A Comprehensive Guide To CRM Testing Checklist

Business today are driven by Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. It is important for enterprises to choose CRM software that allows them to effectively manage and communicate with their existing customers as well as prospective ones.

The business, the customer, and your revenue can be directly impacted by a buggy and poorly implemented CRM. Since CRM usually contains a lot of sensitive information about project costs, customers, timelines, etc. So any CRM should be designed to provide maximum security for that data, its accuracy, and for the ability to retrieve that data at any time whatsoever.

But with so many CRM testing company solutions available, how do you choose the best one, and how do you know that this solution will work? Fortunately, we've created this handy checklist to help you evaluate potential CRM solution.

What Is CRM Testing?

CRM testing is a way to see if your customer relationship management system does exactly what it is supposed to do, and that it runs as it should, and is not at all disrupting your business processes in any way.

The testing of CRMs typically involves data, integration, performance functional, security, usability, and regression testing during the entire development cycle of the CRM.

Feasibility of test automation: This is helpful when the project runs for more than six months and is aimed at CRM testing.

CRM testing team: A test automation architect, a test automation engineer, QA manager, and a UX researcher (optional).

CRM data consistency and security can be threatened by inadequate testing of CRM systems. Therefore businesses need high-quality and cost-effective CRM testing services to ensure that their customer’s CRM solutions work as expected.

CRM Testing Handy Checklist

During the testing of a customer relationship management system, it is essential to check up on all aspects of the system and identify any potential issues. In this way, your business can manage valuable customer relationships more effectively with a perfect CRM system.

Also Read: All You Need To Know About CRM Testing

Below is a checklist of the different tests included in an organization's CRM testing. So, let’s explore them one by one.

1. Data Testing

The purpose of a CRM is to streamline the process of managing large quantities of customer information. Therefore, data testing in CRM generally ensures that the solution's data flow is appropriate, complete, and correct.

When performing data testing, you should keep an eye out for the following issues:

●??????Data Duplication: There should be no duplication of data.

●??????Data Missing: Users must see required data at the appropriate levels, and no data should be missing.

●??????Data Mapping: Data should be aligned correctly in the grids since sometimes they go out of alignment as we scroll.

●??????Search option: Organizations should be able to search for details by individuals, company addresses, or other ways they deem necessary.

●??????Hidden Data: Depending on the user role assigned at the organizational level, appropriate data should be visible only to specific users.

●??????Data saving fields: Fields that have more than one field, such as addresses, must be designed to protect data within them.

●??????Editable and Non-Editable data: Date and time should be set as defaults, and no user should be able to edit them. It is essential to provide access to editable data based on a user's role.

Tip: To get reliable test results, it is important to use realistic data when entering test data into a CRM.

For instance, the zip codes, phone numbers, and address formats should be real. Furthermore, it is important to test how the system reacts to incorrect information entered on purpose by using negative scenarios. It should display a correct error message if something like this occurs.

2. Usability Testing

It is imperative that you conduct usability and UI testing since business analysis and insight cannot be delivered if your employees do not know how to use the CRM system. There is a possibility that the data inputted may be incorrect if they cannot use it effectively.

CRM systems must be tested to ensure that all users efficiently use them, customer data is available when needed, and reporting and dashboards provide accurate information.

Due to the cloud-based nature of CRM systems, usability testing should also cover browsers because many users may prefer one browser over another. User experience must be consistent across all users during usability testing. The same is true for mobile devices and applications. There is also the need to test offline functionality because some users, specially salespeople, may need access to a prospect or customer information while on the field as well.

3. Performance Testing

CRM systems must perform at their best for every business to succeed. Usually, performance testing is used to test the capability of a CRM system under different stress conditions or load conditions, such as high load periods. This way, people won't have to wait for the CRM system to load and respond.

Additionally, the QA team tests the CRM system's?response time, load speed, the maximum number of users it can handle, peak hours and server utilization.

Moreover, it aids in analyzing the system's behavior in different conditions and makes it more efficient.

4. Functionality Testing

Functionality testing ensures that the CRM performs its essential functions. Furthermore, testers ensure that sales, marketing, and customer service workflows are correctly aligned.

The following are some critical functional tests for CRM applications:

●??????Access permissions: Permissions are assigned based on the admin's role in the CRM system. Testers must perform a role-based check to ensure that permissions are granted correctly.

●??????Transaction Process: CRM and POS should be integrated, so that customer transaction information is accurate.

●??????Card Balance: When making a payment, the customer should be able to select another payment method if there is an insufficient balance. The company must authorize this payment method.

●??????Connection issue: An error message should appear if the internet connection is lost, and the cards should not work.

●??????Tax: Pre-authorizing and canceling transactions should work fine in tax-related scenarios.

5. Integration Testing

Integrating CRM with email server, ERP, financial system, document management system, and data warehouse is crucial. This process allows data and information to be easily shared between the various processes.

The implementation of effective integration, however, is hindered by several issues. Such potential bugs can be discovered through integration testing.

The testing ensures that CRM data will not change format or quality during the transfer process.

6. Security Testing

CRMs often store and access sensitive corporate data about their customers online, which makes security a significant challenge.

Some of the necessary measures to mitigate security risks in CRMs include:

●??????Different user permissions and role-based access testing

●??????An analysis of the system's security to see if it can be easily hacked

●??????Security vulnerability assessment

7. Regression Testing

After the software has been changed or interfaced with other software, regression testing verifies that will the software behave the same way as it did before. Regression tests must be performed whenever a company migrates to a new CRM system to ensure that data quality is maintained before and after the migration.

It is also necessary to perform regression testing after any update. Your CRM provider is expected to provide regular updates to fix bugs or issues from previous versions or to optimize the system.

It is vital to ensure that all other aspects of this testing checklist are not affected by regression testing, regardless of whether you are testing a newly developed or updated system.

8. Exploratory Testing

By testing exploratory journeys instead of linear paths or "happy paths", you increase your test coverage. In addition, exploratory testing with AI increases coverage significantly by automatically creating test cases to cover all possible scenarios of a user's journey. This intelligent way of increasing test coverage would be challenging for even the best manual testers to match.

9. Compatibility Testing

Web browsers are typically used to access CRM. Therefore, it is essential to check cross-browser compatibility to ensure that these systems are displayed and work as expected in all leading browsers to ensure their functionality.

Furthermore, many CRMs are now available on mobile devices as well. In these cases, CRM solutions need to be tested on various mobile devices (with varying operating systems, brands, and characteristics) since these devices are likely to be used by their end users to access the application.

10. Synchronization Testing

Data loss can occur during real-time synchronization when CRM synchronizes with third-party systems.

To resolve this issue, testers should reproduce the sequence of actions to determine where the information failed to synchronize. The problem will be solved more quickly this way.

11. Migration Testing

If you are planning on migrating to a new CRM or to a new version of the same CRM, there may be some challenges involved in this. In such situations, it is important to conduct thorough testing to verify that after the migration process is completed, no data will have been lost and that no issues will be occurring.

Also Read: Beginners Guide to Salesforce CRM Testing

Wrapping Up

Businesses of all sizes are realizing that it is possible to access enterprise-level CRM solutions for a reasonable price, and that is resulting in a boom of CRM software sales.

It is likely that your company already uses one. But is it the right one for your needs? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below! And don’t forget to use this handy checklist to test your CRM software and make the right choice for your business.