INDEX

E-R
S.No. Contents

1.
Entity-Relationship Diagram

2.
Data Flow Diagram

3. Introduction About E-commerce

4. Objective of the Analysis

5. Challenges

6. Analysis

7. Project Overview

8. Suggestions

9. Conclusion

10. References

DIAGRAM
DATA FLOW DIAGRAM
DATA FLOW DIAGRAM
Validation checks

Data validation is a data management practice that ensures the quality, accuracy, and integrity of
information. It is carried out in accordance with specific rules or check routines.

Types Of Data Validation

Every piece of information undergoes multiple checks in process of validation. Here is a list of all the
common data validation types:

Data type check. The first is the field type check, which ensures that, for example, letters are not inserted
in a field for numbers only. Another constituent of this check is input validation — making sure that the
input is error-free and does not have logical mistakes.

Code check. This includes checks for required fields (ensuring that all the mandatory fields are filled) and
attributes validation (verifying information against a list of attributes and seeing if the required attributes
match).

Range check. Also known as an attributes range check, this ensures that attributes stay within a certain
range of values.

Format check. This type of check ensures that inputted records precisely fit the predefined format. For
example, an international phone number has a fixed format: + country code – (area code) – 3- digit prefix
– 4-digit subscriber number. Any deviations, like the absence of a country code, are considered errors.

Consistency check. This involves verifying data against a list of values that contain formatting rules and
seeing if specified properties match. This check confirms that the input is logically consistent.

Uniqueness check. This includes checking the uniqueness of specific attributes, such as brands, serial
numbers, or MPN (Manufacturer Part Number), and making sure they are not entered into a database
more than once.

Data validation tools perform essential quality reviews that ensure correct information processing.

Impact Of Data Validation On Your eCommerce Business

The eCommerce industry widely incorporates automated systems that gather information with minimal to
no human involvement. But errors are not unheard of, and they interfere with providing quality services to
customers.

Let’s review ways in which data validation benefits business operations.

Cost Impact

Clean records help reduce unnecessary expenses in two major ways. The first way is by improving
last-mile delivery — getting orders to the customer’s doorstep, which is the final stage of the
supply chain. A courier service might deliver goods to the wrong destination if a customer’s contact
details are inputted incorrectly and not verified.

Moreover, efficient product data validation helps prevent cases of fraud by checking the authenticity
of a client’s ID, email address, and phone number. This procedure ensures that one customer
doesn’t get another customer’s package or intentionally claim the loss of a delivered package. KYC
and AML procedures that customers undergo provide an additional layer of protection against
payment fraud.

Increased Earnings

The data validation process can increase the revenue of an eCommerce business in several ways. It
improves the effectiveness of email and promotional campaigns by reducing the number of wrongly
addressed or poorly targeted advertisements. It also leads to a higher return per dollar invested (ROI)
— a financial indicator showing how well market initiatives impact a company’s revenue.

Another way to increase eCommerce business revenue is audience segmentation. This is simply
dividing people into subgroups as per predefined criteria: age, preferences, location, etc. This can be
done as part of product data validation. As a rule of thumb, consumers respond better to more
customized offers. Segmenting the audience will improve outcomes for targeted marketing
campaigns.

Customer Satisfaction

Implementing data validation techniques is a great way to improve customer satisfaction. One such
technique is managing holistic customer profiles. These profiles contain relevant information about
a customer’s interactions with your business, from the placement of the first order to service
incidents. Ensuring the accuracy of personal information contributes to the effectiveness of
advanced analytics, such as determining the customer’s behavioral patterns or tracking changes in
preferences. As a result, it helps you generate better marketing offers, improving your service.

Validating client records also improves customer satisfaction. Sending personalized emails with smart
offers can enhance brand loyalty. If client information is correct, you can avoid mistakes like
misspelled names or referring to a male customer as “miss,” which also enhances customer
experience.
7 Best Tips For Validating Product Data

Customers tend to guide their purchase decisions based on the completeness of item information.
That’s why it’s essential to validate item descriptions so that they are accurate and comprehensive.
Complete product details also help draw more attention to your business and rank your online store
higher in search engine results.

Let’s review the top seven tips for data quality validation:

1. Search for and prioritize additional data sources.

Perform constant checks of new sources while verifying the completeness of product information.
For this purpose, search for external sources of data in addition to the supplier’s specifications.
These may include descriptions of similar goods that you already have and even websites of other
online stores.

Your choice of sources should be guided by density indicators. Rank sources based on their
credibility and usefulness while reviewing sites manually. This way you can filter sites that should
not be used for collecting information and prioritize those that benefit your business the most.

2. Take format into consideration.

It’s common for websites to post product information in PDF or image formats. They are
inconvenient for the user and difficult to scan. Make sure your web resources contain data in text
formats such as HTML or XML.

How To Validate My Product Data?

3. Optimize data feeds.

Product descriptions must be easily scannable for internet search engines, as their accuracy impacts
the number of visits to your online store. You should provide proper data feeds to achieve the best
rankings in search engines. Data feeds are simply CSV or XML files that contain information about
your products or services updated in real-time. It is shown in search engines to tell readers what you
offer. How to validate data of this type? You may use Google Merchant Center to learn more about
the appearance of your data feeds and how you can optimize them.
4. Define search-relevant product attributes and ensure their presence in data feeds.

While searching for a product, customers may look for a specific weight, size, color, etc. Data
validation techniques check for specific product attributes in your online store’s data feeds.

5. Use common product designations.

In some cases, your products may not have a self-explanatory designation. For example, a supplier
may state that a product is a gaming control device, while it is more commonly known as a game
controller. Using more relevant names will help you get more customers. You may use software to
generate the most common designations automatically to validate data in this way.

6. Standardize attributes.

Standardizing and maintaining the consistency of attributes throughout the entire range of products
is also essential. The goods in your online store should be standardized according to a single size
system: US, UK, or EU. All shades should be carefully attributed to their basic colors, and all
measurements should be consistent with a single system.

7. Employ enhancement and optimization software solutions.

If you have difficulty with optimizing data feeds, you should use product information management
(PIM) software that automatically extracts data. It can seamlessly integrate with all possible
sources like manufacturing sites, online stores, and databases and provides you with the most
accurate product information gathered in a single catalog. You can use it to create both product
descriptions and corresponding data feeds.

PIM solutions effectively address issues of data optimization and syndication. They reduce errors,
enhance information management, and ensure continuous monitoring of quality across sales
channels and your online store.

Product Data Validation Is The Life-Blood Of PIM

What’s even more important is that PIM tools advance your company towards compliance with
the single source of truth (SSOT) concept. This framework is focused on keeping data sources
across all channels up to date and relevant.

Other benefits of PIM-assisted data cleansing are the following:

Improved data management during checkout. Validation of product descriptions guarantees

the accuracy and quality of information at each stage of the checkout process, from initial login
and inputting billing details to payment confirmation.
Reduction of non-delivery instances. PIM helps minimize or eliminate cases when a product was not
delivered because of incorrect personal information.

Enhancement of customer satisfaction. As the quality of your services improves, customers become
more satisfied with using them.

Standardization of data for analysis. The consistency of records across all channels makes advanced
analytics possible.

Accessibility of useful behavioral & attitudinal information. With PIM, you can gather and make
decisions based on more accurate information about your customers’ behavioral and attitudinal
patterns to successfully target marketing campaigns and create personalized offers.

Customized database management. Your database management responds to your company’s needs
and fits your business model.

Data Cleansing With PIM

What Is The Difference Between Data Verification And Data Validation?

Validating data means ensuring the correctness and completeness of data based on a set of
requirements. This means either checking compliance with predefined, valid measures (like if it’s the
age, it shouldn’t be negative) or checking the accuracy of data against stored, previously validated
records.

Data verification has a different goal. Verification checks if the data is consistent, correct, and
matches the source.

Why Is Data Quality Important?

The clarity, accuracy, and integrity of product information directly influence customer satisfaction
from purchasing goods via your online store. Higher data quality typically results in greater sales.

What Is Data Enhancement?

It is complementing first-party information — typically a supplier’s specifications — with additional

information taken from external sources.

What Should You Make Of Data Validation?

Validating data in a business environment is an essential practice that ensures better service quality.
Managing and verifying data manually is challenging and ineffective. It distracts the business from
its strategic goals, leads to various errors in records, and causes business slowdown.
Gepard is an eCommerce platform that offers to streamline and automate your data workflow. Our
software solutions can perform constant data validation, verify data reliability, and enhance data.
This will improve your customers’ experience, generating more sales and increasing your company’s
operating profit.

Request a personalized demo and Gepard will provide your business with top-level assistance.

System Testing

IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTAINANCE

System Testing E-Commerce testing is defined as testing of an eCommerce (online shopping)

application. It helps in the prevention of errors and adds value to the product by ensuring
conformity to client requirements.

Two Category of Software Testing

• Software reliability

• Software quality

• System Assurance

• Optimum performance and capacity utilization

Setting up an E-commerce system is a complex process and subject to many market-specific

variables. To maintain the integrity of the E Commerce system, testing becomes compulsory.

ECommerce Domain Knowledge is important for testing.

ECommerce implementation consists of all the steps related to the launch, update, and
maintenance of an online store. eCommerce allows businesses to sell products from anywhere at
any time, and it connects businesses to new customers who were previously unreachable due to
distance and hours of operation.

Furthermore, implementing eCommerce solutions enables the collection of better customer data
and demographic information that can be used to increase the conversions of marketing and sales
leads.

The rapid, global rise in eCommerce has led nearly every industry to implement it in some form in
order to provide more modern, efficient customer experiences.

Objectives of Your eCommerce Implementation

Most often, the objectives of an eCommerce implementation is to meet the modern needs of your
customers, share your products in meaningful ways, integrate smoothly with your existing systems,
effectively and efficiently manage company resources, facilitate a strong return on investment (ROI),
support future business growth, and implement an organizational change management process.
6. Steps in eCommerce Implementation

As previously mentioned, eCommerce implementation activities can include building new

eCommerce sites, or upgrading and maintaining existing online stores. If you are refreshing your
existing online commerce site, begin by evaluating your current sites and goals, and then
proceed with the actionable steps to accomplish your objectives. If you are starting from scratch,
it can be helpful to follow the complete set of steps detailed below.

Understanding your customers’ needs

The first and most important step of your eCommerce implementation is understanding your
customers. The whole goal of your eCommerce strategy should be to make their lives easier. If the
new, online processes are more frustrating than they are intuitive, then the entire strategy can
backfire - both internally and externally. Ask yourself important questions like:

What info is required to make an informed purchase?

What type of shopping/checkout experience is best suited for your product? A standard shopping
cart experience? Ordering portal? Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ)? Custom process?

What do customers need in their login/self-service portal?

How can we make everything easier and more intuitive for the customer than it is “the old way”?
Strategic Pre-Implementation Planning

The second step in eCommerce implementation is to create a clear roadmap with specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely objectives. This is the stage in which resources and
constraints must be defined. Getting buy-in on the vision from all stakeholders is critical in this
stage, and the mission and goals of the company will shape the proceeding actions.

Solution Evaluation

The third step is to choose your actual eCommerce solution. The platform should be compatible with
your existing systems, customizable to your current and future needs, scalable, and must create
experiences appropriate for your business. Various technologies may offer different functionalities,
like B2B vs. B2C, and it is important that the capabilities complement your industry, target audience,
and business model.

Go-to-market strategy

The fourth step is to determine how you’ll make your eCommerce presence known. Are your core
pages optimized for online SEO? What are the best keywords to include on your product pages?
How can you entice existing customers to start purchasing online? Are there other online
marketplaces your products should be on? What promotional strategies can you run to make noise
about the new site?
Digital marketing is an important part of eCommerce implementation. There are many tools for
reaching new and existing customers and drawing them to your site. Multi-channel approaches
include search engine optimization, paid advertisements, social media marketing, email campaigns,
referral programs, retargeting campaigns, and display advertisements.

Retention and loyalty building

The fifth step is customer retention. This is an important extension of the fourth step, where you’ll
now be turning new and existing customers into fans.

Consider implementing loyalty programs like redeemable points, volume discounts, customer tiers,
or free shipping incentives. You can also personalize customer experiences based on purchase
history or website behavior, and enable automated cross-selling with features like related products.
And don’t forget, the number one tool cited by marketers for customer retention remains email
marketing - a critical component of the eCommerce experience. Build automated, personalized
email campaigns based on customer behaviors to stay relevant, top-of-mind, and to continue
offering additional value to your customers through tailored promotions.

Analysis and Optimization

The sixth step in eCommerce implementation is analysis and optimization, and this one is ongoing.
The actions involved in optimizing your online store include analyzing key metrics that measure the
cost of customer acquisition, % of customers converted, % of customers entering the site through
different channels, % of revenue contributed by each profitable customer, the gross revenue
generated, and more.

You’ll also want to collect and analyze all customer feedback, both quantifiable and anecdotal.

In this final step, it is important to return to your list of objectives as pertinent metrics may
vary depending on your business goals. As needed, actions can be taken to refine and enhance
your eCommerce solutions to better attain your defined goals.

Tips for Successful eCommerce Implementation Choose a Strong eCommerce Partner

The right digital commerce provider can support your business in attaining all of your
implementation goals. Make sure the platform you choose is capable of integrating processes
between your website and your ERP, as automation and efficiency is a critical component to your
overall ROI and internal adoption of your eCommerce strategy. The partner’s platform should be
easy to manage, deliver robust capacity and capabilities, be compatible with your existing ERP, be
complementary to your industry, come with reliable and long-term customer support, and more.

DynamicWeb delivers an all-in-one eCommerce suite containing CMS, PIM, eCommerce and
Marketing

- reducing eCommerce complexity without zero compromise to functionality.

Attend to Product Content

When product content includes detailed descriptions and specifications, compelling images and
videos, and pertinent supporting documents, it is more searchable and useful for online buyers.
Using a PIM system to orchestrate your product data and content across all your selling channels
enables you to ensure that your audience finds the accurate product or content they are searching
for. In short, optimized content is attractive to both consumers and search engines.

The structure of the site is also important, and a well-designed site must be filled with quality
products and enriched content to generate sales. According to a survey conducted among SEO
professionals across the globe in 2021, on-page elements like meta titles and descriptions are most
important, followed closely by deep and accurate content.

Take Action to Enhance Your Performance Metrics

Your online revenue is directly impacted by the number of sessions, conversion rate, and average
order value (AOV). Increasing just one of these variables can lead to higher revenue, so it is
important to make these performance metrics a priority for your business.

To drive increases in the number of interactions your customers have with your site, you need
to develop a strong, organic SEO strategy. Your site needs to be optimized for mobile use, and
your digital marketing campaigns should be powerful.

To increase the percentage of visits that end with an online purchase, you can leverage
analytics tools to pinpoint where customers are dropping off the conversion funnel. Refining
your website design, enhancing the content, and eliminating broken links can improve
conversion rates.

To increase AOV, tactics such as up-sell and cross-sell strategies, promotional offers, and customer
personalizations can be useful.

Avoid Common Mistakes

It is important to avoid the common mistakes that can lead some eCommerce implementations to
fall short of their goals. Implementing an eCommerce website is a journey, not a one-time event.
Jumping ahead in the process can lead to errors. Websites evolve and it is important to thoughtfully
attend to each stage in the process. Communication gaps can hinder progress. It’s critical that your
entire team understands your site so that it drives the business impact you desire. You must spend
time to onboard staff and acquaint customers with any newly implemented or enhanced
eCommerce solutions.
An Excellent Tool for Fast, Efficient eCommerce Implementation

Sometimes you just want to have a webstore that looks good and performs well. An excellent tool
for fast, efficient eCommerce implementation is DynamicWeb Swift. DynamicWeb Swift delivers a
ready- to-launch storefront with standard modern design templates that build on eCommerce best
practices. The no/low code approach makes it possible to configure your storefront and reduce risk
and development time. The user-friendly interface comes with compelling design templates that are
easy to configure and fully customizable with complete access to code for developers.

More than 4,000 brands worldwide trust DynamicWeb with digital solutions. Our customers include
leading brands like Lego Wear, Vredestein, Unilever, Winnebago, L’Oréal, Flying Tiger, Toyota,
Europcar, and Skanska. Built on DynamicWeb, these customers are empowered to gain lifelong
customer relations, increase revenue and grow their brands.

To see what successful eCommerce implementation can do for your business, contact DynamicWeb
today!

IMPORTANCE OF SOFTWARE TESTING

o System Testing gives hundred percent assurance of system performance as it covers end
to end function of the system.

o It includes testing of System software architecture and business requirements.

o It helps in mitigating live issues and bugs even after production.

o System testing uses both existing system and a new system to feed same data in both
and then compare the differences in functionalities of added and existing functions so, the user
can understand benefits of new added functions of the system.
E-Commerce Testing – How to Test an eCommerce Website/Application

In today’s world, I bet you won’t find anyone who hasn’t shopped online. E-commerce/Retail is a
business that thrives on its online customers. Shopping in person vs. shopping online has many
advantages. Convenience, time-saving and easy access to products worldwide, etc.

A good E-commerce/Retail site is key to its success. It must be a worthy counterpart to the
storefront. Because, when you go shopping at a physical store, the customer has already made a
commitment to visit and might give the brand a chance.

Online, choices are many. So, unless there is engagement from the beginning, the user might just
leave.

Types of Testing for E-commerce System

1 Browser compatibility Lack of support for early browsers Browser specific

extensions Browser testing should cover the main platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac etc.)

2 Page display Incorrect display of pages Runtime error messages Poor page download

time Dead hyperlink, plugin dependency, font sizing, etc.

3 Session Management

Session Expiration Session

storage

4 Usability

Non-intuitive design Poor site navigation Catalog navigation Lack of help-support

5 Content Analysis

Misleading, offensive and litigious content Royalty free images and copyright infringement
Personalization functionality

Availability 24/7

Maintainance

Our website is your first impression to those looking for your products and or services. Thus, you
need to focus on website maintenance to not only make an excellent first impression but a lasting
one. Keeping the websites updated can be a considerable challenge for any business owner. Plus,
your customers are happy if the website is updated and has something new to offer. Also, the
Google search engine keeps your site on top of the listing and ensures that the customers always get
what they want.

• Update WordPress, themes, and plugins. ...

• Back up your store regularly. ...

• Keep an eye on analytics. ...

• Maintain site security. ...

• Know if your site ever goes down. ...

• Check for broken links. ...

• Monitor and optimize site speed. ...

• Test your checkout regularly.

The benefits of maintaining your eCommerce website

1. A safer, more secure store

A secure, safe website allows customers to shop with confidence. They can trust that their credit card
and other personal information is safe and, therefore, are more likely to make a purchase.

Plus, if your site is secure, they show that you care about the safety of shoppers. This may also
communicate that you’ll take care of them in other ways — reliable shipping, quality products, and
good customer service. And, ultimately, if people trust you, they’ll keep coming back.

2. A better user experience

When you regularly maintain your eCommerce site, you ensure that visitors can easily get around
and find what they’re looking for. If they arrive on your store with the intention of purchasing a
specific product, they can get to it quickly. Pages load in a couple of seconds, so they’re not stuck
waiting around. And they also have access to updated, relevant content that will keep them
informed and drive them to make a purchase.

3. More sales

If you regularly examine the functionality on your site — ensuring the checkout experience works
well, making sure links go where they’re supposed to, etc. — then shoppers are always able to make
a purchase.

Accurate inventory numbers help them know what’s available and that they’ll actually get the item
they want. And new content and products ensure that they have something to get excited about! All
of this ultimately leads to more conversions and sales.

4. Better search engine rankings

Google loves new and updated content! It shows them that you’re an expert in your industry and
provide value for searchers. They also put a lot of value on site speed, user experience, and working
links.
Maintaining all of these aspects can boost your search engine rankings, leading to more site visits
and more revenue.

What happens if you don’t maintain your online store?

1. Your site is less secure

If you don’t regularly maintain your site, you leave gaping holes that hackers can take advantage of.
And if your website goes down or has malware, that can negatively affect your reputation, cause you
to lose sales, and even result in stolen customer data.

Plus, if you don’t regularly update your site, you could have plugin and theme conflicts that lead to
vulnerabilities and broken functionality.

2. Things are more difficult for shoppers

Without proper site maintenance, your customers will have to deal with things like broken links,
slow load times, and old, outdated content. They may end up purchasing a product that’s out of
stock and need to be refunded. Any of these challenges could result in unhappy customers and
fewer sales.

3. You’ll get fewer site visitors

Bad user experience, slow load time, outdated content, and broken links can all cause your site to
slip in search engine rankings. And since people very rarely go beyond the first page of search
results, this slip could lead to fewer clicks, site visits, and purchases.

Ways to maintain your eCommerce site

These 12 tasks are essential to properly maintaining your eCommerce site:

1. Update WordPress, themes, and plugins

There are several reasons that you need to keep WordPress, themes, and plugins up to date. With
each new release, developers include patches for security vulnerabilities, bug fixes, and new
functionality. By failing to perform regular updates, you put your site and your customers’ data at
risk from hackers using loopholes in outdated plugins. You’ll also be missing out on improved
performance and new features.

Manually updating plugins can be a hassle, so you might prefer to automate your updates with
Jetpack. Jetpack includes an auto-update feature that gives you control over which plugins you want
automatically or manually updated. If you use Jetpack on multiple websites, you can manage all
updates from your WordPress.com dashboard.

If you choose to manually update your plugins, make sure you create a backup of your store before
you perform updates, so that you can revert if you encounter problems during the process.

2. Back up your store regularly

Right before an update isn’t the only time you’ll want to back up your store. You’re getting orders
throughout the day, so it’s essential you back up your customer data in real-time. In fact, one of the
most important things you can do to protect your data is to do it in real-time throughout the day.
Besides customer data, it ensures you limit data loss and downtime if you’re hacked, experience
major problems after code changes, or accidentally delete something important.

Make sure your real-time eCommerce backup plugin includes your site’s content, plugins, and
database. Keep multiple copies of these files on a different server than your host in case your server
is ever compromised.

options for restoring your site with Jetpack Backup

Besides real-time backups specifically built for eCommerce, another helpful tool that Jetpack Backup
offers is an activity log to see precisely what event caused your site to break. You can even restore
backups through the Jetpack mobile app so you don’t have to drop what you’re doing and rush back
to your desk.

3. Keep an eye on analytics

Your store’s analytics can be used for more than just determining if your marketing tactics are
working. They can also help you identify problem areas on your site. If you’re using WooCommerce,
then you’ll already have some data that you can review under Analytics in your WordPress
dashboard. These analytics

cover sales data but won’t tell you details like traffic volume and source or search engine terms
customers used to find your site.
If you want a simple solution to monitor traffic volume, get an understanding of where your
shoppers are coming from, and learn what keywords they use to find you, site stats are included
for free with Jetpack.

site stats dashboard in Jetpack

How to use analytics to improve your online store:

Keep an eye on traffic volume: If you’re seeing a big dip in traffic volume, you might want to make
sure urls in your ads and emails are correct. You can also use traffic volume patterns to identify days
of the week and times of day that are most popular for visitors and schedule marketing campaigns,
product releases, and blog posts to maximize their impact.

Review the geographic location of shoppers: Knowing what countries your shoppers are coming
from can help you determine whether to offer prices in different currencies. If you ship worldwide
and get traffic from a certain country but not many sales, you might want to allow customers to
purchase using their local currency. If you get a lot of visitors from countries whose primary
language differs from yours, you might want to translate your website.

Understand the search engine terms used to find you: Review the most popular terms customers are
using to find your products and consider including them in your product descriptions and other
website copy.

Look at your most popular products and posts: Look at what products and blog posts are most
popular with your visitors and feature those in your marketing. When it’s time to offer new products
or publish new articles, you’ll have a better idea of what your audience is interested in.

4. Maintain site security

In 2020, cyberattacks jumped by 300%. Some people might think that hackers wouldn’t bother with a
small online retailer, but 43% of hacking attempts are targeted at small businesses. It’s absolutely
critical that you prevent your store from falling prey to an attack.
One of the easiest and best ways to accomplish this is to install a WordPress security plugin. The free
version of Jetpack offers brute force attack protection, but upgrading to Jetpack Security will give
you important features like anti-spam protection and malware scanning.

5. Know if your site ever goes down

You can’t be expected to be on your website 24 hours a day. Sometimes, the only way you know
that your site is down is if a customer emails you or your web host notifies you (and not all hosting
companies will).

Downtime monitoring is included free with Jetpack. It checks your site every five minutes and you’ll
receive email notifications if it goes down.

7.1 Testing

Over the past decade, the entire shopping ecosystem has undergone a massive change. Where
people once enjoyed shopping at local brick-and-mortar stores for all their needs, today they’re
happy browsing through wide varieties of commodities online and making purchases as per their
comfort and convenience. The shift has brought much good to the eCommerce companies in terms
of incremental revenue growth, global customer base, and faster business expansion. However, it
has also put them in a critical position of keeping pace with the ever-increasing, ever-evolving needs,
and demands of the people.

Experience optimizers across the globe suggest that the best way eCommerce businesses can survive
today’s market heat, maintain their customer base, and ensure revenue growth is by investing much
into modern marketing activities and focusing their energies on testing and optimization. These have
the prowess to provide seamless and frictionless customer experiences and help businesses
succeed.
Assuming you’re already familiar with modern marketing activities and their importance in today’s
time, we’d like to jump directly to the benefits of eCommerce testing and optimization, key
challenges, and website areas and elements that you must test.

What is eCommerce testing? Why is it important?

eCommerce testing can be defined as the process of testing various eCommerce website
elements such as design, specifications, functionalities, pages, and features to check their sanity
and ens ure they’re not harming the performance of the site in any manner possible.

When done correctly and continuously, testing can not only improve your site visitors’ overall
experience but significantly increase conversions as well. Mentioned below are some r
easons explaining the importance of testing and optimization.

1. Improve user engagement

As stated above, testing helps check the hygiene of a page element. It tells us which page element
or process affects a user’s onsite journey and helps us rectify the issues faster. The better the user
experience, the more shall be the onsite engagement.

2. Generate marketing strategies

Testing and optimization allow you to make effective plans for your website. By reiterating your site’s
problematic areas, you can engage more people and also increase their stay.

3. Reduce risks

Many times, making major and considerable changes to your site can cause notable strategic
changes or even trigger significant losses. However, testing these changes in a planne d manner can
help eliminate the chances of these uncertain losses.

4. Increase conversion rates

Since you’re testing almost every aspect of your website and ensuring a smooth visitor experience
through site optimization, your conversion rate is bound to increase.
5. Better understanding of visitor behavior

It’s often difficult to map your website visitors’ needs and preferences and optimize your site
accordingly. But with testing, everything is possible. It’s one of the best and quickest ways to confirm
what your visitors like.

What should you know before you run an eCommerce test?

From the source code to product pages, you can test the viability of every element of your website
using an extensive range of testing methods. Some of the most common method s are as follows:

• Functional testing

• Usability testing

• Security testing

• Performance testing

• Database testing

• Mobile application testing

While each of these methods has its own rules and regulations, running multiple tests using multiple
testing methods at the same time can cause chaos as well as disrupt test results. Hence, it’s always
advised to run one test at a time or use a good testing tool like VWO that enables you to run
multiple tests simultaneously without one overlapping the other.

Given this fact, you must prioritize the order in which you want to run tests based on the test’s
impact on your brand’s overall conversion rate. Theories like agile testing, which is used by teams
conducting software testing, can help you find the balance.

Logically, focus on significant bugs and software flaws that impact everyone through mobile app
testing and website testing first. Once you’ve addressed these issues, then look at the minor bugs.

ReQtest – Agile testing

Furthermore, it’s always a good idea to evaluate your test ideas and testing techniques on a regular
basis because a poor website testing strategy can lead to loss of customers, revenue, and even
jeopardize your brand’s reputation in the market. You must always carefully outline the testing scope,
set the objectives, check it’s viability or chances of success, and estimate efforts in a time frame.

What are some key issues related to eCommerce testing?

The underlying principle behind a good user experience (UX) is to make life easy for your visitors.
Every task on your website should be intuitive. You want people to be able to navigate around your
website or application with minimum fuss.

While these principles are straightforward, it’s their implementation where things get tricky. A lot of
factors play into the user experience. Think of all the stages of a user’s journey and test them from
the first click on a product to the shopping cart.

For example, through form analysis, you can track how people are interacting with various input
fields. This information provides you with insights on where users are experiencing problems. You

can use this data to develop a hypothesis and run a test to check whether your assumptions or
assertions are correct.
Analysis of a typical SaaS website form

1. Testing for bugs

Regardless of how well you develop your website, there shall always remain some bugs in your
wireframe that may disrupt your site’s functionality or hinder the visitor’s journey. While developers
once couldn’t do anything about these bugs, today, they can use testing to fix these issues and create
seamless UI/UX designs.
Qualitest : Most common

website bug

Some of the most common bugs that you may find on your eCommerce website are as follows:

• Browser compatibility problems

• Broken links

• Inconsistencies in the catalog

• Shopping cart issues

• Checkout bugs

According to a study by QualiTest, most of the bugs that sites encounter are of medium severity.
These do not impair the usability of the site. However, they do have the potential to impact the
eCommerce conversion rate and overall business sales.

Image Source: Impactplus

When managing an eCommerce store, it’s essential to put a system to identify bugs and eliminate
them as soon as possible. It is especially important to have a quality assurance strategy in place
when undertaking any sustained eCommerce testing.

2. Testing conversion rates

Your eCommerce conversion rate ultimately defines the success of your business. The higher the
conversion rate, the higher shall be your business’ revenue. Understandably, given the importance of
sales to any business, conversion rates focus on extensive eCommerce testing.
 There are various stages to any conversion rate optimization test. The first stage is to set objectives
and determine the most suitable type of test. Your choice must always be based on data, rather th an
pure intuitions. For example, if you decide to review your brand’s purchase cycle, ensure to data back
all your decisions.

The next step is to test and gather available data and form a hypothesis. Tools like heatmaps, form
analytics, scrollmaps, session recordings etc. can help analyze user behavior and provide useful
information. Always gather enough information before running a test to ensure you’re moving in the
right direction.

Standard statistical testing methods include A/B testing, split testing, and multivariate testing. You
can use this A/B duration calculator to determine how long a test on your site will take.

Which site areas and elements should you test?

The ultimate goal of every test is to increase the conversions and revenue of your eCommerce
business. You want to focus on running conversion optimization tests that provide the maximum
return on investment. There are certain areas of your eCommerce website that you will naturally
target to ensure a seamless visitor experience. Some of these are as follows:

1. Search and navigation

Site search and navigation are two of your website’s primary elements extensively used by your
visitors to explore your website or mobile app. Ensuring they’re free of bugs and promise a
frictionless experience must always be your top priority.

Best Choice Products, an eCommerce website selling garden, music, children, and fitness products,
illustrates the importance of testing your navigation. As part of a round of eCommerce A/B testing,
they ran a test on their mobile navigation and search bar. They hypothesised that by improving the
visibility of the search bar on the header will improve user penetration into the website. The control
and variation version of the test are as follows
Control version (left) with no search bar. Variation version (right) with a prominently visible
search bar.

Running the test for about 7 days, the execs at Best Choice Products witnessed that visitors were
engaging more with the search functionality. A minor change on the header resulted in a 0.1%
increase in site revenue. It may not have been a game changer, but it did help the company get
more revenue than before.

2. Homepage design and features

The homepage is one of the most important pages of any website, for it represents the face of your
brand. Even if it’s not your primary landing page, it still deserves to be one of the most intricately
designed pages. You need to offer great user experience and ensure that everything works as it
should.

There are numerous forms of eCommerce testing you can run on your homepage. One thing which is
becoming increasingly accessible to sites across content management systems is website
personalization. The Very Group’s website is a perfect example to quote here.

Based on a visitor’s geographic and demographic information, the site shows personalized
homepages to each of its visitors. For instance, and as visible in the image below, if a customer lands
on Very’s homepage during the winters, it displays a collection accordingly. Meanwhile, if the
customer belongs to a country experiencing summers, the website personalizes user experience
accordingly.