Table of content:
- Phases of Testing
- Difference Between Alpha & Beta Testing
- Purpose of Beta Testing
- Types of Beta Testing
- When is Beta Testing Done?
- Beta Test Planning
- How is beta testing performed?
- How companies can make Beta Test successful?
- How to Get Started as a Beta Tester?
Beta testing is a process during software development that focuses on testing and offering almost completed products to interested real-time users through beta releases so as to test the software in real-world conditions. It is a type of field test and is performed at the end of the software testing life cycle.
Beta testing is done before doing a major release to fix critical issues as well as monitor real-time faults and generate a feedback report. It is also called user testing or customer validation, it has the aim to make sure that final users are content with a software product before it becomes GA (generally available) on a range of platforms.
But, there are a few conditions that a product needs to fulfil, in order to be ready for beta testing:
- The product should have all the features and services that are planned for the final version
- The product should not have repeated crashes, that is, it should be stable.
- The participants should belong to the target demographic.
- The participants should finish scenarios in the real world (outside the labs).
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Phases of Testing
Mostly the phases differ from organisation to organisation, the general procedure is as follows:
- Pre-alpha testing: This is the testing done by an internal team during initial development.
- Alpha testing: This is also done by an internal team in lab environment but the product is at a more developed stage, also, a small group of reliant users can be invited.
- Beta testing: This is the first time is taken public so as to see response and reaction of the people.
- Release testing: This is the last testing before the software is released in the market.
Difference Between Alpha Testing and Beta Testing
Alpha testing is the in-house testing phase that comes before the beta test phase. And unlike the beta version, alpha version is prone to more crashes and might have less feature. Alpha testing is usually done inside the organisation and involves developers, designers and other specialists.
Also, in alpha testing it is possible to reach out participants. Focus of alpha testing is to get detailed information on their product experience. This feedback from testing can later on result in smooth and effective beta testing.
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Purpose of Beta Testing
Beta testing allows real users to test a finished product in a production environment in order to identify any bugs or issues before a general release of entire product. According to the definition of the beta test, it is a field test of the beta version of a product, such as software, conducted prior to commercial release by testers outside the company developing it. It is open to the market and the general public. It needs a real-time environment to be performed. Beta is the software development phase that comes after alpha. It is named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet.
Types of Beta Testing
Forms of testing are listed below:
- Open Beta Testing: This beta testing stage is available to all, that is, it is public. It is useful when large amounts of data are required. It is also a real challenge that tests whether your back-end can support a large number of users. It usually comes after closed beta testing.
- Closed Beta Testing: As the name suggests this beta testing is not open to all. An organisation recruits a specific number of people who then test the program. Closed beta tests are better for testing core features of the future product.
- Technical Beta Testing: This type of beta testing is usually done with a group of computer-skilled users, who in the most cases are within the organisation. The advantage is that these users can tolerate minor bugs, thus shifting the focus to more complex issues. Also these users provide detailed information about the experience of the program and are less likely to pull out of it.
- Focused Beta Testing: In this type of beta testing, the product is released into the market so that the development team can gather response about a specific component of the software.
- Marketing beta testing: The goal of this beta testing is to attract attention for your product and helps you realizing how strong you are on your marketing front. However, it can also be used to understand customer responses to your product.
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When is Beta Testing Done?
Beta testing starts right after Alpha testing. It is always performed by target users at their own site. It is not performed by an independent engineering team. The Alpha stage is typically carried out by internal teams, whereas the Beta stage includes potential users who are not directly related to the developing team. Prior to the launch, all potential errors and undesirable behavior must be identified and corrected.
These users frequently discover issues that developers are unable to see. As a result, the company can improve product quality and avoid potential user complaints prior to the formal launch into the open market.
The process scope may vary depending on the number of testers and the amount of time available. Some software companies make free testing versions available for download in order to gather early user feedback.
Beta Test Planning
Depending on the depth of the testing product, a beta test plan can be created in a variety of ways. The characteristics that are included in the test plan are objectives, scope, test approach, tools, budget, feedback, review, etc. Objectives define the project’s goal to assist beta testers in understanding the outcome and reason for beta testing even though there has been internal testing. The focus areas and parameters against which software is tested, such as functionality, user experience, and responsiveness, are included in the test approach. It also explains how to log bugs with proof, such as a screenshot or a video. The scope of the testing defines which areas of the software are to be tested and which are not to be tested. It also provides data for testing purposes. Moreover, a bug tracking tool that includes screen capture can make logging defects easier because it streamlines the process. The term “tools” refers to the tools that will be used for bug tracking. The product’s timeline is defined by its start and end dates with time, the number of cycles, and the time of the cycle. Along with it, The budget is for Developing an incentive plan for beta testers based on the budget available; however, it is important to Obtain and analyze feedback along with these processes.
Entry Criteria
Testing should indeed be signed off. The product’s Beta version must be completed and released. User manuals and a list of known issues should then be documented and kept ready for publishing. Tools for capturing bugs and feedback, as well as usage documentation, should have been available.
Exit Criteria
There are no Gamebreaker bugs in any of the platforms. All significant bugs found during the Beta Test phase should be addressed. Report on the Beta Test. Beta Testing Sign Off.
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How is beta testing performed?
Beta testing, like any other testing process, aids in proper planning. The team conducts a testing plan and specifies the screening goal at this stage. Throughout this scenario, the team determines the need for testing by users, as well as the duration and other process details. Then comes the stage of participant recruitment, the team recruits a group of chosen end-users for testing during the second stage of the beta process. This group is subject to change based on the needs of the organization and the product. When a group of users is assembled. The product’s beta version is launched or installed on the client-side, and users evaluate the application for client satisfaction. This is the product launch phase. When the testing is completed, the development team will collect and evaluate the testers’ feedback. Finally, the member team fixes and resolves issues and bugs based on the feedback. That’s how Beta testing is performed.
Challenges of Beta Testing
Beta testing gives a lot of advantages to spot the bugs, still, challenges in beta testing can not be overlooked. Finding the right people to serve as beta testers is the most important aspect of this testing. Participants may or may not possess the necessary skills to conduct beta testing. Poor test management is also a problem encountered by companies.
Only the relevant feedback is used to determine the level of customer satisfaction. It requires time to start and finish and cannot provide results in strict timelines. It is a type of exploratory testing that lacks a well-defined plan.
Also, the non-technical background of the beta testers will lead to certain issues at testing time.
How Companies can make Beta Test successful?
For a company to make beta testing successful, some strategies should be adopted. The only thing to keep in mind in this technique is that your beta testers are not doing it as a corporate or customer favor, but are actually running a dry run of the service. Also, an important fact is your tester experience which compels you to take into account your beta tester’s practical qualifications.
In addition to this, Concentrate your beta testing on the requirements of real-world users. Instead of asking users to tinker and provide general feedback, ask them to take a specific action. Give a beta tester clear instructions on how to provide feedback, what kind of input you’re looking for, and what features you are or are not testing. Giving a beta tester some guidelines to work within will allow them to optimize their time and provide you with valuable feedback.
Another great way to make beta testing successful is through bug bounties. A bug bounty is a monetary reward given to ethical hackers for successfully discovering and reporting a vulnerability or bug to the developer of an application. Offering bug bounties is one of the best ways to encourage people to find flaws in a program. Bug bounty programs enable businesses to continuously improve their systems’ security posture by leveraging the hacker community.
When beta testing, you should be clear about the details you want to receive as an outcome. Testing just for testing will not be useful or effective. You must define clear objectives and carefully explain them to your team. Everyone involved in the process must have a full idea of what they are seeking to accomplish. Beta testing can only be successful if the goals are clear.
If you don’t use high-fidelity prototypes, you’ll spend plenty of time reacting. High-fidelity blueprints are an excellent way of obtaining critical feedback before anyone spends so much time developing the alternative. In addition, we strongly advise using design sprints to validate functionality prior to beginning cutting.
How to Get Started as a Beta Tester?
- Make an effort to learn more. While some games have open betas and some other beta testing opportunities are advertised, most paid beta testing opportunities are not. If you’re seeking for information about a specific game or software, go to the developer’s website.
- Make contact with the programmers, product managers or engineering team. Look for the developer of the products you’re interested in testing after you’ve identified them. They’ll almost certainly have an online application if they’re seeking for beta testers. If that is not the case, simply send an email.
- Keep an eye out for new opportunities.
- Participate in beta testing groups. You may also join beta testing communities and groups.
Advantages of Beta Testing
Beta testing is performed at the very end of software testing, and has numerous benefits such as:
- Customer contentment is at the core of beta testing
- There is less chance that the product might fail due to program malfunctions
- It helps build the bond between customers and organisations via direct responses
- It detects the bugs in the software which might have been overlooked by testing team.
Disadvantages of Beta Testing
Some disadvantages of beta testing are:
- The organisation and software has no control over it as real-world users perform it
- It may take a long time and might even set back the launch of the product.
- Because the software is under development, its functionality is not tested in depth
Summing up…
To conclude we say that a product is only considered great when consumers approve of it. Hence, beta test is necessary for market testing as well as resolving minor issues, crucial issues and usability issues of the product.
Thorough testing on various platforms results in valuable feedback from real users and helps make sure that the end-user is satisfied with its use.
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