How Strategic Quality Assurance Testing Will Take Your Business to the Next Level

Whenever you are creating a piece of software, you want to ensure that your users are having the best possible experience. It can’t be buggy and it must meet the requirements and specifications for your end-users. Ultimately, you and your team will need to implement quality assurance testing. QA services are essential for the success of any digital product. For as optimistic you and your team may be about a new app, website, or other digital product, all of your hard work will be for naught if you ignore quality assurance testing.

Because of this, we want to take a deep dive into quality assurance testing. Yes, we will answer that introductory question of “what is QA.” But beyond that, we want to share why you want to hire QA specialists, the differences between manual QA and automation QA, and tips on choosing your QA service provider. In the end, you will be able to develop a well-thought strategy that will help you get the most out of quality assurance testing.

What is Quality Assurance Testing?

As a starting point, it is important to be clear on what quality assurance actually is. At an overarching level, quality assurance is an activity (or set of activities) that ensures the company is providing the best possible product or service to its customers. It is focused on the processes that are used to deliver quality products to the user. There are several subtle distinctions between quality assurance and user testing, but the bottom line is that the overall goal of quality assurance testing is to make the user experience as good as it can be.

When creating a digital product, developers, designers, and others work hard to ensure that users can seamlessly use that product. That being said, it’s impossible to completely foresee the future. Mistakes may also be made in the design and development process. When users click on a specific link and it takes them to the wrong page, they get frustrated. And when users get frustrated, they are more likely to leave your digital product and find help somewhere else. In the worst-case scenario, they leave for good.

This is why QA services are so important. It helps you and your team engage in things like bug fixing and link testing to provide the best possible experience for your users. If an issue is identified during the testing process, relevant team members can fix the problem. Companies that take QA IT seriously make their users happier, thereby increasing the odds that they become long-term users of their products.

Why Hire Specialists for QA Services?

So as a starting point, your team should prioritize QA IT. It can mean the difference between launching a successful product and launching a product that is quickly ignored by your users. That said, how do you construct the best quality assurance testing strategy? There are several things to consider here, and we want to start with the question of hiring specialists to carry out your testing process.

QA service providers and specialists can provide value in several different ways. For one thing, QA specialists are experienced professionals. They have developed real-world experience testing other websites and digital properties, and they can leverage that experience to improve your website. But beyond simple experience, QA specialists are focused on the testing process. It is their only job. They are laser-focused on bug fixing, running different types of test cases, and ensuring that your users have the best possible experience. As they are running many tests, these specialists can also help you improve your overall testing process.

In effect, QA specialists are essentially a proxy for the user. While they are primarily examining your company’s processes in delivering value to the end-user, they are keeping the user at the top of mind. To think it another way, they are advocates for the user. They give your user a voice during the product development process and continue to exist even after you release your product to the public.

The Benefits of Quality Assurance Testing

Ultimately, the quality assurance testing process provides some key benefits to your organization. Like we alluded to above, the key benefit is better user experience. Users will be less frustrated and more satisfied when using your product. It prevents disasters from happening. Because of this, your organization will end up saving money, as you will reduce your customer churn rate. Happier customers lead to more profits.

But beyond the dollars and cents, QA IT makes you and your colleagues happier. It increases overall morale because you and your colleagues are confident that you’re sharing the best possible product with your users. Having a dedicated team that focuses on bug fixing, test cases, and testing methods offer some peace of mind to the entire organization. The psychological benefits are often overlooked, yet they permeate throughout the entire organization.

QA IT Testing: Manual Testing vs. Automation Testing

When executing a quality assurance testing strategy, your company will inevitably come across a fork in the road. It all centers on how to test software. To put it another way, the decision relates to testing methods. You can either embrace manual testing or automated testing. This distinction between manual and automation testing is important and will determine how your company carries out QA services.

Let’s start with manual testing. Here, a QA specialist manually executes test cases on your website or digital product. He or she doesn’t rely on tools or scripts to proceed through the testing process. Rather, the QA specialist manually proceeds through your digital product, doing things like testing links, identifying bugs, and walking through the user experience.

On the other hand, there is automation testing. Here, QA professionals are using tools, scripts, and software to run through many different test cases. Instead of clicking on individual links and buttons, machines take control of the testing process. During the testing process, your scripts will flag certain issues that it encountered, allowing you and the rest of your team to quickly make the necessary changes.

Directly comparing manual and automation testing shows that each can be useful in different situations. For instance, manual testing can be effective when you only need to run a few test cases. If you are adding a small feature to your website, you may be able to get away with manual QA testing. Manual testing is also useful because it allows for human observation. If the overall goal for your QA test is user-friendliness, for instance, having a human manually proceed through a feature (or your website as a whole) can be a great way to ensure that your digital product is easy to use. That said, manual testing is slow and cumbersome. It is also subject to human error.

On the other hand, automation testing is much quicker than manual testing. Naturally, this is because you are relying on software to complete the process. If you need to conduct repeated tests over large features or websites, automated testing can be a compelling option. But having said this, automation testing requires an upfront investment. Because you are relying on machines to do the job, you are also foregoing the opportunity to leverage human observation in the process. It may not guarantee the most user-friendliness or best customer experience.

Choosing a QA Services Provider

Quality assurance testing should become part and parcel of your software business. That said, if you aren’t able to bring in your own QA testing professionals, you may want to hire a QA services provider. There are plenty of advantages in doing this, including the fact that you’re relying on battle-tested professionals to conduct comprehensive audits of your software.

However, when choosing a web development agency for QA needs, you’ll want to keep several things in mind. First, take a look at the QA services provider’s experience. Closely examine the team and identify prior projects that they have worked on. Even better, you may want to do some reference checks. Call prior clients and see if they were satisfied with the experience. Next, ensure that your targeted QA services provider understands your objectives. When you sit down with the team, clearly explain your objectives and goals. Make sure that they are receptive and that they are on the same page before you sign a contract.

Finally, consider the logistics. See where your external QA team is based, whether it is inside or outside your country. Try to get a sense of whether the QA team will be responsive to your questions and inquiries. Issues will inevitably emerge, so you must be confident that you can quickly get your QA team on the phone.

Moving Forward with Quality Assurance Testing

Regardless of the size or sector of your software business, you’ll want to invest in QA IT. Quality assurance testing can go a long way in making your customers happy. It raises employee morale and leads to plenty of financial benefits. In sum, it is an essential component to the success of any business. If you are looking for a stellar QA service provider, we invite you to check out StarNavi. We have a team of experienced professionals who can help you with all of your quality assurance testing needs. To learn more about how we can help you, click here.

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