Website testing checklist: the tests to run on a client site

What's on a website testing checklist?

A website testing checklist holds a written test for each thing the site has to do, grouped by kind. Each test says what to do, what should happen, and whether it passed.

Kinds of tests to include:

• Function tests: every form sends, every button goes where it should, search returns results, logins work.
• Form tests: each required field stops an empty submit, error messages make sense, and the thank you message or page appears.
• Device and browser tests: the main pages on a phone, a tablet and a computer, in the browsers the client's visitors use.
• Usability tests: real people try real tasks on the site, and you watch where they get stuck.
• Content tests: a spot check that the approved words, images and contact details are on the pages.
• After launch tests: the same key tests run again on the live address.

A test is only useful if two people would run it the same way. "Check the contact form" isn't enough. "Fill in every field, press Send, and confirm the email reaches the client's inbox" is. For the wider list of checks your team runs before a client sees the site, see the website QA checklist.

How do you run a website usability test?

You run a website usability test by giving a few people tasks to do on the site, then watching them do it without helping. The spots where they pause, pick the wrong link or give up are what you fix.

1. Pick a short list of tasks a real visitor would come to do, such as finding a price or booking a time.
2. Find a few people who match the client's visitors and haven't seen the site.
3. Give each person one task at a time, in plain words, without naming the page or button.
4. Ask them to think out loud as they go.
5. Watch and take notes. Don't help, even when they get stuck.
6. Note each task as done easily, done with trouble, or not done.
7. List the problems that came up more than once, and fix those first.

A screen recording, with the person's permission, makes it easier to show the client what went wrong.

What should an ecommerce website testing checklist add?

An ecommerce website testing checklist adds tests for everything between a shopper finding a product and the order reaching the store owner. Money changes hands, so each step needs its own written test.

Tests to add for a store:

• a product can be found by browsing and by search
• product options, such as size or color, change the price or stock where they should
• the cart keeps items, updates totals and removes items
• a discount code works once where it should, and fails where it shouldn't
• shipping and tax show up at checkout the way the store owner set them
• a test order goes through from cart to payment without charging a real card (ask the payment provider how it handles test orders)
• the order confirmation email reaches the shopper, and the order shows up for the owner
• a refund or cancelled order is handled the way the owner expects

Before launch, check that any test setting you used for payments is switched off, and place one small real order if the owner agrees.

What goes in a website testing checklist template?

A website testing checklist template is a table with one row per test and the same columns every time. Copy it for each new client site and add rows for that site's own features.

Columns to include:

Keep the filled in copy with the project files, so you can show what was tested before launch.