Servage Magazine

When dealing with e-commerce website development, It is important to remember that any small change in the setting of your e-commerce store might have a larger impact than you think. Therefore, it is crucial for any web developer, during or after the e-commerce development process, to do testing that confirms changes are in fact beneficial and not harmful in anyway.

We Need to Test E-commerce Website Frequently

There are many ways to test your e-commerce website; including simple browser or mobile device testing, as well as intensive testing that uses modern e-commerce testing tools. You might believe seasoned e-commerce developers know exactly which settings will affect which part of the website. Unfortunately, this presumption might not be accurate as we are living in a constantly evolving web environment, so sometimes we are frankly unaware of the minor changes that are invoked in the various settings of an e-commerce store.

Mobile Compatibility

In the modern mobile era, managing an e-commerce website is a challenging task, as we have to deal with entirely different technologies on the mobile platform which involves extensive knowledge of HTML 5, CSS 3 and advanced JavaScript. Knowledge that is enacted, but not double-checked for these technologies, can impact our testing process.

Attention Points

Regularly testing an e-commerce website assures consistent user experiences without frustrations nor loss of traffic. The first consideration for an e-commerce website is content, as the majority of e-commerce businesses change their products often, as well as their product categories. Developers have to frequently update product descriptions, SEO meta data, and images. Therefore, we must frequently check our text content as well as image based content, sliders, banners and other promotional material on the website.

Attention points at the code level involve formatting changes. In order to change the products and invoke other promotional changes, we have to adjust CSS styles. Checking the behavior of CSS elements is beneficial in the long run. And by checking in different browsers, you will ensure consistent experiences of the store. The next step is to examine the checkout pages. In order to enhance performance and increase conversion rate, it is necessary to confirm the secure checkout screens first.

The most crucial and sensitive item in an e-commerce site is its setting panel. If you are less experienced with e-commerce development, then don’t touch the default setting unless you have the help of an experienced developer. I say this because, if you change the order acceptance setting of a particular region to “no,” then you will stop getting new orders from that region. Therefore, be sure to check everything related to your settings at regular intervals. Those related items include checkout pages, payment methods, data collection on your cart, order tracking and shipping. Confirming these items will assure smooth experiences for your customers as well as shoppers.

Areas Need Frequent Checking

Other areas that need frequent checking include links on your web pages, navigation, various forms, your login process, your promotional campaign, your themes and their updates on the web. Additionally, you must verify that your e-commerce web pages are loading normally. Last, though certainly not least, checking for out-of-stock merchandise and expiry dates of products, are important items that need time and skills to regularly manage them.

References & More Reading

What to Test on an Ecommerce Site
19 Tools to Test your Site for Mobile Devices
23 Tools to Test your Ecommerce Site