing

Validate that your team can perform the following customer service and order operations in either your eCommerce platform or the Bolt Merchant Dashboard:

• Place phone back-office orders
• Recharge orders
• Void orders
• Refund orders

See our [Platform Operations Guides][1] for all related actions.

8. Advanced Testing

Validate the following scenarios based on your workflows:

• Pre-Auth workflow is enabled or disabled
• Dropped transactions are picked up by webhooks
• Orders under review have the appropriate status in your systems

9. Third-Party Integration Testing

Validate that your third-party integrations are interacting with orders and transactions as intended. Check for order IDs, status parity (especially for fulfillment handoff), and other fields such as order notes.

Testing Resources

You can reference the following workflow attachments to visually break down how Bolt interacts with your merchant operations for standard checkout, payment-only checkout, post-checkout, and for back-office orders.