eCommerce is the process of buying and selling products and services online. It has become an increasingly popular way for businesses to reach a global audience and boost sales.
In today's digital age, e-commerce is a booming industry. With the rise of online shopping, it has become increasingly important for businesses to have a strong online presence.
If you’re also planning to create an eCommerce store, you can either hire a developer or you can use an online site builder tool like Shoprocket, especially if you already have a website. Hiring a developer is a relatively much more expensive option than an online site builder tool as it involves maintenance costs as well.
However, launching an e-commerce store to sell digital goods online is not as simple as just creating a website and putting products up for sale. Before launching an online store, businesses must ensure their eCommerce platform is fully functional and bug-free to avoid potential setbacks and negative customer experiences. This is where eCommerce testing comes in.
What is eCommerce testing?
eCommerce testing involves testing an online store to ensure that it is functioning correctly and providing a positive user experience. The process of eCommerce testing is designed to identify issues and prevent them from impacting a business's bottom line. The goal is to ensure the website is easy to navigate, works seamlessly, and is secure.
Benefits of eCommerce testing
There are several benefits to eCommerce testing. It includes:
Increased Revenue
An e-commerce store that is easy to use and provides a seamless user experience can lead to increased revenue. E-commerce testing can help to identify and resolve any issues that may be preventing customers from making purchases, such as slow loading pages, broken links, or technical errors.
Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty is essential for any e-commerce store. By providing a seamless user experience, businesses can build trust with their customers and encourage repeat business. E-commerce testing can help to identify any issues that may be preventing customers from returning to the site, such as slow loading pages, broken links, or technical errors. By resolving these issues, businesses can ensure that their customers have a positive experience and are more likely to return for future purchases.
Reduced Costs
E-commerce testing can help to identify and resolve any technical issues that may impact the functionality of an e-commerce store. This could include issues with the website's loading speed, broken links, or difficulty navigating the site. By identifying these issues and fixing them early, businesses can improve the performance of their online store and reduce the costs associated with fixing them later, leading to increased sales.
Ensure website availability
eCommerce testing also enables businesses to ensure that their online store is always available. This means that potential customers can access the site at any time without experiencing any downtime or errors. Ensuring that the site is available is essential for businesses to provide a positive user experience and maintain customer loyalty.
Prevent poor shopping cart functionality
eCommerce testing helps businesses to identify and fix issues with the shopping cart. Issues with the shopping cart could include difficulty adding products, inaccurate pricing, or an inefficient checkout process. Fixing these issues can help to reduce cart abandonment and increase the conversion rate.
Prevent misleading analytics
eCommerce testing can also prevent misleading analytics. By ensuring that the website is tracking data correctly, businesses can get accurate data that can help them to make informed decisions about their online store.
Ensure security
Security is a critical aspect of any eCommerce website. eCommerce testing helps businesses to identify any security vulnerabilities, including weak passwords or unencrypted data. By identifying these vulnerabilities, businesses can take steps to address them, ensuring that their customers' data is protected.
Types of eCommerce Testing
There are various types of testing involved in the eCommerce website development process. Let's take a look at some of the essential testing methods.
Functional Testing
Functional testing is the process of testing an eCommerce website or application to ensure that all its features and functions are working correctly. It involves testing the website's functionality, usability, performance, and security to ensure that it meets the requirements of the business and its customers.
The aim of functional eCommerce testing is to identify and rectify any issues or bugs that may impact the user experience, affect sales, or compromise the security of the website. Some of the areas that functional eCommerce testing covers include product browsing and selection, checkout and payment processing, inventory management, and customer support.
Performance Testing
Performance testing is a process of testing the performance of an eCommerce website or application under a heavy load to ensure that it can handle large amounts of traffic, transactions, and user interactions. This type of testing is conducted to identify the system's scalability, reliability, speed, and responsiveness under different circumstances.
The main objective of performance eCommerce testing is to identify and fix the bottlenecks and vulnerabilities in the system before they cause any major issues. The testing process typically involves simulating high levels of user traffic and transactions to measure the website or application response time, speed, and reliability.
Compatibility Testing
Compatibility testing is a type of testing that ensures an eCommerce website is compatible with various devices, browsers, and operating systems. This testing is important because customers use different devices and platforms to access the website, and the website should be functional and user-friendly on all of them.
Compatibility testing involves checking the website's performance on different devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, as well as various browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. This testing is crucial to ensure that customers have a seamless experience while browsing and making purchases on the eCommerce website, regardless of the device or platform they are using.
Security Testing
Security eCommerce testing is the process of testing the security measures implemented in an eCommerce application to ensure that customer data, financial transactions, and sensitive information are protected from unauthorized access, tampering, or theft.
It involves a range of security testing techniques, such as penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and security code reviews, to identify potential security vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the application. The goal of security eCommerce testing is to mitigate the risks of security breaches and ensure that the eCommerce application meets security standards and regulations.
Usability Testing
Usability eCommerce testing refers to the process of evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of an eCommerce website in terms of user experience. This testing involves checking the site's ease of use, user-friendliness, navigability, and overall design.
The primary goal of usability eCommerce testing is to ensure that the website meets the expectations of users and helps them to accomplish their tasks quickly and easily. It involves the use of various techniques, such as user testing, expert reviews, and heuristic evaluations, to identify and resolve usability issues. The testing results can help businesses to improve their website's design, increase user satisfaction, and ultimately drive more sales.
Regression Testing
Regression eCommerce testing is a software testing process that aims to verify whether a website or application is functioning properly after changes or modifications have been made to it. It involves performing a series of tests to identify any errors or issues that may have arisen due to the changes.
This type of testing is particularly important for eCommerce websites that need to maintain the functionality and integrity of their platform to ensure that users can complete transactions without any issues. Regression eCommerce testing can help ensure that the user experience remains consistent and that there are no major bugs or issues that may impact the overall performance of the platform.
Checklist for eCommerce Testing
To conduct thorough eCommerce testing, businesses should have a comprehensive checklist that covers all the essential features of an eCommerce website. The eCommerce testing checklist should include the following:
Main Image on Your Homepage
The main image on the homepage is the first thing that customers see when they visit an eCommerce website. It is essential to ensure that the main image is of high quality and appropriate size. The image should not take too long to load, as slow loading can lead to a poor user experience. Additionally, the image should be responsive, meaning that it should adjust to the screen size of different devices.
Product Details Page/Description
The product details page is one of the most critical aspects of an eCommerce website. It should be thoroughly tested to ensure that all product descriptions are accurate and up-to-date. Accurate product information increases the customer's trust in the website and encourages them to make a purchase. By testing product details, businesses can identify any discrepancies or errors in product information, which can ultimately result in fewer returns, exchanges, or dissatisfied customers. The following checklist items should be included:
Product titles
Product descriptions
Product images
Product videos (if applicable)
Product specifications
Pricing information
Availability information
Related products
Product reviews and ratings
Shopping Cart
The shopping cart is an essential component of an eCommerce website, and it should be tested thoroughly to ensure that it works smoothly. The following points should be included in the eCommerce testing checklist for the shopping cart:
Add, remove, and modify items in the cart
Check for accurate product information, including price, quantity, and description
Verify that discounts and coupons are correctly applied
Check that the shopping cart updates in real-time
Ensure that the shopping cart is accessible from all pages of the website
Ensure Smooth Functioning of Search Algorithms
One of the critical features of an eCommerce website is the search functionality. A robust search algorithm ensures that customers can find products easily and quickly. Therefore, businesses should ensure that the search functionality is functioning smoothly and accurately. The search algorithm should be able to filter and sort search results according to various parameters, such as price, category, and brand.
Checklist for Final Review
The final checkout page is one of the most crucial elements of an eCommerce website. It is where the customer completes the purchase, and any errors or issues on this page can lead to a negative customer experience. The following elements should be tested on the final checkout page:
Payment Gateway: Test the payment gateway to ensure that it is functioning correctly and that payments can be made without any issues. Test different payment methods and ensure that each one works as intended.
Order Summary: The order summary should display all the items in the customer's cart, along with the price and any taxes or shipping fees. Test the order summary to ensure that all the information is accurate and up-to-date.
Shipping Address: Test the shipping address form to ensure that it is working correctly and the customer can enter their address without any issues.
Order Confirmation: After the purchase is completed, an order confirmation page should be displayed. Test the order confirmation page to ensure that it is functioning correctly and the customer receives a confirmation email with all the necessary information.
Compatibility with Web Browsers
One of the most important aspects of eCommerce testing is ensuring that the website is compatible with different web browsers. The website should be tested on popular web browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera. The website should be functional and look consistent across different browsers. All features should work seamlessly, including the shopping cart, checkout process, and payment gateway.
Mobile-Friendliness
With the growing number of mobile users, having a mobile-friendly eCommerce website is crucial. Therefore, it is essential to conduct thorough testing to ensure that the website is optimized for mobile devices. The testing should be performed on different devices and platforms, such as iOS and Android, to ensure that the website works smoothly on all devices. The checklist should include the following:
Check the website's layout and design to ensure that it is responsive and adapts to different screen sizes.
Test the website's loading speed to ensure that it is fast and does not take too long to load.
Verify that all website functionalities, such as search, product navigation, and checkout process, work correctly on mobile devices.
Check the website's usability on different mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones.
Integration with Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool for marketing eCommerce websites. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that your eCommerce website is integrated with popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This integration allows users to share products and their shopping experience with their friends and followers on social media. The checklist should include the following:
Test social media integration to ensure that social media sharing buttons are visible and working correctly on the website.
Verify that the website's social media links are working correctly and are not broken.
Check the website's ability to pull customer reviews and testimonials from social media platforms.
Check if the website allows customers to log in using their social media accounts.
Features Related to SEO
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is an essential aspect of eCommerce testing as it helps to improve the visibility of your website on search engines. Here are some of the SEO-related features that must be tested:
Keywords and Metadata – Keywords and metadata are the building blocks of any SEO strategy. The website should have relevant metadata and keyword-rich content to help search engines understand what the website is about.
URL Structure – The URL structure of the website should be optimized to make it easier for search engines to crawl and index the site.
Site Speed – Site speed is a crucial factor in SEO, as search engines prefer fast-loading websites. Therefore, it is essential to test the site speed and make necessary improvements.
Security Measures
Security is a significant concern for any eCommerce website as it involves the storage and processing of sensitive customer information. Therefore, it is essential to test the following security measures:
SSL Certificate – The website must have a valid SSL certificate to ensure that all transactions on the site are secure and protected.
Payment Gateway Integration – The payment gateway integration must be tested to ensure that all transactions are processed correctly and securely.
Password Strength – Password strength is crucial to prevent unauthorized access to customer information. Therefore, it is necessary to test the password strength of the website.
Two-Factor Authentication – Two-factor authentication is an added layer of security that can prevent unauthorized access to the website. Therefore, it is necessary to test this feature.
Regular Security Updates – Regular security updates must be carried out to ensure that the website is protected from the latest threats.
Return Policy and Customer Support
Customer support is a crucial aspect of any eCommerce website. Therefore, it is necessary to test the following features:
Return Policy – The return policy must be clearly defined and easily accessible on the website. It must be tested to ensure that it is functioning correctly.
Customer Support – The customer support feature must be tested to ensure that it is easily accessible and responsive.
Feedback and Review System – Feedback and review systems are crucial for any eCommerce business as they help to build trust and credibility. Therefore, it is necessary to test this feature.
Shipping and Delivery – The shipping and delivery feature must be tested to ensure that it is functioning correctly and is transparent to the customer.
Order Tracking – The order tracking feature must be tested to ensure that it is working correctly and the customer is informed of the status of their order.
The Bottom Line
Launching an eCommerce platform requires careful planning and preparation. Testing your eCommerce platform thoroughly is essential to ensure that everything is working correctly and to avoid any potential setbacks or negative customer experiences. By following the ultimate guide to effective eCommerce testing, you can ensure that your website is functioning correctly, providing a great user experience and ultimately leading to increased sales and revenue.
However, if you are wondering how Shoprocket can help you to sell digital goods and make your eCommerce business successful, get in touch with our team now!
