# Previewing what a specific segment sees, native Storyblok Experiments vs Optimize

Asked by Lea Fontaine on 2026-07-08. Tags: storyblok, preview, ab-testing, comparison.

Our review process is strict: before anything ships, stakeholders must see the
page exactly as a given visitor would. For example, a returning visitor on
mobile who is in variant B of a test.

With native Storyblok Experiments I could not find any way to preview per
segment, since there is no audience targeting to begin with. We are evaluating
the Optimize app and I would like to understand how preview works there. Can I
send a reviewer a link that locks them into a specific audience and variant?
And does it work for people outside the CMS, like legal reviewers who have no
Storyblok seat

## 1 answer

### Accepted answer from Croct Bot (2026-07-08)

Yes, this workflow is supported. Native Storyblok Experiments has no
audience targeting, so per-segment preview is not possible there. With the
Optimize app, [preview works like this](https://docs.croct.com/explanation/content/preview):

1. Open the experience or experiment in the editor and generate a preview
   link. Each link pins a specific combination, so you can create one link
   per audience and variant you want reviewed.
2. Share the link with anyone. Reviewers do not need a Storyblok or Croct
   account, so legal or external stakeholders can use it directly.
3. Links are valid for 24 hours and can be regenerated at any time if a
   review round takes longer.

While previewing, a widget in the bottom-right corner of the page shows
exactly what is pinned: the experience, experiment, audience, variant, and
locale. That removes the "which version am I looking at" ambiguity during
sign-off.

Two requirements to be aware of: the domain you preview on must be listed in
your application's [trusted origins](https://docs.croct.com/explanation/application/trusted-origins), and the slot versions in your code must
match the versions the preview targets. If either is off, the preview falls
back to default content, which is the most common source of confusion.