How to Test Your SaaS Application
So you’ve built your SaaS application, and you’re now looking for some feedback? It’s time to test! SaaS testing is the process of implementing methodology to review your application and its inbuilt technology thoroughly. This method ensures that the final product deployed to your customer database is fault-proof. Keep reading to hear our SaaS application testing tips.
Why should you test your SaaS application?
Before we delve into what to test and how to test it, let’s consider why we’re testing in the first place. SaaS applications should undergo thorough testing for a number of reasons, with the primary goal being to improve usability and, in turn, increase revenue. Testing allows you to build a reliable database and validates your application’s ability to scale. You’ll quickly learn your software’s limits and, as such, begin to understand how you can develop your application to reach a wider audience. Other benefits of SaaS application testing includes:
- Reduction in software deployment costs
- Reduction in maintenance costs
- Lower level of risk
- Higher accessibility
- Increase the availability of updates to a wider audience
- Allow for focus on innovative ideas
SaaS testing vs. Traditional testing — what’s the difference?
SaaS products undergo far more scrutinous testing than on-premise applications, largely because of the amount of ever-changing data stored on the servers. Typically, SaaS testing involves shorter testing cycles than traditional software testing and is slightly more challenging to perform.
Let’s take a look at the different types of SaaS testing and how they correspond to different parts of your software.
Performance testing
Performance testing is arguably one of the most important SaaS testing methodologies. Every aspect of your product should undergo this level of testing, and your QA and development team should be working hand in hand to decipher the maximum levels supported by your product.
Availability testing fits nicely under performance testing, as this test checks whether your software can run successfully round the clock.
Stress and load testing similarly link to your softwares performance. You’ll want to outline your software breaking points. How far beyond standard operational capacity can you push your application?
Security testing
Security testing is a large part of SaaS production, and without it, it’s unlikely your product will succeed in a data-driven market. Data breaches and identity theft are not something you want to be associated with your product, so make sure you prioritise access testing too.
Integration and migration testing
There may come a time when you wish to integrate your software with another platform or migrate your data elsewhere. Preparing for this might seem a little ahead of the game, but it’s best to know your capabilities early on.
Other things to note when carrying out software tests include:
Speed
When it comes to SaaS application production, development and testing speed are absolutely critical. You should aim to test each element of your software as soon as possible, and breaking the software down into testable components is a great way to manage this.
QA
While testing your SaaS application, your QA team should be working hand in hand with the development team to catch bugs. However, a good QA team should also be responsible for validating scalability. Note that you should place a lot of weight on the QA team’s shoulders; after all, SaaS reaches the customer faster than traditional software, and mistakes need to be caught by your team before a customer has the chance to see them.
Customer Experience
Customer experience is key to testing. When reviewing your SaaS application, you should be doing so through the eyes and mind of a user. This is arguably the hardest thing for an in-house testing team to do, as it requires detaching yourself from the application completely. While the functionality of the application might be second nature to your team, you must remember it’s completely new territory to your customers.
Customer Analytics
A good QA team will also make the most of capturing and analyzing real-time customer analytics. This data will show how audiences are viewing your application and which browsers you should be supporting. Testers can also monitor popular features that users predominantly make use of.
In conclusion…
SaaS products must operate seamlessly and smoothly, and conducting regular software testing is one of the best ways to ensure this. Risks associated with SaaS must be mitigated one way or another, and a quality development and QA team will help your cause. Remember, software that has undergone multiple validation tests always enjoys the assurance of quality.
