Technically, beta testing is the LAST stage of testing for a computer product or website prior to commercial release. In reality, alpha testing comes first, and it’s done by your website developers (coders) as part of their internal process of verifying the functionality of your website before you get a chance to look at it. After alpha testing is complete, the website should be almost completely glitch-free. Completion of alpha testing doesn’t necessarily mean that the website is a finished product, though. You as the website owner or user might see changes that need to be made to make it work for your intended end users. That’s when beta testing comes onto the scene.
Theoretically, the beta test could be done by just you. After all, you should understand your end users’ needs better than your website developers. But why not go directly to the source and test your website with your ideal users? Or, given the scope of your website, you might even choose to use a focus group of sample users. You might consider a tool we like called Peek, which sends a random user to your website and asks him or her to record his impressions in an audio track while trying to use your website.
Regardless of what group you choose for your beta testing, you should go into the process with the goal of ‘breaking’ your website. What happens when you use a misformatted email address in the contact form? What happens when you click a button over and over? We’ve compiled a few questions that can help guide you through the process:
Aesthetics:
- Does the site look like the mockups?
- Is your logo crisp?
- Do photos and text look clear?
- Is the text a legible size?
Functionality:
(To differentiate between functionality and usability: functional testing is carried out to ensure that the website behaves according to the functional requirements. It does not take design principles into consideration. Usability testing focuses on customer acceptance and how well the customer can use the website to complete the required task.)
- Does the website have all the information necessary, or is there something missing?
- Do all links and buttons work?
- Does the website allow you to send an email inquiry? If you have a contact form, does it work properly?
- If the website has a search feature, does it work?
- If it is an e-commerce website, are you able to complete the checkout process as a customer?
- Is the website responsive—i.e., does it adapt to fit different device screens?
- If you are using a Content Management System such as WordPress or Squarespace to manage your website, do you understand how it works?
- Are there any spelling or grammar errors on the website?
Usability:
- Is the primary navigation easy to use? Are the most important pages accessible via a single click?
- Are the buttons obvious?
- Can you easily identify links?
- If you have a slideshow, can you easily tell how to navigate backwards and forwards?
- For contact forms, be sure to read the confirmation email sent to the sender (if any) and to the recipient (you), and make sure they make sense.
During this beta test process, we recommend giving your user(s) a specific task to complete, then asking them to document any aberrations they notice or processes that did not work as they expected. No matter how much thought you put into the design of the website on the front end, users always have their own unique perspective. Just think: our web design clients are our users, and we always learn something unexpected when we ask them to use the website we’ve designed for them for the first time.
Questions about beta testing? Contact us!
