The big day is approaching as you are hours or days away from launching your website. However, before you get too excited, you still need to take some steps. The most crucial step in your website launch is the quality assurance (QA) process.
But quality assurance is not limited to websites. The entire gamut of the digital experience potential requires the QA process, from apps, software, landing pages, email marketing, and SEO campaigns, among others.
Some people may equate QA with user testing, but there is a slight difference between the two. User testing will grade the user experience as they interact with your website. The QA trains its attention on your website’s technical and design aspects to benchmark them against the developer’s goals.
QA process design: assessment, requirement testing, and functionality testing
- Design evaluation: The QA tester will assess the layout and the overall website’s feel for the user experience.
- Requirement testing: It ensures that the developer has delivered the client’s requirements. The developer aims to tick all boxes, especially concerning the mission objectives.
- Functionality testing: The task will assess both the user experience and the user interface. The developer will check that all buttons, links, forms, and clickable items are working correctly. The website should also function across different browsers and devices.
As you might expect, the QA process is no simple matter. Marketers invest a lot of money to ensure that their websites go live without any hitches. In a typical task, the specialist will follow the QA process flow.
In crafting the process flow, the QA specialist will take note of the following
- Audience
- Platform
- Mobile testing
- Apps
- Risk level
- Test specificity
- Tools to use
- Expected traffic
The first step in the quality assurance process for your website launch is to craft a set of guidelines. The QA specialist and the web developer work together to be as comprehensive as possible.
They will then test for the following
- Page loading speed
- Content
- Broken links and error messages
- Accessibility for browsers and platforms
- Color schemes
- Font size and style
- Forms
- Buttons
- Glitches and bugs
- Site security
Best practices for the QA process in launching a website
- Create a website pre-launch checklist to make sure you do not overlook anything.
- Define your potential users.
- Break down each component and target time to complete the QA testing.
- Utilize the Agile method, which means you will test after each phase of development.
- Work closely with the developer and the end client to meet all objectives.
- Use a staging site where you can assess your live website in a secure and safe vacuum.
QA testing should be an integral component of website development, and it should start as early as possible.
Quality assurance is critical for your website launch. But even if you have skipped this process before going live, it is never too late to start now. You can still conduct a QA test on your website even if it has been running for a while.
