E-commerce Webpage: 3 Essential Tests to Ensure Success Before Publishing

3 Tests to go through Before Publishing an e-commerce webpage

Of the number 1.2 billion websites, around 12 to 24 million are e-commerce websites. So if you have an e-commerce website and want to launch a new page, then it’s essential to ensure that it not only looks great but also functions smoothly and drives conversions. Running tests before publishing the page can help you identify and address potential issues. In this article, we’ll know about three crucial tests you should conduct before making your e-commerce new page live.

Why testing an E-commerce webpage is important

Testing an e-commerce webpage before launching it is a crucial step in ensuring a successful and seamless online shopping experience for your customers Furthermore, testing allows you to optimise the user interface, ensuring that navigation is intuitive and user-friendly. This enhances engagement and reduces bounce rates, increasing the likelihood of conversions. It also helps ensure that your website is responsive and accessible across various devices and browsers, catering to the diverse preferences of modern shoppers.

Testing an e-commerce webpage is crucial to ensure a smooth and user-friendly online shopping experience. It helps catch and fix issues before they affect customers. With more people shopping online, a well-working website is essential.

Testing finds problems like broken links, slow loading, or checkout errors before they frustrate users. By fixing these before launching, you make things easier for customers, making them happier and more likely to trust your brand. Testing also makes sure the website is easy to use. This keeps people engaged and stops them from leaving, which means more sales. It also checks if the website works well on different devices and browsers.

Security is important too. E-commerce websites have private customer info and payments. Testing finds weak spots, so customer data stays safe from cyber threats.

Your brand’s image is tied to your website. Testing shows you care about quality, which builds trust with customers and keeps them coming back.

3 Tests To Perform On Ecommerce Webpage

When conducting a product video uploading test on an e-commerce website, there are several important points to check to ensure a seamless and engaging user experience. Here’s a checklist of key aspects to consider:

1- Video uploading test

Testing an e-commerce webpage before launching, especially when uploading a product video, is a crucial step to ensure a smooth and engaging shopping experience for your customers. Here’s why testing is vital in this context.

• Verify that the video quality is high and clear. Ensure that the resolution is appropriate for different screen sizes and devices.
• Test the video’s loading speed to ensure it doesn’t slow down the webpage. A slow-loading video can lead to user frustration and increased bounce rates. Confirm that the video adjusts well to smaller screens on mobile devices without compromising on quality or usability.
• Check if the video plays smoothly across different browsers (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Safari), operating systems (Windows, iOS, Android), and devices (desktops, smartphones, tablets).
• Test the video controls (play, pause, and volume, timeline) to ensure they function properly. Users should be able to control the video playback seamlessly.
• If the video auto-plays, make sure it does so without causing any disruptions or unexpected behaviours for users and check if the video can be played in full-screen mode. Ensure that exiting full-screen mode doesn’t cause any issues with the page layout.
• If applicable, verify that captions or subtitles are correctly synced with the video’s audio. This is important for accessibility and user comprehension.
• Ensure that the video thumbnail accurately represents the content of the video and encourages users to click play.
• Confirm that the video is placed in a strategic and visible location on the product page, where users can easily find and engage with it.
• Provide a concise and informative description of the video’s content. This helps users understand what the video showcases before they click play.
• Measure the impact of the video on the overall page load time. A balance needs to be maintained between video content and page performance.
• Check if the video is optimised for search engines. Use relevant keywords in the video title, description, and metadata to improve its discoverability.
• Test the video across various browsers to ensure compatibility and consistent playback performance and on different devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, to ensure a consistent experience.
• Observe how users interact with the video. Do they watch it fully? Do they engage with the video’s content? Use this feedback to refine your video strategy.
• If the video is meant to drive a specific action (e.g., making a purchase), ensure that the CTA is clear and easily accessible.
• Gather feedback from a small group of users to identify any issues or improvements that might have been missed during testing.

2- Compatibility and Browser Testing

Compatibility and browser testing are crucial steps in ensuring a seamless and consistent user experience for your e-commerce webpage across different devices and web browsers. With the diverse landscape of internet usage, it’s essential to test your website thoroughly to guarantee that it works well for all users, regardless of their chosen platform. 

Compatibility testing involves assessing how well your e-commerce webpage performs on various devices, operating systems, and screen sizes. Browser testing is focused on evaluating how your e-commerce webpage behaves on different web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, and others.

For Compatibility Testing on the e-commerce webpage:

• Verify that the website layout and design elements adapt appropriately to different screen sizes, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
• Test the ease of navigation across devices to ensure menus, buttons, and links are easily accessible and functional.
• Check that images and media content display correctly and are appropriately sized for various devices without distortion.
• Validate that input fields, dropdown menus, and checkboxes work smoothly on all devices, allowing users to provide information seamlessly.
• Assess the loading speed of your website on different devices, optimising it for fast performance across the board.
• Test how the website responds when a user switches between portrait and landscape orientations on mobile devices.

For Browser Testing on e-commerce webpage:

• Test your e-commerce webpage on popular web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, and others. Ensure consistent design and functionality.
• Check that fonts render consistently and legibly across browsers, avoiding issues like text misalignment or illegibility.
• Verify that CSS styles are applied consistently across different browsers, preventing discrepancies in visual presentation.
• Test interactive elements and functionalities that rely on JavaScript, ensuring they work as expected on all browsers.
• Validate that form fields are validated correctly and error messages are displayed consistently across browsers.
• Ensure that hover and click effects, such as button highlights or dropdown menus, work smoothly across browsers.
• Test the compatibility of audio and video elements, ensuring they play correctly and have proper controls across different browsers.
• Check that scrolling and animations are smooth and glitch-free across browsers, enhancing the overall user experience.
• Verify that SSL certificates and security indicators are consistent across browsers to build user trust during transactions.
• If your website uses third-party plugins or integrations, ensure they function as intended on different browsers.
• Monitor the browser console for any JavaScript errors that may arise on specific browsers, resolving them to prevent disruptions.
• Specifically, test your website’s performance on mobile versions of various browsers to ensure optimal mobile responsiveness.

3- Add product reviews

Testing the addition of product reviews on an e-commerce webpage is crucial to understanding the impact of user-generated content on your website’s performance and user engagement. Positive reviews can influence users to make a purchase. Most customers read reviews before they purchase a product from any website to confirm whether the product is valid or not. 

• Don’t add reviews manually however, try a plugin.   
• You can use reviews from third-party platforms but ensure those reviews are displayed well.    
• Monitor how adding product reviews affects your conversion rates, such as the percentage of users who purchase after viewing products with reviews.
• Product reviews allow users to see how others with similar needs or preferences have benefited from the product. So, if you are using redirects on your reviews, always check they work properly.
• Gather feedback from users about their experience with product reviews. Ask about the relevance of reviews, their influence on purchasing decisions, and overall satisfaction.

Focus on preventing UX issues on e-commerce webpage 

Adding a new page may come up with a lot of issues and by focusing on fixing potential problems before they happen, you make sure that customers can easily use your site, leading to more sales. From simple navigation and responsive design to easy checkouts and clear product displays, every part of your website should be designed to make customers happy. By finding and fixing UX issues early, you create a website where people can easily find what they want, buy confidently, and have a good shopping experience. This not only keeps customers coming back but also makes your e-commerce site stand out, showing that you care about your customers’ needs.

Conduct thorough usability testing, adopt a responsive design and incorporate user feedback, these are the base of a good UX for an e-commerce webpage. Clear and concise navigation, accompanied by intuitive menus and search functionalities, simplifies user journeys.

Conclusion –

In conclusion, testing your e-commerce webpage before launch is a proactive approach that ensures your website is user-friendly, secure, and optimised for conversions. By investing time and effort in testing, you set the stage for a successful online shopping experience for your customers, leading to higher customer satisfaction, increased sales, and a strong brand reputation.

You can find more e-commerce development insights at CrackleCode. For more useful resources you can contact us or browse our blog and keep an eye on our Medium page (coming soon).