4 cases when you may think you need usability testing but you don’t

More and more often companies tend to opt for testing the user experience of their software – be it a mobile app or a desktop solution. UX is crucial, no questions asked.

However, the most interesting part of it is the following: in many cases, what organizations think to be the object of UX testing, is not about this at all. How come? Let’s find it out.

What is UX testing?

UX, or user experience, testing is the process of checking various aspects of the software product to determine the areas of weaknesses during its interaction with the customers and to improve them. Navigation, checkout process, UI elements are among the issues that should be in focus of UX engineers.

This testing type has become very popular nowadays, and many business owners believe it to be a goldmine that will help boost sales, drive more traffic, improve brand loyalty, or achieve any other business need their software is expected to achieve.

Why isn’t UX testing a panacea for all ills?

UX testing is a good thing to do. However, there’s something we’d like you to think over. If your website receives 50 visits per month, or consumers delete your app seconds after they’ve installed it, you’re probably not ready for user experience testing yet.

Focus on what is more relevant for you now and shift your attention to conducting testing types that your software product needs more.

4 testing types to carry out instead of UX testing

• Performance testing

Are you sure your app is perfect in terms of speed and stability? How long does it take to load the data and how many concurrent users can it handle?

To find the answers to these questions, apply to performance testing engineers who will detect the performance issues that can lead to poor usability and will advise on possible improvements.

• Localization testing

Is your software product available in multiple languages and regions? That’s great! Many global brands have now understood that the only way to go worldwide is to introduce their businesses to locals in their native language.

To make sure that the language and other components – data formats, currency used, color schemes, icons, symbols, and many more – are truly local, opt for localization testing. It will help you ascertain that your software will be correctly perceived by a user from any region.

• Compatibility testing

Today, compatibility testing is crucial owing to the diversity of platforms and hardware in the market. If you’re not 100 percent sure what operating systems and devices your users prefer, you should ascertain your software is working fine across the variety of them.

While performing compatibility testing, QA engineers can detect issues with the UI, differences in font size and text alignment, problems with a scroll bar, broken tables or frames. Any of them can damage user experience and make the consumers abandon your software choosing the competitors’ one instead.

• Full-cycle testing

To decide on the testing type you may need is not that easy, as it seems. Full-cycle testing is a solution that will likely fit any app.

It starts with the software requirements elicitation. In this stage, the testing team focuses on the business, architectural, and system requirements to figure out if they are testable.

Then go test planning and preparation of test documentation stages. Tests are executed on a regular basis. QA engineers check the quality of the newly developed functionality and run regression tests to make sure new features haven’t broken the already existing ones.

Investing in testing at the very start of the product SDLC (or even earlier) will bring you the biggest value. The professional QA team can help you deliver the software product that will be functioning properly with no critical glitches leaking to production.

But still. What about UX testing?

After you’ve tested your software and made sure it functions smoothly, runs on all the devices of your interest, loads fast, and speaks your users’ language, you’re ready to run it through a series of UX tests.

This strategy of how to accurately choose the testing type will help you deliver a world-class product.

Once properly tested, the software can help improve customer experience, and word to mouth will make the product advertise itself achieving a competitive advantage in the picky market.

Contact our QA specialists and get a free consultation on how to enhance the quality of your software.