Visual Testing To Optimize eCommerce Conversions

Did you know that 76% of website visitors skip shopping due to a poor user experience?

In addition to this, more than 18% of shopping across the world takes place online which is projected to reach 24% or higher in the next two years. As Jeff Bezos puts it, businesses with a customer-friendly approach grow faster than the brands focused on surpassing their competitors.

Source

Customer experience is an inevitable aspect of eCommerce platforms. Retail brands at large strive to maintain their ROI using different tactics. Among these strategies comes visual testing, an organized way to look at increasing sales and boosting eCommerce profits. eCommerce platforms do have their own set of unique problems depending on their market and product offerings, however, the visual aspect of influencing the buyer remains constant. 

In this guide to improving ROI through visual testing, we will get through certain critical areas that affect online sales. Moreover, we will also explore visual testing tools for eCommerce websites and factors that impact on user engagement.

How Does Visual Testing Dominate User Experience & eCommerce ROI?

eCommerce visual testing involves a few checks that establish the scale of quality in terms of the overall look and comprehensiveness of the website. Even a minor glitch with no context can deviate buyers’ attention and confuse them in the purchasing funnel.

To keep the ball running on an eCommerce platform and enable a seamless flow regularly, developers assess the following elements:

• Navigation Formatting: An easy way to product catalog and menu sections is like ushering your buyers to the right product aisle. It is an essential part of eCommerce visual assurance.
• Pade Loading Speed: Online buyers these days stick to a 3-second rule to make sure they are buying from a reliable store. If your website loads slowly, you will end up losing potential buyers. Want to run a quick speed test? Try Now.
• Session Expiration: This type of error is probably the fastest and most common method to lose a buyer for good.
• Content Loading Time: When your buyers click on a product, they should be able to view its description and specifications in the simplest way possible. Here’s what an ideal product description page should look like:

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Let’s move to the next section of this guide which contains the top visual testing tools to optimize and improve an eCommerce platform.

Visual Testing Tools for eCommerce Platforms

Percy by BrowserStack 

This tool was designed to alleviate visual testing in extensive and impactful ways. Parallelized testing is the standout feature of Percy by BrowserStack as it allows developers to perform multiple tests concurrently with a custom setup. It captures DOM snapshots to render the comparison and highlight the elements that require modification. Percy has built-in support for complex test suites that run in parallelized CI services or parallel test runners. There are two different ways that you can set up Percy for parallel test suites: across many machines or running parallel tests on the same machine.

Cross-browser rendering is also a feature of this tool that detects the needed visual changes by rendering a page in numerous browsers. Responsive Diffs and Snapshot Stabilization come up as a handly improvement to the overall visual testing arrangement and facilitate a faster and more comprehensive outcome.

This tool has been a powerful tool for the Shopify team when they were looking for a reliable automation method to maintain the authenticity of their most crucial design system. Shopify Polaris Design System is a unified passage used by thousands of professional developers to conceptualize user-friendly eCommerce design and apps.

It is a vital component library that guides developers with the right UI design patterns. With automated testing on the scale of priority, Percy assisted Shopify by integrating a schematic and far less time-consuming review system in their workflow so their team could perform pivotal checks in a few seconds.

Intercom, as a global enterprise that revolutionized business communication for good, caters to 30,000+ firms at present. Even though they have a gigantic team of 130 engineers: an automated paradigm for visual testing was the need of the hour. With the help of Percy, their team can quickly review the designs before deploying and spot the bugs. The tool also allows them to establish a control on test implementation and needed updates.

Use Percy for Visual Testing

BrowserStack Live

Besides Percy, BrowserStack Live is another influential feature set to set your eCommerce website free from potential errors. Tested by millions of developers on over 3000+ real devices, it is a prolific choice as a visual testing tool for eCommerce assessment. Even as a cross-browser testing tool, the Live tool plays its role in enhanced user engagement and eliminates the possibility of technical errors on the eCommerce platform.

As an all-inclusive cross-browser testing platform, it comes with instant access to the latest iOS and Android devices and browsers. Debugging sums up to be a matter of a short span when you have the desired combination of devices and browsers for testing.

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How Do Visual Errors Affect Conversions & ROI?

To understand this interdependence better, let’s look at the common visual errors that drive buyers away and affect the e-commerce conversion rate:

1. Product Page not loading properly

When your buyers can’t read the complete description of the product or product categories, they are more likely to discard the purchase (and probably never come back).

2. Broken Web Formatting

Broken links with no context also put a question mark on the credibility of your online shopping platform. Broken web formatting needs quick rectification. Otherwise, it will keep affecting the overall conversion and ROI.

Read More: Testing Universal Links on iOS & Android

3. Session Expiration

It is a common occurrence during the online payment process. Most buyers address this issue as a security red flag and immediately leave your shopping portal to protect their financial details.

4. Search Filters not Functioning

Search options need category-wise customization to showcase the right selection of products. Despite adding precise search keywords, many visitors don’t find the products they wish to buy despite adding precise search keywords. If the search filters don’t function properly, it will cost you the ongoing sales and your brand’s trustability.

Visual Testing Factors to Optimize eCommerce Conversions & ROI

Automated visual testing validates user experience and helps identify common bugs before a potential buyer can spot them. The following factors can be treated to a visual check on an eCommerce website to maintain the UX quotient of the platform:

1. Commencement with Home Page

It is the busiest corner of your online shopping platform. Every section on this page plays its part in building the hype of your brand. You will need to go through each segment to check if it’s clickable or not. Rendering this page on different browsers and screen sizes is vital for boosting eCommerce ROI via visual testing.

2. Search Assessment

The search module should be customized as per different product categories, brand’s name, price range, reviews, and ratings. The search bar on the product category page should be tailored to show sub-categories.

3. Product Detail Section

Besides quick loading time, the product detail section should also contain the information schematic format. Available payment methods, delivery options, in-stock/out of stock, and check-out details must be given on all product pages.

4. Shopping Cart

Your buyers should be able to add and edit products in the shopping cart. If a user increases or decreases the quantity on the product page, it should be updated automatically on the checkout page.

5. Categories & Related Products

Other than categories and sub-categories, related products, recommended products, and top-rated products must appear on all product pages. This section should be tailored for returning buyers.

In Conclusion,

Automated visual testing is an emerging practice in the eCommerce realm. It allows developers to test their online store’s functional and visual aspects before launching it. In some ways, visual testing of eCommerce websites establishes the qualitative periphery of a brand and lays the path for profitable advancement. Percy by BrowserStack is your best bet on fundamental ROI strategies that sustain buyers’ trust in your products and services.