Tests to Run Before Launching your eCommerce Site

So you’re ready to launch a new website. This is an exciting part of any brand’s journey, but it can also be stressful, especially if you’re migrating to a new eCommerce platform, too. This stage is where you’re likely to encounter the most roadblocks, because your website has many moving pieces that need to be ready for high traffic and optimal usability. Team Virid is here to help you get your ducks in a row, whether you’re looking for ways to improve the customer experience or looking to migrate to a new eCommerce platform, we’ve got you covered. Now that your eCommerce site is almost ready to launch, let’s get into some tests you should run before it's time to go live.  

Browser Testing 

Fragmentation is a term used to describe the many combinations of devices, browsers, and operating systems that are used to look at your website. There are over 63,000 combinations, making it impossible to truly know how your website will perform for each user. You can conduct browser testing using cross browser testing tools on the internet to replicate a variety of conditions that your users might experience when using your site, but the most effective way to test is on a real device.  

Speed Testing  

This might be an obvious one, but it’s important to check to ensure your site is loading fast enough before you launch. There are a variety of things that could be impacting page speeds, some of which might be hidden deep within the code and hard to notice. Two seconds is the standard for eCommerce sites, but half of a second is ideal. Data from Cloudflare shows that pages that loaded in 2.4 seconds had a 1.9% conversion rate, 1.5% at 3.3 seconds, less than 1% at 4.2 seconds, and 0.6% at 5.7+ seconds.  

Accessibility Testing 

Readability is essential for website usability, not just for your content but also for screen readers and those who are visually impaired. Your website should be accessible for legal and ethical reasons, but it can also help with SEO. This is another way to improve the customer experience. Accessible content including color contrast, the ability to zoom in and out of content, and captions or alt text for visual content is the standard for readability and performance, there are many ways to check your website for accessibility, many are free and easy to use. Virid offers a site assessment tool to make sure your site is working properly and meets accessibility standards, contact us to start your free assessment.  

SEO Testing 

Optimizing the content on your website is one of the most valuable ways to boost your website’s visibility. By using relevant keywords that align with users’ search intent, you can sculpt your website around them to create high-value content. There are free SEO tools you can use to audit your site to ensure it’s ready to be noticed, this will help you to prepare for the search results page and make any adjustments as needed if your website isn’t ready. Make sure to update URL slugs for readability by humans and computers, too. 

Broken Link Testing 

If you have links on your website, they have to go to the correct locations. This iscritical for both credibility and brand identity. There are many tools you can access for free totest for broken links. Even after you launch your site it’s important to continue to check every time you add new content. 

Responsive Design Testing 

Google’s strategy forcrawling websites involves evaluating the mobile version of a website first. Because Google prioritizes mobile websites, eCommerce teams should too. It’s essential to ensure your web content automatically adapts to screens of all different sizes. This helps with SEO and is one of the ways to improve the customer experience and increase eCommerce sales as well, as the majority of eCommerce sales happen on smartphones. You can test by viewing your website on a mobile device and checking to make sure the content appears and responds as intended. 

Security Testing 

A secure website URL begins with HTTPS, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, rather than HTTP, which is an encrypted communication method that ensures data security for you and your users during the transmission of information. Most web hosting providers offer HTTPS by default, but if they don’t you will have to take extra steps to make sure your website is secure. You can use free tools to check if your website is secure, or purchase a Secure Sockets Layer certificate that also encrypts users’ and your own data to keep it safe from cyber criminals. This will help with SEO as well. 

Once you’re ready to launch, complete a final check to guarantee that everything is working properly on mobile and desktop. If your website is polished and ready for high traffic, you’ll want to make sure your eCommerce platform is too. Virid can help you run site audits for free to make sure your website is running smoothly, but we also offer an award-winning eCommerce platform to help you tackle complex integrations and so much more. Schedule your consultation today to get started!