It’s also what most companies fail at, and the consequences are huge.
To be completely honest, it has been awhile since I have poked around the User Application Testing (UAT) environment because I assumed things had gotten better since artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of the equation. My current position does not really involve app testing so it was “out of sight, out of mind.” A recent personal experience made me realize that it’s time to bring the subject back to the forefront. From my viewpoint, things are not better, they are worse.
If user testing is the most important part of development then user input is the most important aspect of UAT and the most overlooked. Let me explain with a real life experience.
I was installing an application that has an automatic calendar generator similar to the one seen in the image below. I was annoyed because I had to scroll or click the back arrow through about 50 pages to choose my birthyear. While this calendar is fine for viewing dates, it is not ideal for searching for them. I consider this to be a lack of knowledge on the developer’s part. They are choosing aesthetics over functionality.
I thought it was just a developer oversight and then it happened to me three times this weekend alone on different apps. Now I am annoyed by the lack of care that goes into creating apps and for proper user testing. Developers are simply reusing code and choosing aesthetics over functionality and overlooking basic features.
Applications are useless if they look pretty but do not provide the service intended and if subscribers cannot even sign up.
Proper testing does not just involve providing a controlled testing environment for the application. It requires beta testers to install and upload the app as if they were a new user. This step is often overlooked because the developer sets a controlled and ready made environment for quick access. The tester will never see the signing up part of the process and will not report issues with it. It is the cause of many missed installation opportunities and is hard to fix. It can be years before any one even notices or decides to report it and results in a huge loss of income. Remember if you already have the application installed, you will not even realize there is an issue. This brings up another point, if the same users are using the platform they may not experience issues that a new user may. A good stradegy is to gather information from new users about their experience or have staff uninstall and reinstall applications to see the changes in realtime.
Honestly, if it was not for the fact that I needed the app, I would have not continued with the click, click, click to my birth year, and yes there were over fifty on three apps and I don’t have that kind of patience!
UAT is how companies protect themselves from bad development practices but they need to be more viligant and monitor the development team. Here are some ways to assist with proper testing protocols:
Controlled user testing enviroments should include a total application review from a variety of different users.
The data will not be reported the same way from an experienced user, versus a “newbie.” It is always better if the company provides the users and does not rely on friends or family of the developer or staff involved with the data because this creates data bias. It is more effective to pay for individual user testers who will provide you with realistic feedback.
Creative way to do it: Provide a local testing day, people would love to come to an afternoon at your company for a small payout. In fact, it is a great opportunity for advertising if you throw in a fun and entertaining lunch party for the participants. Participants can meet the team, and this has more advertising power if they share the experience on their social platforms. This is a more creative and realistic way of testing because the users will experience the application as it was intended. I would do this as a step before launch day.
Proper testing should involve the entire process.
This means installing the application, inputting all important information and clicking on every page, link and form that exists. Of course you can provide fake names and data, this is not the crucial part, it is how the application responds to the inputting that matters. These “fake” accounts should be removed before launch as they will provide improper subscriber data.
Testing in a sandbox is fine but the final user testing before launch should be in a go live situation. If the system breaks, it was meant to and it should be fixed before launch.
Testing in a live environment is not safe and is the reason that many developers provide a sandbox. While this is obvious, they often forget to do live testing.
In a rush to go live issues are overlooked because the developer will say we can fix that later, it is not that important. While some are not, I think inputting your information during the sign on stage is a crucial aspect that should never be “fixed later.” It is better to wait on going live than potentially losing millions of subscribers because they are frusted before they even get into the application.
It is not just a developer problem, it is also a lack of due dilligence. Companies simply hire developers because they think they are not skilled enough or lack the knowledge and they do not question them. You must and if you do not know what to ask hire a Product Manager or UAT expert like me. Companies are often taken advantage of and this is the real downfall of application development and loss of tons of income.
To be honest, I would rather 15000 for a fun testing launch party than to lose 50000 on missing installations…marketing is all about the numbers. We do not always think about these kinds of numbers, but we should.
Madeline Foster 