Consumer electronics have become part and parcel of our lives. Projected to reach a market value of $415,897 million in 2021, consumer electronic businesses are constantly innovating by leveraging emerging technologies, like smartphones, to find a differentiator that gains them a competitive edge in a highly competitive market to create an increase in customer satisfaction and retention.
Customers are willing to pay a premium price for superior digital experiences. Implementing effective Mobile App Testing and Test Automation is critical to achieving this goal. This brings up the question “Who is handling the QA?” Mobile App Testing is lengthy, cumbersome, and requires a variety of things to consider before the app launch. Mobile App Testing, designing, and developing a Test Automation framework requires a unique set of skills and, unfortunately, many companies fail to get it right as they lack the required expertise and guidance.
Consumers Expect Convenience When Pairing Electronics with Mobile Devices
From turning on their lights, to changing their room temperature, to opening their curtains in the morning, to playing their favorite music, tech enthusiasts love the convenience to manage as many aspects of their house as they can from the palm of their hands––or even a voice command to their virtual assistant! As a result, advancements in home Automation have enabled convenience for customers to control and monitor their homes remotely, from anywhere, using smartphones.
For added advantages, smart TVs and their capabilities are making traditional TVs obsolete, with over 70 percent of the TV shipments in 2018 being smart televisions. Tech-savvy customers prefer to buy a smart TV that has integrated streaming players, like Roku or FireTV, over an ordinary television. But, what is really delighting customers is the digital experience provided by the mobile apps. Customers can search through hundreds of channels and apps across multiple streaming services, all from the comfort of their smartphone. Yet even more examples of how mobile applications have changed the way we live can be found here:
- Ring Video Doorbells. With Ring, you can remotely see who is at your door from anywhere in the world. Kwikset and August Home let you open doors remotely.
- B-hyve remote sprinkler controllers. These sprinklers automatically turn off when weather feeds come in and allows you to control them remotely. Smart agriculture with gadgets like these yields to better harvest at minimal costs.
The list keeps on growing, and the possibilities with mobile applications are infinite! As your mobile phone transforms into the universal remote; Mobile Application Testing needs to be approached strategically.
Mobile Applications are Here to Stay, and Will Change the Way We Use our Electronics — Forever
High-tech customers prefer gadgets that are controlled and monitored using mobile apps. However, several electronics businesses who create a product with a digital experience fail to get it right, not because the product itself is bad, but typically because they are not equipped to ship high-quality mobile apps. Customers judge businesses or brands based on the quality of the software or services they offer. Buggy mobile apps can make the customers doubt and distrust even the best electronic gadgets.
It’s easier than ever for customers to share product/app reviews online. Customers do not shy away from sharing their experiences and frustration publically. The majority of electronics consumers conduct online research and go through app reviews before they actually purchase a product. Consumers deeply fear making wrong decisions, so they take reviews from other customers very seriously. Getting your Software Testing right is more essential than ever before! Bad reviews affect your brand reputation and directly impact the revenue of your business. Software failures can be prevented by planning and implementing a robust Mobile App Testing strategy. This approach is either ignored or taken lightly by most companies.
How Consumer Electronics Brands Can Delight Their Customers by Thorough Mobile App Testing
- Many consumer electronics companies fail to achieve the full potential of digital technologies, because their leaders lack an incremental vision. The first step is the realization of such a perception to use digital in order to create a truly unique and world-class customer experience. Software Testing is the key to elevate the customer experience.
- Implement effective QA processes and practices to progress towards accomplishing your vision.
- Develop an Intelligent Test Automation strategy that enables you to go beyond hyper-reactive to hyper-proactive to address demanding end-user expectations and thrive in highly competitive markets. Succeeding with Software Testing and Test Automation frameworks is challenging and daunting. Seeking expert help from leading Software Testing firms like LogiGear right from the start will enable you to succeed in Software Testing and Test Automation with maximum ROI for your investment.
- Consumer electronics testing includes quality assurance across mobile or hybrid applications running on various operating systems. Businesses need to perform compatibility testing to ensure that their apps can adapt to the various screen sizes, resolutions, and are compatible with devices from other manufacturers. Several successful consumer electronics businesses realize how crucial compatibility testing is to find a base of happy and loyal customers, and thus understand the value of investing in an outside, experienced testing provider.
- Do more with less using a blended onshore and offshore QA team. Offshoring acts as a supplement to your existing team but not as a replacement.
- Reduce costs; Give your consumer electronic mobile app an advantage over others by reducing time to market. Get a pool of expert Testers with unique skills that are difficult to find. Leading offshore testing providers like LogiGear enables you to scale your teams at ease without you having to worry about the costs and effort of recruitment, training, infrastructure, devices, tools, frameworks, etc
- Be more timely with a follow-the-sun model and run software development smoothly 24/7; the differences in time zones create an around-the-clock workflow that increases response times, reduces time to market, and further drives business agility.
- The customer experience (CX) must fascinate and delight the customers beyond functionality.
- Exploratory Testing to capture early feedback can verify the functionality and usability of your apps in real-world conditions by targeting your ideal audience based on various demographic criteria.
- Putting yourself in the shoes of your customers will take your apps to the next level. Understand customer behavior and sentiment by better use of Analytics. Analyzing Google Play and Apple’s App Store reviews will give you a new perspective and let you capture user sentiment. Regularly interact with your customers on social media. Respond to reviews and promptly act on improvements and suggestions.
- Conduct user experience (UX) surveys to capture the additional user-centric insight of app quality. UX surveys give you complete clarity on who our users are, what their pain points are, and what they are trying to achieve with your app.
- CX is a continuous improvement process. Embed CX in your development methodology. Start by introducing design reviews, and incorporation of CX into UAT processes to improve user experience and satisfaction.
Conclusion
Customer-centricity is key to optimizing your digital user experience. Consumer electronics businesses cannot afford to fail with their digital experiences. Mobile App Testing and Automation become a must, but only a few consumer electronic businesses realize that. Due to the nature of mobile apps, testing is complex and requires you to consider factors like screen sizes, networks, operating systems, resolutions, etc. Test Automation becomes crucial to ensure maximum test coverage and improve time to market amongst these challenges. A large number of consumer electronics companies out there do not have the necessary skills, tools, or processes to perform Mobile App Testing effectively.
With 2 decades of Software Development and Automation expertise, LogiGear can give you a competitive edge by helping you get the resources, tools, and processes that you need to get Mobile App Testing and Test Automation right the first time.
*Disclaimer: This article is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, maintained, authorized, or sponsored by any of the companies mentioned in this blog (Ring, b-hyve). All product and company names are the registered trademarks of their original owners. The use of any trade name or trademark is for identification and reference purposes only and does not imply any association with the trademark holder or their product brand.
