The eCommerce guide to holiday flash sales

by eCommerceTechnologyblog

People more likely buy when they feel they are getting a special deal instead of an everyday low price.  A flash sale is a short term discount or promotion on products offered by eCommerce stores specifically lasting for less than 24 hours.

Why run a flash sale?

  • A well executed flash sale can increase customers loyalty and moves excess inventory.
  • Flash sales gives an opportunity to consumers , exactly what they are looking for.Then running the deal for a short period of time gives customers that extra jolt to act fast and buy now.
  • Flash sales help sellers compete on price.
  • As an eCommerce owner you would get rid of excess inventory.
  • It lures the customers, hoping to retain them afterwards.
  • It also increases your overall sales and profit.
  • But profits aren’t guaranteed. You have to execute flash sales correctly to reap the benefits.

Reasons why flash sales fail :

1. Shipping failure :

After a flash sale is over, customers expect quick and accurate delivery. Most of the customers complain of waiting several days to receive their product after the purchase. Make sure your flash deal offers free shipping. This not only helps your brand stand differently on eCommerce platforms, also you will be competing in a better way with Amazon.

2. Inventory failure :

Sometimes e stores keep selling products even after they have no more inventory left. This means the seller has to cancel some of the orders, leading to customers dissatisfaction and mistrust of your brand. So make sure that before launching flash sales, you have plenty of stock.

3. Bots failure :

“Bots”- computer programs are the most popular hack. Firstly the sites are hit by the bot invasion and rob loyal customers. Secondly bots have created a thriving resale market online, causing both retailers and fans to suffer.

        Make sure you look at resale sites. Because,those hand-to-get items that were just on flash sale on your site are sold out. Within no time, those products are available on online resale markets. So bot protection is a key to your success as an online flash seller.

4. Site failure :

It is seen that eCommerce websites crash during their busiest sales season. During the busy season, your eCommerce site will be receiving the most traffic, processing the most orders and using the resources optimally. Thundering crowd slows your site speed, even causing it to collapse. If your business model heavily relies on flash sales, load testing your site is a must. Your website server should be able to scale on demand, to prevent crashes.

The best practices of successful flash seller

1. Determine the goals :

  • Firstly determine why you want to run the flash sale ?
  • Do you want to sell off the excess inventory?
  • Do you want to gain website traffic?
  • Do you want to attract new customers?
  • Do you want to increase brand awareness?

If any of these go with your goals then flash sales could work well for you.

2. Select your target customers :

your flash sales strategy should focus on your target customer and design your flash sale around their interest. Avoid targeting existing customers instead target your competitors’ customers. Select those customers who left negative reviews for your competitors. A flash sale is a great way to re-engage inactive customers with your offers.

3. Pick the right time :

Holidays like valentine’s day, mother’s day, Christmas day are special times of the year when consumers are emotionally ready to shop. By looking at your past order data you can decide when to run a flash sale. If you host flash sales before the holiday season, you can actually win new customers and beat the competition. This will increase your fan base before the holiday shopping event starts.

4. Pick the right product:

The products you select for your flash sale should be based on the customers that you are trying to target. For instance if you are targeting competitors customers, then choose a product that your competitors customer love at a lower price. Secondly if you want flash sales to promote brand awareness then promote your signature product that your brand is known for.  Promote the products with the highest search volumes is the best way to appeal.

5. Set right prices :

The price must be right. Your discount should be big enough to send people running to your site. If your brand never goes on sale, then 10% might be enough. Price your flash deals slightly higher than your lowest possible price. These price drops should be reserved for your biggest annual promotions like BF[black Friday] CM[cyber Monday].

6. Create a sense of urgency to promote flash sales :

Use social media platforms namely Facebook, Instagram etc., to actively engage with your customers throughout the flash sale. Show your discount in your subject line. Use countdown timers on your flash sale landing page. As flash sales are for limited time, it will create a sense of urgency. It is a FOMO deal [fear of missing out] which helps in boosting flash sales. This encourages the shoppers for impulse buying.

To sum up:

All in all flash sales can help you make a lot of money. They provide you with short term benefits like inventory clearance, generate extra revenue, brand awareness and business growth in the long run. You have to invest time and effort. It’s a boom or bust in a very brief sales window.

Guidelines for improving your website’s user experience

by eCommerceTechnologyUser Experience

Your website is the most powerful tool for online marketing. It is your salesman 24/7 at your disposal. A business website can leave a lasting impression on a customer, whether good or bad depends on a lot of factors.

       When you open and see Google Analytics, you see that people are visiting your website, but they aren’t doing what they are supposed to. Your website didn’t create much of an impact on their minds. If you put consistent effort into improving the users experience [UX] of your website than everything will flow smoothly and can enhance conversion ratio. 

What is UX ?

Digital trends are rapidly changing and can make your website feel old and outdated. To overcome this challenge, there are some ways and tips to improve your UX, to make it more helpful and useful. UX is the process of increasing user satisfaction, by improving the usability, accessibility and efficiency of user with the website. A good UX means :  * The user visited your website.

  • Scrolled through different pages.
  • Understood what the website is all about and
  • Finally got what they wanted.

Tactics to improve your website’s user experience

      A visitor is always on your website with a mission. Now it is up to you- how easy you make it for them to accomplish that mission. So here are the tactics that will improve your website UX and help users find the products more easily.

#1. Have a plan :

Now that you know that your site needs some improvements, it’s time to work to tackle them. Start research your customers journey from the time they visited your website to the moment they became a customer. While doing research, think about which pages they are going to view, what content they would like to read, what offers will convert them into customers. Understanding these things will help you to design your website accordingly. Knowing the needs of the customer, will help you know the key points of your website and can make changes accordingly.

#2. Simplify your design :

To have best UX, your website should be clean, in proper order and clutter free. Visually your website should be simple, as it will be easily understood by the user. Web visitor usually visit website to seek answers and not for creativity. So avoid complicating the website with designs. When you want a particular action to be taken by a visitor coming to your site, make your site hassle free with less clutter. Every page should have a single goal. The check out page for instance, contains only what is needed for the process of checkout.   

#3. Interactive content :

Using interactive content will make your site design fun and drive engagement. Keep churning out the new content. Nobody wants to visit a stale website. So keep producing a steady stream of content to keep the site relevant and current. High quality and informative content boosts the UX and in driving massive traffic to the site. So it is well said “content is king”. To enhance the UX try adding videos, games, quizzes. Make your content simple and clear. It should be accessible to a wider audience. Visitors should be able to engage with content after a quick glance.

#4. Optimize website speed :

If your website isn’t fast enough, most people will leave it almost immediately. Almost half of web users tend to leave if a website doesn’t load in three seconds and this will definitely have a big impact on your conversion rate. Site speed is one of the main factors for ranking websites in search engines. There are many tools available to make your site lightning fast, like web page test, Google page speed, yslow and others. 

#5. Mobile friendly design :

More than 50% of all internet traffic is from mobile devices. Google also has shifted its algorithm towards mobile users. The websites that perform best on mobile will enhance your website user experience. We live in a multi screen world. This is great. But when it comes to websites, we have to make sure that our website looks great on all of these screen sizes. That’s why it is important to make your website responsive. Responsive design helps solve many problems:

  • It adapts to screen size.
  • Improves user experience.
  • It is cost effective.
  • It is easier to manage

You can check whether your website is responsive by resizing your browser size. Your website should automatically adapt itself.

#6. Easily navigable :

website’s navigation is tied in with the user experience and your conversion rate. Bad navigation will lead to people leaving your website and not coming back- while good website navigation will not only keep people engaged on your website but also help convert more users. Best example for easy navigation is Amazon home page, everything is easy to find. At first glance you can see offers that are relevant to you, as well as any deals of the day or last minute deals. All you have to do is to click on them to see the offers. The easier you make it for them to navigate through your website, the better and better the chance they will convert.

#7. Use of white space :

white space is any empty space: on the sides, between paragraphs and around product images. White space has a significant impact on both user experience and your conversion rate. For instance use of white space can

  • Help you highlight a specific message that you want your visitors to see.
  • Draws people attention to something if you want people to notice something specific on your website [like an offer/discount],use white space around it.
  • It helps you to better organize your content and elements.

#9. Customers review :

when people search for products on platforms like Amazon or Flipkart, they tend to see the product reviews that contains mostly four or five stars. These reviews are from people who wrote out their experience with a product. Adding such reviews to your website helps the customer to gain trust in the product, which in turn pushes the customer to purchase it. As long as the reviews/testimonials are genuine, your website will surely enhance users experience and help in conversion too.

Conclusion:

To have a strong and positive impact of your website on visitors, your website should be speedy, mobile friendly, easily navigable, and a clean and clear website design, easy to understand. If your website is efficient and effective with your customers need, you will definitely be high. Year by year , you have to apply new strategies of improving your website. Improvement of website is necessary as expectations and technology keeps on changing from time to time.

Ways to Optimize your eCommerce product pages

by contenteCommerceTechnologyblogSEO

Beautifully designed home pages are important for making a good impression. But no pages have a greater impact on sales and overall conversions than product pages. It’s where your customers evaluate your products, look for special offers and ultimately decide to click the “add to cart” button. Thus helps the visitor to become the customer. Make sure that your product page is optimized, so that you don’t miss out on potential visitors.

The fundamental secret to e-commerce growth is not more traffic, but more conversions from the existing traffic. So there is a need to create a highly effective and optimized site that helps to convert as many visitors as possible into sales.

Ways to optimize your product pages..

#1. Clearly specify your product name :

product names affect search rankings to a great extent. Use the keywords to create descriptive product names. Ensure that they are to the point and include the necessary descriptions customers might be searching for. Make sure that your product names are relevant and match with the description provided on your landing page.

#2. Use high quality images:

Shoppers move rapidly through web pages or search engines, unless something catches their eyes. Large clear and high quality photos of your products can make it easy to grab the attention of the shoppers. The shoppers can’t see the product in person, but they can assess the product, its quality with a high quality photo/image. High quality photos cover all the product details and makes the buyer feel confident while making their online purchase.

#3. Provide detailed product content :

Beyond product images, a great ecommerce product page should provide a high level of information about the product. It’s the content that informs customers about the benefits and features of a product. It can convince them to buy from you. Make sure that you use a polite, engaging and personal touch in your product description. This will help the customers to decide while buying the product. Detailed content will also help you rank higher in SERPs and thereby bring in more customers to your store.

#4. Add trust badges :

Now-a-days we hear a lot about data breaches, cyber theft, credit card frauds and personal information being stolen by hackers. Due to this customers become more wary to share their personal information online. This is creating a barrier to e-commerce shopping. As an online owner, you have to convince the shoppers that their information is safe in your hands. To build this trust, trust badges are recommended. As per study, 48% of shoppers agreed that the trust seals help them to decide whether to make a purchase. Trust badges are easy way to let shoppers know that their purchases are safe and help to build confidence in your company and feel comfortable to make purchases. 

#5. Improve site speed :

Site speed is one of the main factors for ranking websites in the search engine. Searchers hate waiting. Check the loading time of the web page, if it takes more than three seconds to load then there is a need to make the website lightning fast. There are many tools available to make the site faster, such as web page test, Google page speed, Yslow and others. Quickening the site speed of your product pages is the ultimate remedy to cart abandonment, Rather than getting discouraged with slow pages.

#6. Make mobile a priority :

Today over 80% of online shoppers use their mobile phones to shop through e-commerce. Make sure that you optimize your website to use on mobile phones equally well. A mobile unfriendly store may lose its customers, sales revenue, traffic and everything.

#7. Sense of urgency :

Create a sense of urgency in the minds of your customers, so that they rush to make purchases. You must use FOMO[fear of missing out] well enough to convert engagement into purchase. One way of doing this is by announcing a limit time sale. You must ensure that you make them realize that they will miss out the sale if they are late. You can do so by adding a countdown clock. Another way of doing it, is by letting your customers know that a limited quantity of the products is left.

#8. Reviews from customers :

Reviews build trust and give potential customers the reassurance they need from others to make their purchasing decisions. Given the power of referrals, it’s best to prominently feature reviews from customers on your product pages. For instance Shopify users can download the product reviews app on the Shopify store.

#9. Pricing and shipping costs :

On the product page, you should clearly mention the price of the product. One more aspect where most e-commerce websites fail is the shipping cost. Very few e-commerce product pages list the pricing and shipping information transparently. Usually the shipping and VAT charges are added later on. This will put off your customers interest. Instead try to be more transparent about your charges in the first place. Show your shipping charges and the complete cost of the purchase right on the product page. To make the offer more sweet, you can offer free shipping to your customers. 

#10. Display the return policy on your ecommerce product page :

Your goal should remain as transparent as possible with your customers. A great way of doing this is by outlining your return policy on the product page. Your customers must know the steps that they may need to take, if they wish to return the product. A clear return policy on the e-commerce product page makes things clear as well as reduces the conflict that might arise after the purchase of the product.

Conclusion :

As an online seller, the product page is your final moment to win the sale. If you can show buyers the benefits of your products on this page, they will complete their order and give you a sale. You can easily craft a product page that drives conversions, by using the tips in this guide. With few changes and adjustments, your product page will keep shoppers engaged and gradually lead them towards completing their purchase.

What to test in an eCommerce Website

by eCommerceTechnologyblog

People are adopting online shopping like never before, and global eCommerce market size is expected to grow very high in the coming years. Current technology trends and accessibility have made it possible for every business to create an eCommerce platform in no time and start selling. It is important to test eCommerce websites and mobile applications, so that it enhances users experience, customer data security, quick load time, safe and secure transaction. All these factors help in maintaining the website stability and enjoyable customers experience.

Why testing is important for your eCommerce success:

eCommerce applications have lots of users world- wide as they deal with finance, marketing retail and wholesale, manufacturing and auctions. Better testing techniques will safeguards the website from failure. The main reasons for testing your eCommerce application is to check the usability of the application, its user friendliness and to make your eCommerce website/ application bugs free.

Following are the important factors where testing of eCommerce websites would be helpful :

1. Ensuring the readiness of transactions :

Testing an eCommerce website will help you make sure that every single webpage on your website is tested well enough and is validated to complete all the eCommerce transactions. It will also confirm whether it is ready for the customer use or not.

2. Enhancing the usability :

The success of online buying website depends upon the increased and smooth usability, along with reduced risk factors. Testing process for eCommerce website deals with both of these aspects.

3. Reducing the risk of changes :

The changes in your eCommerce website should enhance customers experience and a hassle free transaction. Testing makes sure that the incorporated new changes doesn’t affect the website and it is bugs free.

4. Evaluating the functionality and compatibility against load :

In order to serve customers requirements and needs perfectly, every organization needs to ensure that the function provided in their websites are working properly at different amounts of load conditions and whether the website is able to support different browsers and platforms or not. Testing is a must for eCommerce website to ensure the compatibility and good working conditions of the website during heavy loads i.e. during holiday season as well.

Important segments of eCommerce testing :

Testing eCommerce website will help you to identify and rectify errors, that affect your website’s performance and a good customer experience.

#1. Home Page:

Home page is the first page to appear when a user opens the website. On an eCommerce website the homepage consists of a very rich and useful source of information. It is important to test the interoperability and functionality of the homepage of the e-commerce website.

#2. Category pages :

It is one of the major areas in terms of testing. The range and breadth of the products should be tested by checking that the products are grouped as per category or not. Also check, how quickly the user is able to find the correct product category on the website.

#3. Product detail page :

The product detail page is the heart of the eCommerce system. Hence it is really important to make sure that the product detail pages are tested thoroughly and how the functionality of these pages work. It involves checking elements like,

  • Product code and title
  • Product image
  • Enlarging the image
  • Product description
  • Full body view of the product….and many more.

#4. Shopping cart :

Separate resources and efforts should be dedicated towards the functionality of the shopping cart. They should also test that the quantities, shopping cart items and display option are shown accordingly. Whether the transactions taking place on the website or not ? The functionality of removing and changing items in a shopping cart should also be tested.

#5. Payment Gateways :

This factor is very important for both the businesses and the customers because it involves money. The payment gateway allows a merchant to accept credit, debit card and other forms of electronic payments. So payment modes should be safe and secure as these are important targets for hackers and scammers.  The checkout and payment gateway should also be tested with different payment options such as PayPal, online banking, cash, etc..,

#6. Search :

Most of the customers come to the website and search for a specific product that they have in mind. Hence the website should make it easier for customers to locate the product without much difficulty. This is a crucial segment which should be tested thoroughly. This factor helps in determining the success of the eCommerce website, because customers often have only a few features of a certain product in mind. Search algorithm of your website helps the visitor to find the best product, they are looking for. 

#7. After order tests:

Whenever a customer places an order there are many things that will happen afterwards, such as showing the shipping status, there is an option to cancel the order in case the customer doesn’t want it. Sometimes the customer wants to return their product in case of a defect or a complaint. So there should be a feature relating to the returns as well. The things to be tested here are that these features are working properly and are easy to use or not, because this can affect the customer.

#8. Browser compatibility:

It is important for eCommerce applications to work on all types of web browsers such as Google chrome, Firefox, opera etc.., you need to test the browser compatibility of the application to make sure that your customers are able to use your e-commerce website without any hassle.

Testing eCommerce application work flow :

  • Search functionality, sign up and login options
  • Features for posting product reviews so that other customers can see them and make their decision.
  • Sorting features, to filter different product types
  • Adding or removing products from the shopping cart.
  • Checking out process, invoice generation and order number, payment processing and payment gateway for buying the product

            So, to offer a hassle free e-commerce experience to customers, it is important to test the complete workflow of your website and mobile application. Before planning and performing the functional testing, specialists should understand and familiarize themselves with the e-commerce website very well, so that they can plan tests accordingly.

Pull up :

By conducting thorough eCommerce website application testing, you can significantly reduce the number of errors that crop up when the website is made live to your customers.

Best free SEO tools you should be using to improve your E-store

by eCommerceTechnologyblog

A good tool to do the task saves time and the work done will be effective and efficient. Every thing starts with right tools. If it is available free, then what more you need. The best free SEO tools you can use to rank higher in search engine result page [ SERP ]

The following tools are fast free and easy to use.

#1. Google Page Speed:

Once you enter a URL, this tool will test the loading time and performance for desktop and for mobile. it also suggest tips for improvement. the mobile performance can be known through a user experience score, grading areas etc..

#2. Google Analytics:

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by google that tracks and reports website traffic. this helps to get a deeper understanding of your customers. this tool surfaces many keyword insights as to which term people use to land on your pages.

#3. Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools:

Google Search Console is a free service offered by google that helps you monitor, maintain and any difficulty if your site is facing ? GSC helps you understand and improve how google sees your site

Bing web master tool is a free service of Bing search engine. it allows web masters to add their websites from a single account. it gives you a snapshot of information about each site.

#4. Keyword Tool:

There are hundreds of keyword ideas based on a single keyword. Once you enter a key word , the keyword tool provides a huge list of long tail keyword opportunities and common questions asked.

#5. Moz Local Listing:

Moz local gives you the tools for complete listing management across the web. Take control of your local SEO with powerful references accuracy , checks review management , publishing tools, integration with google and Facebook and more.

#6. Moz Link Explorer:

This tool gives a complete and clear picture of your website pages and links. It also gives an insight into your website’s authority and ranking. Link explorer measures your back links most valuable pages, linking domains etc. , this helps you to build high quality links to better compete and thrive online.

#7. SERP Simulator:

This tool will show how your web pages will look in google search. And so the appearance of your meta title and description can be known through this tool, before you publish your web page. it works for both desktop and mobile and also checks with any issues and instantly fixes the same.

#8. Link Miner:

This is an important tool to find broken links on any web page. It helps to rebuild the broken link and creating opportunities. its a single chrome extension that checks the http status of all links on the current page. You can easily find the broken link here as highlights.

#9. Google Trends:

Google Trends is a search trend feature that shows how frequently a given search term entered into googles search engine relative to sites total search volume over a given period of time. this tool uncovers the seasonal variations in search popularity amongst other things.

#10. Google Business Review Link Generator:

The google review link generator gives you a one stop link , you can send to your customers for them to easily leave a review for your business On google. Customer reviews are important for local SEO purposes. this tool helps you to generate, manage and monitor the customers review for your business.

Conclusion:

There are hundreds of free SEO tools, putting together all is a hard task. The above mentioned ones are valuable and you can use via the web within minutes to get amazing insights.

 Even more tools are available. If interested you can look into the following

  • 100 best SEO tools and resources
  • SEO and marketing tools
  • the complete beginners guide to SEO

  

 

2021 Vision eCommerce Trends To Expect In The New Year

by eCommerceTechnologyblog

The dynamic world has made the eCommerce business both scary and exciting. Changes either help us to grow or face new challenges that we are not able to sustain.  This business is still expanding bigger and brighter than before. This content will give you a sneak peak of the eCommerce growth in 2020 and beyond.

#1. Global eCommerce Sales:

The market share of eCommerce business is 17.5% of the total global retail sales. Studies state that eCommerce sales will reach a new high by 2021. It is going to grow approximately up to 265%, from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $4.9 trillion in 2021. eCommerce business has more opportunity for growth in future. This shows that traditional business should embrace online business trends along with their offline business.  

#2. Prevalence of Omni Channel:

Omni channel shopping means to know what, where, when, why, and how people are purchasing the products you sell on a particular channel. Multi channel shopping is on the works for instance, people search for the product online but then buy in-store directly. Knowing your customers taste and preferences will help you to promote your product. Make sure that you adapt click and collect strategy, where shoppers can purchase online and pick it up in a store close to them.

#3. Shopping through Social Media:

Instagram, twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and YouTube are the social media channels which provide shopping facilities just a button away. social media allows businesses to enable product tags in their posts. when people tap to view a product, they usually see the product image, product description, price and a link where they can purchase the product. Social media is a tool for hassle free communication.

#4. Cross Border Shopping:

Study shows that 57% of online shoppers have made online purchases from an overseas retailer in the last six months. Shoppers are looking for products online outside their home country. Growing eCommerce trend is going global. Make sure that you invest in infrastructure and technology which will help your eCommerce business to adapt to overseas buyers.

#5. B2B eCommerce:

B2B eCommerce is the online selling and marketing of products from one business to another. The target audience of b2b company is not a consumer, but another company. So these companies require a unique approach of marketing and branding their products. B2B buyers usually need to go through various steps including sales representative interaction, negotiations and approvals before they can make a successful purchase.

#6. Mobile Shopping:

With their mobile devices shoppers can now browse, research and purchase products whenever and whatever they want. more than 50% of all internet traffic is from mobile devices. google has also shifted its algorithm towards mobile users. The websites that perform best on the mobile will be ranked accordingly. websites which do not accommodate mobile users, will have low readability and slow page loading speeds. To optimize your site, Google provides you with few tools to check if your website accommodates mobile users.

#7. Voice Commerce:

Voice operating assistants like Alexa, Siri or Google voice console are going to be the buzz in the new year. A very recent trend to the eCommerce world is the rise of voice technology. It has led to new ways on how people interact with brands through voice activated online browsing. As soon as the device has input, it will detect the language in which the query has been asked. The keywords in the query will be captured and answered accordingly. Voice commerce are faster, easier and time saver.

#8. New Payment Modes:

Flexible payment  mode has become the priority of online business this year. Popular payment services such as Google pay, PayPal, Google wallet, PhonePe and more have significantly helped to increase the conversion ratio. This digital mode of payment allows the customer a frictionless shopping experience. In fact 70% of people expect that digital payments will overtake cash and cards by 2030. The more convenience you provide in payment, the more and better results you reap.

Conclusion:

The competition online is already stiff and it is only going to get tougher in the coming years. So arm your website with new trends for eCommerce to help you get ready with the changes of the coming years and elevate your eCommerce business in 2021 into a new height.

Test Automation

Getting Started with Test Automation

by Technologyblog
Test Automation

In the world of software there are two ways of testing – Manual and Automation. Generally, a lot of testing can be done manually. Some manual testing is like discovery testing, usability testing, regression testing, functional testing, and so on. However, when the testing has to be repeated multiple times, then manual testing is shifted to automation. Needless to say, automation testing saves time and efforts.

Test automation can be defined as the process of running the test automatically, managing test data, and utilizing results to improve the software quality. Testing is a quality assurance (QA) method. This ensures that the software data is tested regularly to achieve improved results every time. The entire software production team from business analysts to developers are involved in the process of software testing.

Each time an error occurs while testing, it is the duty of the developer to rectify the error and retest the software. This way every time a new version of the software is released.  To ensure that the newer version of the software does not hamper the original work features, continuous testing has to be carried out. Testing is a cyclic process meant to improvise software quality. In this continuous process, in order to not miss out on any bugs or errors automation testing is preferred over manual testing.

However, there are some critical points that one must keep in mind while transitioning from manual to automated testing. Here are some tips to get started with test automation.

Tips to get started with test automation

  1. Not all tests can be automated. Even the tests that can be tested automatically, need manual handling at times. This means test automation cannot be done 100%.
  2. Set realistic goals. Writing smaller test cases can provide better test coverage.
  3. Test cases must be labeled well so that teams have the clarity of what needs to be automated.
  4. Automation can help to explore newer areas of the application.
  5. The scope of automation can be decided during the ideation process.
  6. Select the right tools for automation. This depends on the nature of the software (for example, web-based or mobile-based), the experience of the programmer, and whether the available automation tools are open source or not.

While transitioning from manual to automated testing one must be able to answer two questions:

1. What to automate?

2. How to automate?

While answering the first question, one must figure out the type of testing ranging from regression tests, smoke tests, and so on; and whether the software has a technical or business objective. Next comes answering the second question. This includes factors like the testing process, understanding the pros and cons of manual and automation testing, and determining the end-user preferences using the power of analytics. Having the clarity of the above-mentioned aspects helps automation testing cover the right interfaces and optimizes the performance of the software on the right user platforms.

Automation testing is of great help for software developers. By moving to automation testing, the ever-reducing deadlines of software releases can be met. In order to achieve better quality software versions, one must be able to create a balance between automation testing and manual testing.

Mobile App Development

Top 10 Tips for Mobile App Development (Android & iOS)

by Technology
Mobile App Development

Mobile app development is a rapidly growing field wherein people from across varied industries and professions are creating different types of mobile applications on a daily basis. To survive in such a competitive and demanding world, one must be able to create a unique mobile application that serves its original purpose and stays updated with the changing market scenario.

Mobile app development can be extremely challenging. Smartphones keep upgrading their versions very often, which makes it even more difficult for app developers to maintain their pace. By the time an app developer develops an app, there are likely chances that the mobile version might change. Mobile app development requires a vision to understand what the users really need. If the app is able to fulfill the need, then it can survive for a longer time.

Mobile is extensively used for communication worldwide and if done right then mobile app can be helpful to a larger audience for a longer time. No matter if you are an experienced developer or a newbie in the field, here are few tips that you must consider while developing a mobile application.

1. Study the Market – Before you start to ideate over developing a mobile application take some time to study the market. Also, understand the needs of users. This is the initial part of creating a mobile app strategy which will later include factors like user interface, languages, regions, and so on. Know the latest trends of the market so that your application stands out from the rest. Today’s latest trends include Augmented Reality app development, Unity game development, etc.

2. Ensure Right Platforms and Features – This aspect comes once you understand your users. Decide over a suitable platform and apt features keeping in mind the likes and dislikes of your users. Focus more on the UI and UX, so that users enjoy using your app for a longer time. The app features must be user-friendly and appealing in appearance.

3. Make your App ASO and SEO Friendly – The app name must be creative, unique, and appealing to the users. It must attract the users, and compel them to install, use and talk about it. Once you have decided on the name for your app, try to make it ASO (App Store Optimization) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly. This means including certain keywords in your app name to make it easier to locate in search engines and app stores.

4. Pricing your Mobile App Correctly – Pricing is an aspect that will decide whether or not people will use the app. It starts from deciding whether the app must be free to use, or should the user pay some amount. If the pricing is too high, then not many users may use it. If the pricing is too low, then the developer will lose out on any possible profit.

5. Optimize your App – If you are a developer, you would not want your app to be too heavy and occupy a major space in the user’s mobile. Developers must keep the app as light as possible by avoiding using unnecessary objects and variables. Apps that are higher in size tend to perform slowly, which is not very appealing to the users.

6. Offline or Online – Smartphone users often struggle to find a stable internet connection. Keeping this point in mind, developers must consider whether their app should be available to users through constant internet connectivity or can be used offline as well. Very often, if users find that the app does not function well under weak internet connection, then they might not use it. Offline apps are hence more popular.

7. Keep the App Simple – Although revenue is important, keep the app as simple and hassle-free as possible. Check the number of ads that follow your app, since users do not like a lot of ads and banners coming in the way of their usage. Also, make sure that most of the age-groups can use your app.

8. Study your Competitors – In order to understand how you can generate more money from the app that you develop, you must study similar apps present in the market. You can analyze the performance of those competitor apps and learn from them. With the help of a careful study of the app features and business model, you can successfully position your app in the market.

9. Have the Right Updates – Offering the right update means offering the right content at the right time. Developers must figure out the exact time when the app updates must roll out. While too many updates might be irritating to the user, too few updates will make the app outdated. The balance must be rightly maintained.

10. Reviews and Feedbacks – No app can be perfect in its first version. Once the app is released take some time out to read and study your app reviews and understand your customers’ feedback. Do not be overwhelmed with positive as well as negative comments. Connect with your users regularly and try to rectify the errors in the app.

Developing an application starts from an idea and the urge to fulfill a need. Once the development starts, one must ensure that everything from user acquisition to retention is covered. Follow these tips to develop a successful mobile application.

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ui/ux design

Why Collaboration is Needed in Designing?

by with No Comment Technologyblog

When it comes to User experience (UX), designing can be a critical process, as it takes a lot of imagination and creativity on one’s cards. In such a situation, every designer can face certain designing related challenges. Hence, working in collaboration with other designers can save you some time and effort. Collaboration allows you to interact with other designers and learn from their challenges.

User experience can be enhanced only by observing, understanding, collaborating and communicating. Collaborating with other designers in the designing process can generate better ideas for development. In addition, one must also collaborate and communicate with other teams as well. Let us look at why collaborating is such an important point for designers to consider.

1. Enables Product Thinking

When the UI/UX designers begin to design a user interface, the user requirements must be kept in mind. To solve the pain points of users, should be the key business goals. It is important that the designs are user-friendly and interactive so that customers can easily learn to use the interface and enjoy using it.

Working in collaboration with other designers helps to understand the pain points, needs, and ways to solve them. This puts the designer in a better position to enable seamless transition of deliveries.

2. Develops Understanding of Team Functionality

In order to complete and deliver a project successfully, all the teams have to contribute their fullest. The combined efforts of design, research, development, sales, and project management teams help deliver the best output in the least time. All the teams must collaborate and communicate with each other in order to execute the functions efficiently.

Working with other teams helps the designers understand the team’s functioning, and how they can work together to be more productive.

3. Helps Coping with Challenges

Designers tend to face numerous challenges and stress to deliver their best every time they are assigned a project. In order to help them unveil their true potential and work capability, designers must be respected and given equal opportunity at work. Hence, by creating a healthy collaborative work environment, we can offer the right capabilities to our designers.

Designers can take initiative and lead their design deliverables confidently. This will enhance the trust of the designers with the team and reduce fear and hesitation.

4. Improves Communication Skills

Team collaborations help to increase communication skills and other personality skills. Interacting with other team members gives clarity to thoughts and views and increases the idea generation process. Decision-making process is fastened and there is scope for constructive criticism.

5. Helps Employees to Stay intact with Company’s Vision

All the people working on the same project, work with the same vision in mind. The end result hence remains the same irrespective of individual roles and responsibilities. Efficient collaboration can help the team achieve revenue goals.

Efficient collaboration helps designers to build relationships with other designers and team members. It is a great opportunity of learning and growing; a large scope for knowledge sharing, as generally projects belong to different industries and domains. Since team contribution offers bigger results than individual contribution, collaborating is always beneficial. Healthy peer interactions, discussions, and relationship management leads to a better work culture and enhanced employee productivity.

Untitled design (1)

Use Agile Testing to Accelerate Your Software Release Cycles

by with No Comment Technologyblog

Customer satisfaction is one aspect that is very difficult for business to meet consistently. It requires faster delivery time of products and services in order to ensure that the customers always get what they demand for. Being able to meet your customers’ demands is a means to measure the success of your business.

The traditional Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) uses waterfall methods for testing and achieving faster quality and delivery time. However, with advancement in technology, the accuracy of the waterfall method is falling short. This is where the agile testing comes into play. In agile testing, development and testing can take place simultaneously instead of conducting it in phases.

Agile testing takes care of the requirements of end customers and testing teams. This way the customer requirements can be easily met. Instead of testing the codes after development, agile methodology conducts testing early and frequently. In addition to using agile methodology for accelerating your software release cycles, companies need to follow certain strategies for faster delivery time.

Companies often use agile testing methodology without taking care of their IT environments, workflows, culture, or architecture. This is a wrong way to go about. Faster software release cycles require better collaboration, flexibility, and transparency among the development and testing teams. The IT environment and workflows must be managed well so that teams get the right feedback and save valuable time in managing the testing methods.

Another means of saving the testing time is to automate the testing process. This way the long codes can be easily checked for mistakes and integrated with the expected outcomes. Automation prevents code defects and regressions. Automated testing helps reduce costs, compress long regression cycles and accelerate release time. Since the cost changes constantly, automated testing offers regulated feedback.

Companies face a challenge of reduced ROI due to high cost of maintenance of automated testing. The solution is to modify the automation architecture. Some companies have adopted a method to break down the large code into smaller pieces on which the teams start to work. This allows the team to properly define and maintain the interfaces.

Agile testing methodology may faster the delivery time of software release cycles; however, it comes with its own challenges and opportunities. In addition to agile testing, companies must also take care of their organizational structure, vision alignment, and team communication. Provided the company knows its end deliveries, the agile testing method can be of great help in meeting customer demands.