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Using SurveyTester with Incognito Mode

When it’s needed, why it matters, and what to watch out for

When testing online surveys, browser state matters more than many teams realize. Cookies, local storage, cached scripts, and login sessions can all influence how a survey behaves — sometimes in subtle, hard-to-detect ways.

That’s why SurveyTester supports running surveys in Incognito mode.

This article explains:

  • When Incognito mode is required

  • Why regular browser mode is often not sufficient

  • How Incognito mode actually behaves in Chrome

  • An important caveat about multiple Incognito windows and shared cookies

Why the browser state is critical in survey testing

Modern survey platforms (such as Qualtrics, Forsta, Confirmit, Dimensions, and others) rely heavily on browser storage for:

  • Respondent identification

  • Quota tracking

  • Duplicate prevention

  • Resume / continue logic

  • Fraud detection

  • Device and session fingerprinting

During testing, this can lead to problems such as:

  • A survey immediately disqualifies a tester

  • A test run is being treated as a continuation of a previous test

  • Quotas appear “full” even though no real respondents have participated

  • Unexpected routing behavior caused by stored flags or cookies

These effects often persist across page reloads and even across different test runs when using the same browser profile.

Why regular browser mode is often not enough

Running tests in your regular browser session means:

  • Cookies from previous test runs are reused

  • LocalStorage and sessionStorage may already contain survey data

  • Login states (e.g., panel accounts, SSO sessions) remain active

  • Vendor-specific tracking data is preserved

Even if you:

  • Clear cookies manually

  • Open a new tab

  • Use a different URL

…you may still be testing with a contaminated state.

This is especially problematic when:

  • Running the same survey multiple times

  • Testing quota logic

  • Testing “first-time respondent” behavior

  • Testing re-entry prevention

  • Simulating different respondents

Why Incognito mode helps

Incognito mode provides a temporary, isolated browser profile with:

  • No access to your regular cookies

  • No access to your regular local storage

  • No access to cached scripts or session data

  • Automatic cleanup when the Incognito session ends

For survey testing, this means:

  • Each test starts from a clean baseline

  • No interference from previous test runs

  • More realistic simulation of a first-time respondent

This is why SurveyTester allows surveys to be launched directly into an Incognito window when required.

Typical situations where Incognito mode is recommended

You should strongly consider Incognito mode when:

  • Testing Qualtrics or similar systems with aggressive cookie usage

  • Testing quota logic or duplicate detection

  • Re-running the same survey URL multiple times

  • Testing screening or termination logic

  • Switching between different test personas

  • Comparing behavior across multiple test runs

In many teams, Incognito mode becomes the default for survey execution, while regular mode is used mainly for configuration or debugging.

Important: How Incognito windows actually work

A common assumption is:

“Each Incognito window is completely isolated from every other Incognito window.”

This is not correct.

The actual behavior (Chrome, Edge, Chromium)

  • All Incognito windows share one single Incognito browser profile

  • Cookies, localStorage, and session data are shared across all open Incognito windows

  • Data is deleted only when the last Incognito window is closed

This explains an observation many testers make:

“A Qualtrics survey opened in a new Incognito window still seemed to recognize a previous Incognito test run.”

That behavior is expected.

What this means for SurveyTester users

If you want a fully clean browser state, you must:

  1. Close all Incognito windows

  2. Ensure no Incognito window remains open

  3. Start a new Incognito session

  4. Then launch the survey again

Only at that point are all Incognito cookies and storage cleared.

Opening a “fresh” Incognito window while another one is still open is not sufficient.

Best practice recommendations

✔ Use Incognito mode for survey execution
✔ Close all Incognito windows between logically independent test runs
✔ Especially important for:

  • Quota testing

  • Duplicate prevention testing

  • Screening logic

  • Fraud / bot-detection testing
    ✔ Use regular browser mode only when persistent state is desired (e.g. debugging logged-in scenarios)

SurveyTester’s Incognito integration is designed to make this workflow as smooth as possible — but understanding how the browser behaves helps avoid confusing test results.

Summary

  • Incognito mode isolates surveys from your regular browser state

  • This leads to more reliable and reproducible test results

  • However, Incognito windows are not isolated from each other

  • All Incognito data is shared until all Incognito windows are closed

  • For a truly clean start, always close all Incognito windows before restarting a test

Using Incognito mode correctly is one of the simplest ways to significantly improve survey testing quality — and avoid hours of debugging caused by invisible browser state.

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