The retail and e-commerce sector is not an environment conducive to sensitive natures.
Even setting aside the website, the art of offering the right product at the right time, at the right price, with satisfactory customer service, remains a challenge in itself.
To make your e-commerce website a reliable ally contributing to your success in this high-stakes field, it's essential to subject it to various tests that will help you guarantee an optimal, bug-free experience to stay competitive.
In this article, we explore the 7 must-have e-commerce tests to ensure the performance, security and ease of use of your e-commerce platform.
1. Load tests
Load testing is essential to assess an e-commerce site's ability to handle a large number of simultaneous visitors.
The load on e-commerce sites increases exponentially during sales periods, Christmas, etc., imposing a huge load on the server.
This can lead to a variety of problems affecting the user experience.
Load tests simulate heavy traffic conditions, identifying potential bottlenecks, optimizing performance and ensuring a smooth user experience even during peak periods.
Critical questions to answer with e-commerce load testing :
- Is the server configuration adapted to handling traffic peaks?
- Does geolocation impact website and application performance?
- What is the average response time for different user paths?
- What are the points of failure in the event of a huge increase in the number of users, orders, products, etc.?
2. UX testing
In e-commerce, the overall user experience plays a decisive role in converting visitors into customers.
The ideal e-commerce UX is characterized by an intuitive design that showcases your products without being nauseating.
Ultimately, usability takes precedence over revolutionary design.
UX testing assesses whether your customer journey facilitates the overall satisfaction of your target audience by identifying aspects of the customer journey that need improvement.
They reveal whether visitors can :
- Find the information they need.
- Find your products easily.
- Make an informed purchasing decision.
3. Safety tests
Security testing helps e-tailers identify vulnerabilities, evaluate security controls, and guarantee the confidentiality, integrity and availability of customer information.
The main objectives of security testing for e-commerce platforms include :
- Identifying vulnerabilities
- Authentication and authorization tests
- Payment security assessment
- Data encryption validation
- Managing security patches to remedy vulnerabilities
4. Mobile testing
Consumers are looking not only for a quality product or service, but also for the most convenient way of obtaining it.
According to Statista's Market Insights, mobile e-commerce sales will reach $2,200 billion by 2023.
With such a predominance of purchases via mobile devices, mobile testing has become almost mandatory.
Mobile e-commerce testing ensures that your e-commerce site is fully functional, responsive and offers a consistent experience on all devices.
5. Regression testing
Regression tests check the site's functionality to ensure that recent changes to the code have not resulted in any bugs.
Since e-commerce sites have many parts and updates, a regression testing strategy should be designed to prioritize the most important features, including :
- Home page
- Product search page
- Website header
- The shopping basket
- Payments and notices
- Customer area
- Order history
6. A/B tests
A/B tests, or comparative tests, compare two versions of a page or feature to determine which performs better in terms of conversion rate.
A/B tests provide concrete data to understand the real impact of a graphic or text modification on your sales.
They provide answers to questions such as :
- Is the "Add to cart" button in the right place?
- Should I write "put in basket" or "buy"?
- What impact do the colors of our shopping cart buttons have?
Numerous qualitative A/B testing tools are available, including
7. Accessibility testing
Accessibility is crucial to ensure that all users, including 15% of the disabled population, can use your e-commerce site effectively.
Accessibility testing makes it easy to identify accessibility issues on your website or e-commerce application, such as empty links, presence of alternative text, basic color contrast, and presence of form labels.
Some less obvious benefits of accessibility testing from an e-commerce point of view:
- Better brand image
- Expand your potential customer base
- Improvement in SEO
What's the best way to carry out e-commerce tests?
To carry out the essential e-commerce tests in the best possible conditions, an automated testing tool that detects bugs and provides detailed analyses is essential.
Features offered by an automated e-commerce test tool :
Test automation: Automation saves time and resources, while ensuring exhaustive coverage of e-commerce site functionalities and reducing human error.
Efficient test case management: Test tools often provide functionality for creating, organizing and managing test cases. This makes it easier to document, track and update test cases, ensuring better management of the entire testing process.
Continuous monitoring: Some test tools enable continuous monitoring of e-commerce site performance and quality. This ensures that bugs are detected as quickly as possible.
Mr Suricate - Detect your bugs before your customers do
Integrating these 7 essential QA tests into the development and maintenance of an e-commerce site is essential to guarantee optimal performance, robust security and an exceptional user experience.
The no-code SaaS solution from Mr Suricate SaaS solution covers a wide range of automated tests to give your users the best possible e-commerce experience. It's the one-stop-shop for automated testing.
Take control of your applications and detect bugs in real time on your websites, applications and APIs by reproducing your user journeys at regular intervals.
