Key Areas to Test for a Successful eCommerce Website

Online shopping has become an indispensable part of our everyday lives. We have witnessed e-shops gradually turning from simplistic websites to intuitive and dynamic platforms that allow us to choose exactly what we need and even let us examine products with modern VR/AR technologies. According to a recent study by DataReportal , 57,5% of all internet users buy something online at least once a week.

However, there is nothing more irritating for a shopper than not being able to purchase a desired product due to bugs and glitches in an online store, especially if they are in a hurry. Most consumers will rather leave a problematic eCommerce website and go to a competitor to find the same goods than spend their time reaching out to you and trying to solve an issue.?

Therefore, we have prepared a concise guide to testing an e-shop and some practical recommendations to up your eCommerce game and make sure that your users will receive an excellent customer experience. Let’s jump right in.

Tips to Develop an Attractive Online Store

The growth of the eCommerce market eventually stabilized in 2022 after its breakneck spike in 2020-2021. Although, in the year ahead, it is expected to accelerate again and grow 5% higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The competition in this business domain is especially rough, while user loyalty is getting progressively harder to earn. So what can you do to impress shoppers with your eCommerce website?

Provide real-time support

Consumers tend to spend more when they receive personalized customer service on online shopping platforms. This is why it is important that users are able to quickly contact sales assistants to consult them on a potential purchase. Experts also highlight that now more than ever, shoppers are ready to text brands in messaging apps to receive support.

Even if the staff is not online due to their specific working hours, it is vital that consumers feel cared for and know that their questions will be answered as soon as possible. So it may be a great time to also invest in AI-powered chatbots to back you up when you are not there for your users or to save your resources in case of standard consumer requests.

Integrate your website with social media

According to Shopify ,? 84 % of the surveyed eCommerce businesses pointed out that an interconnected shopping experience across channels is vital for their platforms, and 52% of online stores already have omnichannel capabilities. Current integrations allow customers to get the feeling of visiting an online store even if they are looking for products on social media.?

The COVID-19 pandemic has already made tech giants like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest invest in liveshopping experience for their users. Therefore, it may be high time to align your customer care, inventory and content management, and analytics across social and non-social platforms.

Simplify checkout

Make the purchasing process on your eCommerce website as easy as possible with minimum steps for shoppers. Here are a few suggestions to achieve that:

• Make registration on your platform optional so that customers can order a product as guests;
• Offer a variety of payment options for convenience;
• Invest in high-quality UI/UX design to make sure that all the buttons and other interface elements are handy for users (appropriate color, size, and layout).

What to Test in an eCommerce website: Ultimate Checklist

Online stores are everchanging software products due to constant upgrades in offerings and prices, including the modifications that these websites undergo in times of sales or special offers. And since an online platform is a face for many brands, thorough QA is essential for such solutions. We have consulted our experts in eCommerce testing to compile a helpful checklist of the main areas to check in e-shops. Here are the aspects they recommend to focus your QA effort on.

#1 Hero Image

It is hard to find an online store without this interface element. A hero image is a clickable picture or a slideshow of elements that can be found at the top of the web page. What do we have to test here?

• Is it going to move up while scrolling down the website?
• If it is a slideshow, does it show all the elements in turn?
• What happens when a user hovers over or clicks a hero image?
• How fast does it load when refreshing the page compared to other content?
• Does it look the same in different browsers and screen resolutions? What about a mobile version of a website?

#2 Search

This is the first feature that most shoppers use on eCommerce platforms. It directly influences sales and determines the impression of a customer about the usability of your website. Here, we can check the following aspects:

• Are the results of the search relevant when looking for goods by product name, category, or brand name?
• Is it possible to sort products with all filters? (Category (e.g. Men’s / Women's clothes), Type of product (shoes, suits, dresses), Ratings, Price)
• Is the number of results available on the page after the search correct, according to the requirements?
• If there are several result pages, is it possible to navigate smoothly between them?
• Does the search functionality work properly on different website pages? (e.g. when we use search from the homepage VS when we open a page dedicated to a specific category)

#3 Product Detail Page

This is the page that contains all the details about a product. Users can find it by clicking on the link in their browsers, going there from the homepage of the website, or from the result page after searching for something in the online shop. To test a product detail page, a QA engineer can check:

• In-stock/Out-of-stock status, according to the actual availability of the product
• The layout of the product images and information
• Shipping information and whether all delivery options are displayed
• Check out options (e.g. by creating an account on the website or as a guest)
• The functionality of the elements of breadcrumb navigation if it is available.

#4 Shopping Cart

This is the page where a user can check their order before checkout. Here shoppers can modify the list of products they want to purchase — decrease or add the same items and delete something from their cart. This page may also contain recommendations on similar goods to those that are already included in the order or are usually bought along with them. For this functionality, we can test:

• The option to add a product to the cart and continue shopping
• The calculation of the order’s total price and the cost of different shipping options
• Whether the total includes taxes, if necessary
• Whether the overall price changes if a user changes the content of the cart (adds other products, changes the number of the previous items)
• Removing goods from the cart
• Applications of coupons and current special offers
• Proceed to the checkout stage
• If the user is logged in, whether the website retains the information in the cart after a shopper closes the store and then enters again.

#5 Payments

High-quality testing of this page is vital, as this is the very stage when something can go seriously wrong. Up to the point of a customer losing their money or spending the wrong amount. To avoid that, a tester has to verify:

• All available payment methods (testing with real credit cards is the most efficient option here)
• PCI compliance, if the customer is a returning user and the details of his credit card are displayed
• An option to create an account for new customers after a purchase, if available
• Logging out a user after a predetermined duration of the session for security reasons
• Login to check out option if the customer is a returning one
• Options for confirmation of an order, along with sending an invoice, if necessary

#6 Featured Products and Related/Recommended Products

Related options may appear on the product details page or in the cart to encourage a shopper to buy additional items. Featured products usually change in a defined period of time and are displayed on the homepage or across different pages of the e-shop. Not to test these options for every category and product, it is necessary to verify the backend part of the eCommerce website. In particular, a QA engineer should check the algorithm and database query that serve to determine items in these blocks.?

#7 Functionality After Сompleting the Order

On this page, we can test the following options:

• Change/Cancel the order
• Track the order
• Return to the main menu

#8 Customer Service Page

As we have already discussed, the profit of an online store always depends on the quality of customer service. This page should be easy to use and highly optimized for different browsers and OS. Here, specialists test:

• The possibility to contact the support team through all the available channels (via a chat on the website, email, or socials)
• Whether the team receives a notification if a customer messages them via an integrated chat
• Whether a user is directed to the brand’s/platform’s socials if choosing to receive support there
• Whether a customer is directed to their email service and whether the contact email address of the e-shop is auto-filled for them if they decide to use this method of communication

#9 Other Tests

The full cycle of functional testing for eCommerce platforms also includes verification of such pages as FAQs, Contact Us, About Us, and the login feature.

Summing Up

There are hundreds of eCommerce websites with identical products. And even if the offering of an e-shop is unique, there is no guarantee that a customer will be ready to fight bugs on their way to the purchase. After all, shoppers are becoming more demanding by the day. However, great quality, usability, speed, and innovative elements of an online store can bring tangible benefits for brand owners and retailers to stand out in the competition. More satisfied customers mean greater opportunities for online shopping businesses to develop and prosper.

Testing eCommerce solutions is one of the main directions of QATestLab’s expertise. We have a great portfolio of successful projects with companies from this business domain and can put our vast experience at your service. Whether your shopping platform is complex and versatile or your website offers a limited selection of unique products — our team will have you covered with customized QA services. Contact us in one click, and let’s discuss how to upgrade your eCommerce software to the next level.