Test Automation

Getting Started with Test Automation

Test Automation

In the world of software there are two ways of testing – Manual and Automation. Generally, a lot of testing can be done manually. Some manual testing is like discovery testing, usability testing, regression testing, functional testing, and so on. However, when the testing has to be repeated multiple times, then manual testing is shifted to automation. Needless to say, automation testing saves time and efforts.

Test automation can be defined as the process of running the test automatically, managing test data, and utilizing results to improve the software quality. Testing is a quality assurance (QA) method. This ensures that the software data is tested regularly to achieve improved results every time. The entire software production team from business analysts to developers are involved in the process of software testing.

Each time an error occurs while testing, it is the duty of the developer to rectify the error and retest the software. This way every time a new version of the software is released.  To ensure that the newer version of the software does not hamper the original work features, continuous testing has to be carried out. Testing is a cyclic process meant to improvise software quality. In this continuous process, in order to not miss out on any bugs or errors automation testing is preferred over manual testing.

However, there are some critical points that one must keep in mind while transitioning from manual to automated testing. Here are some tips to get started with test automation.

Tips to get started with test automation

  1. Not all tests can be automated. Even the tests that can be tested automatically, need manual handling at times. This means test automation cannot be done 100%.
  2. Set realistic goals. Writing smaller test cases can provide better test coverage.
  3. Test cases must be labeled well so that teams have the clarity of what needs to be automated.
  4. Automation can help to explore newer areas of the application.
  5. The scope of automation can be decided during the ideation process.
  6. Select the right tools for automation. This depends on the nature of the software (for example, web-based or mobile-based), the experience of the programmer, and whether the available automation tools are open source or not.

While transitioning from manual to automated testing one must be able to answer two questions:

1. What to automate?

2. How to automate?

While answering the first question, one must figure out the type of testing ranging from regression tests, smoke tests, and so on; and whether the software has a technical or business objective. Next comes answering the second question. This includes factors like the testing process, understanding the pros and cons of manual and automation testing, and determining the end-user preferences using the power of analytics. Having the clarity of the above-mentioned aspects helps automation testing cover the right interfaces and optimizes the performance of the software on the right user platforms.

Automation testing is of great help for software developers. By moving to automation testing, the ever-reducing deadlines of software releases can be met. In order to achieve better quality software versions, one must be able to create a balance between automation testing and manual testing.

Product Attributes

Meaningful Analysis using Product Attributes

Product Attributes

Product attributes are considered to be a concrete means of analysis of any product. For an eCommerce business, this plays an important role in analysis since the attributes define the product qualities in a meaningful way. It also describes the inherent characteristics and qualities of a product; which consumers tend to give importance to.

Attributes are what distinguishes products from each other. It includes product aspects like color, size, flavor, package type, and so on. Attributes hold significance for the consumers because it determines their purchase decision. For the business, it offer a structure and help in creating product categories. Many times, it defines the products’ competitive set as well.

In an eCommerce business, if we take products as an example, then the largest level is a category and the smallest is an item. There are several levels between category and items which are defined by them. Different attributes allow you to define various product segments and helps you to stay updated as per trend. This also makes it easy to identify the potential growth opportunities.

All the product database items are coded with different attributes. Some of them are unique to the products, for example – food and beverage products have flavor as an attribute, while personal care products have a scent as an attribute. These attributes are generally not interchangeable. Some of them are applicable to all products, such as manufacturer, brand, category, size, and so on. Once you are sure of the list of attributes, you can analyze their performance depending on what holds importance for the business and for the consumers.

Some examples of meaningful analysis using product attributes include:

1.  What is the performance of the different brands and manufacturers?

2. What is the relative pricing between sizes?

3.  Are multi-serve packages more famous than single-serve packages?

4.  What is the competition between different types of containers? E.g. cans or bottles

Product attributes are generally available at the item level only. They do not apply at the level of total products. Although attributes are important, one cannot rely completely on them. This is because of keeping consumer behavior in mind. They might not necessarily be what the company wants. In addition, not all categories use the same unit of measure for an attribute. For example, for size attributes, different manufacturers may use different units of measures.

One must remember that attributes are related to product values and consequences. The combination of consumer behavior and sales patterns helps the business to determine this framework.

Catalog Building and Indexing

eCommerce Catalog Building and Indexing Services

Catalog Building and Indexing

Catalog building and indexing are important aspects for an eCommerce business as they help to display a company’s product list effectively. Having a good product catalog and index enhances the overall shopping experience and enables faster decision-making of the customers. Most often eCommerce companies tend to look for comprehensive, affordable catalog management services. Therefore, Outsourcing catalog building and indexing services is the best option for such companies.

Here are some advantages of outsourcing catalog management services:

  1. Eliminates any possible product data discrepancies

2. Saves time and efforts of the client company and increases productivity

3. Client receives online and offline product catalogs

4. Highlights product list and increases customer appeal

Catalog building and indexing services enhances a business’s product offerings and expands the scope of their catalog allowing it to reach various marketing channels. Therefore, a carefully organized catalog helps customers, employees, shipping deployment centers, and internal operations keep the track of products, inventory levels, pricing and details.

Several eCommerce business solution providers offer catalog building and indexing services through their catalog management system. These services are required by B2B as well as B2C companies. Certainly, based on the paper product catalogs available and other details provided by the client, a dedicated team starts to create the online product catalog. Hence, the team consists of catalog building experts who analyze and categorize the products under a specific hierarchy. Thereby, ensuring that the products appear in the search results while customers browse over the internet. The end result is an attractive digital brochure that has error-free data in a presentable manner.

In the process of catalog indexing, a team of catalog indexing professionals work to customize digital templates for the catalogs. The existing information is then enriched with the help of alphanumeric codes, graphs and tables, images, text, dimensions, available quantity, attributes, MSRP, and other relevant elements.

The team works to attract customers’ attention and to make the website more appealing. Therefore, the product catalog is created using appropriate headings and subheadings that have the apt keywords for effective search results. Once the catalog is ready, the team checks for any possible errors and accuracy and submits it to the client company.

Catalog building and indexing offers several benefits to the eCommerce business:

  1. Helps to manage the resources optimally

2. Efficiently reduces costs

3. Increases accuracy

4. Improves customer experience

5. Helps to update the key performance indicators

6. Improves quality catalog offerings

Product catalogs continue to be an important marketing channel for every eCommerce business. As a result, Customers come to know about the latest offerings and any promotional offers given by the organization. Hence, Considering the competitive environment of eCommerce, building an effective product catalog on a timely basis and keeping it updated with accurate information becomes a crucial task for any business.

Mobile App Development

Top 10 Tips for Mobile App Development (Android & iOS)

Mobile App Development

Mobile app development is a rapidly growing field wherein people from across varied industries and professions are creating different types of mobile applications on a daily basis. To survive in such a competitive and demanding world, one must be able to create a unique mobile application that serves its original purpose and stays updated with the changing market scenario.

Mobile app development can be extremely challenging. Smartphones keep upgrading their versions very often, which makes it even more difficult for app developers to maintain their pace. By the time an app developer develops an app, there are likely chances that the mobile version might change. Mobile app development requires a vision to understand what the users really need. If the app is able to fulfill the need, then it can survive for a longer time.

Mobile is extensively used for communication worldwide and if done right then mobile app can be helpful to a larger audience for a longer time. No matter if you are an experienced developer or a newbie in the field, here are few tips that you must consider while developing a mobile application.

1. Study the Market – Before you start to ideate over developing a mobile application take some time to study the market. Also, understand the needs of users. This is the initial part of creating a mobile app strategy which will later include factors like user interface, languages, regions, and so on. Know the latest trends of the market so that your application stands out from the rest. Today’s latest trends include Augmented Reality app development, Unity game development, etc.

2. Ensure Right Platforms and Features – This aspect comes once you understand your users. Decide over a suitable platform and apt features keeping in mind the likes and dislikes of your users. Focus more on the UI and UX, so that users enjoy using your app for a longer time. The app features must be user-friendly and appealing in appearance.

3. Make your App ASO and SEO Friendly – The app name must be creative, unique, and appealing to the users. It must attract the users, and compel them to install, use and talk about it. Once you have decided on the name for your app, try to make it ASO (App Store Optimization) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly. This means including certain keywords in your app name to make it easier to locate in search engines and app stores.

4. Pricing your Mobile App Correctly – Pricing is an aspect that will decide whether or not people will use the app. It starts from deciding whether the app must be free to use, or should the user pay some amount. If the pricing is too high, then not many users may use it. If the pricing is too low, then the developer will lose out on any possible profit.

5. Optimize your App – If you are a developer, you would not want your app to be too heavy and occupy a major space in the user’s mobile. Developers must keep the app as light as possible by avoiding using unnecessary objects and variables. Apps that are higher in size tend to perform slowly, which is not very appealing to the users.

6. Offline or Online – Smartphone users often struggle to find a stable internet connection. Keeping this point in mind, developers must consider whether their app should be available to users through constant internet connectivity or can be used offline as well. Very often, if users find that the app does not function well under weak internet connection, then they might not use it. Offline apps are hence more popular.

7. Keep the App Simple – Although revenue is important, keep the app as simple and hassle-free as possible. Check the number of ads that follow your app, since users do not like a lot of ads and banners coming in the way of their usage. Also, make sure that most of the age-groups can use your app.

8. Study your Competitors – In order to understand how you can generate more money from the app that you develop, you must study similar apps present in the market. You can analyze the performance of those competitor apps and learn from them. With the help of a careful study of the app features and business model, you can successfully position your app in the market.

9. Have the Right Updates – Offering the right update means offering the right content at the right time. Developers must figure out the exact time when the app updates must roll out. While too many updates might be irritating to the user, too few updates will make the app outdated. The balance must be rightly maintained.

10. Reviews and Feedbacks – No app can be perfect in its first version. Once the app is released take some time out to read and study your app reviews and understand your customers’ feedback. Do not be overwhelmed with positive as well as negative comments. Connect with your users regularly and try to rectify the errors in the app.

Developing an application starts from an idea and the urge to fulfill a need. Once the development starts, one must ensure that everything from user acquisition to retention is covered. Follow these tips to develop a successful mobile application.

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product data cleansing

Advantages of Product Data Cleansing for an eCommerce Store

The importance of offering clean and clear product data to the customers cannot be emphasized more. And if you own an eCommerce business, then this must stand out to be a golden rule for you. The quality of your product data is directly proportionate to your business sales. Inconsistent, incorrect, and poor-quality data can lead to loss of sales and business reputation.

Companies spend years to understand their customers and collect data. So, what exactly constitutes data?

Data may be customers’ chats, likes and dislikes, behavioral patterns, complaints, sales numbers, and also the future business goals. In other words, data provides the overall view of your products, services, and business processes.

An eCommerce store has to deal with a large amount of data on a daily basis. While managing such large chunks of data can be challenging; offering correct and updated product information to customers at all times is equally necessary. The ultimate motive of product data cleansing is to structure all the available data and make it useful for multiple users.

The eCommerce data cleansing is important as it impacts decision-making, marketing strategies, customer services, and also offers new updates in your products and services. Let us understand in detail why product cleansing is essential?

·  Product data cleansing allows the business to track customer behavior. Collecting accurate product data helps you to personalize the shopping experience based on customers’ purchasing habits, location, specific shopping requirements, and payment choices. These aspects directly impact your business revenues.

·  Data cleansing offers 100% accurate, correct, relevant, and uncorrupted information which can be used to gain valuable business insights. It also helps to reduce shipping errors, customer complaints, and any fraudulent practices.

·  Data cleansing also safeguards your mailing services. You can identify irrelevant recipients and spam emails. It helps you target your emails in the right manner leading to maximum leads and conversions.

·  Data cleansing minimizes errors caused unintentionally by customers; for example, errors caused while typing customer information, or wrong shopping details while browsing the site.

·  Clean data decreases the number of failed orders leading to reduced losses. Clean data enhances valid addresses and email contacts so that the material can reach the right customer.

All of the above-mentioned pointers explain the importance of product data cleansing. Here are some more advantages for an e-store to opt for data cleansing services.

·   Updated information is readily available to the customers at all times.

·   Accurate information reduces buying errors which lowers the rate of product returns. This is beneficial for the customers as well as the business.

·   Product data cleansing removes any duplicate inputs

·   Customers can locate their desired products easily

·   Product data presentation is consistent

Business data is sensitive to inaccuracies. It interferes with the productivity leading to loss of sales leads, revenue, and business reputation. Inaccurate analysis reports can be harmful for the business over the long run. Opting for product data cleansing services allows managers to use the accurate data efficiently and make the right business decisions. Investing in this service helps businesses to troubleshoot any problems caused due to data discrepancies. Ensure that your data is rectified and structured well so that your employees can focus on other crucial business functions.

ui/ux design

Why Collaboration is Needed in Designing?

When it comes to User experience (UX), designing can be a critical process, as it takes a lot of imagination and creativity on one’s cards. In such a situation, every designer can face certain designing related challenges. Hence, working in collaboration with other designers can save you some time and effort. Collaboration allows you to interact with other designers and learn from their challenges.

User experience can be enhanced only by observing, understanding, collaborating and communicating. Collaborating with other designers in the designing process can generate better ideas for development. In addition, one must also collaborate and communicate with other teams as well. Let us look at why collaborating is such an important point for designers to consider.

1. Enables Product Thinking

When the UI/UX designers begin to design a user interface, the user requirements must be kept in mind. To solve the pain points of users, should be the key business goals. It is important that the designs are user-friendly and interactive so that customers can easily learn to use the interface and enjoy using it.

Working in collaboration with other designers helps to understand the pain points, needs, and ways to solve them. This puts the designer in a better position to enable seamless transition of deliveries.

2. Develops Understanding of Team Functionality

In order to complete and deliver a project successfully, all the teams have to contribute their fullest. The combined efforts of design, research, development, sales, and project management teams help deliver the best output in the least time. All the teams must collaborate and communicate with each other in order to execute the functions efficiently.

Working with other teams helps the designers understand the team’s functioning, and how they can work together to be more productive.

3. Helps Coping with Challenges

Designers tend to face numerous challenges and stress to deliver their best every time they are assigned a project. In order to help them unveil their true potential and work capability, designers must be respected and given equal opportunity at work. Hence, by creating a healthy collaborative work environment, we can offer the right capabilities to our designers.

Designers can take initiative and lead their design deliverables confidently. This will enhance the trust of the designers with the team and reduce fear and hesitation.

4. Improves Communication Skills

Team collaborations help to increase communication skills and other personality skills. Interacting with other team members gives clarity to thoughts and views and increases the idea generation process. Decision-making process is fastened and there is scope for constructive criticism.

5. Helps Employees to Stay intact with Company’s Vision

All the people working on the same project, work with the same vision in mind. The end result hence remains the same irrespective of individual roles and responsibilities. Efficient collaboration can help the team achieve revenue goals.

Efficient collaboration helps designers to build relationships with other designers and team members. It is a great opportunity of learning and growing; a large scope for knowledge sharing, as generally projects belong to different industries and domains. Since team contribution offers bigger results than individual contribution, collaborating is always beneficial. Healthy peer interactions, discussions, and relationship management leads to a better work culture and enhanced employee productivity.

Product Catalog

Tips to Make your Product Catalog Relevant

A product catalog provides clarity to customers regarding the products and services offered by a particular business. When it is an eCommerce business which deals with its customers over an online platform, having an effective product catalog becomes more of a necessity rather than a privilege.

An online product catalog not only enhances the sales for an eCommerce business but also saves time and efforts of the customers. Customers can easily navigate through the website and locate their desired product. This fastens their purchase decision and compels them to revisit the website for further shopping needs.

A rightly done product catalog can analyze customer behavior and is capable of reaching wider audiences and new markets. Before starting to create a product catalog, the business must have clarity related to the purpose. For instance, whether the purpose of building a product catalog is for improving brand recognition or for enhancing sales?

Once the purpose is clear then the business must understand its target audience. Example, which age group and demographics will the business target, and so on. Thereafter comes some specific technical requirements, such as, finding the right Content Management System (CMS) or Product Information Management (PIM) tools. By finding the right tools one can create a product catalog easily and in less time. Finally, a product datasheet must be prepared which has all the details of the products, including the hierarchy and the attributes of the same. This datasheet helps the catalog developers to get a clear picture of your expectations.

As you carry out functions under each step, you tend to get more clarity about the expectations from the final product catalog. Here are some tips that you can use in order to create a relevant product catalog for your business.

  • Your product catalog must be attractive, must have high resolution quality images or videos, and a smart layout. The catalog design must match with your offerings.
  • Customize your catalog as per your customer requirements. Catalog might be required to be altered from time to time in order to stay updated.
  • Ensure that your product catalog has a suitable format and size which allows you to showcase your entire product list along with product attributes and relevant photos and videos.
  • Ensure that the photos and videos used in the product catalog are of high quality. This gives a polished look to the catalog and makes it more appealing.
  • Once your product catalog is ready, take feedback from your customers and modify the catalog if necessary. This enhances trust between customers and the business.

Product catalog making process initially requires all your time, commitment and patience. However, once done right, it can offer you an increased customer footfall and a long-term upliftment in the business sales.

Benefits of PDF Extraction

Benefits of PDF Extraction

It is a common perception that copying text from PDF is an easy task, since the information is right in front of you. However, it is not that easy as you think. Working with PDF becomes difficult because of the flexibility provided by the PDF format. Not many people know that PDF was never an input format but only an output format. PDF was meant to offer a polished output to the documents.

PDF extraction is the process of reusing selected pages of one PDF in a different format. It is not uncommon for PDFs to contain a lot of textual information, and in order to acquire the entire text one must be able to extract the PDF in a proper manner. Extracting useful information from PDFs can be a challenge when there is a large number of PDF files. However, there are specific tools that enable better PDF extraction and right information recovery.

Companies that deal with a large number of repurposing activities, have started using automated PDF extraction software which makes the task easier to handle. The software is time efficient and easy to use. The extracted information from PDFs can be stored in word, excel, or various Graphics formats. The acquired information can be easily and quickly distributed with the teams. The output has all the relevant information and no information is lost.  

Here are some of the benefits of PDF extraction:

·  Lesser time is spent on recreating data, which results in increased productivity

·  Errors are significantly reduced

·  PDF extraction software make data repurposing tasks easy-to-handle

·  PDF extraction software have user friendly interface, which is easier to understand and saves time and efforts

Automated PDF extraction is an easy and time-saving process which is meant to enhance work productivity. PDF extraction works best for the organizations that need to repurpose information in various ways. It proves to be the precise way to acquire accurate information.

Product Taxonomy

Increasing Productivity through Product Taxonomy

Product taxonomy is defined as creating a structure to organize all available products in a way that customers can find. In product taxonomy, all available products are put into several categories to which specific attributes are applied. A good taxonomy is a perfect combination of user behavior, trends, and cultural differences. The end result being it becomes easy for the customers to find their desired product amidst the long list.

Having a proper product taxonomy is very important as it leads to faster purchase decision-making and incremental business sales. Improper taxonomy can cause loss of sales. Product taxonomy cannot and must not be avoided. In this blog, we will look at how product taxonomy increases productivity.

Research has found that a poorly structured website causes 50% less sales as compared to a properly organized website. Visitors tend to visit a particular website while they browse over the internet. If your products are not properly placed within the website, either the website will miss out on potential searches, or the visitor will visit your website but will be unable to find the product. In both the situations, your product sales will be affected.

A well-built taxonomy will allow your website to display relevant products at all times, directly impacting the decision-making process of the buyer. Clear distinct categories and correct labelling directly improves business sales.

Here are some best practices to develop the right product taxonomy for your eCommerce business:

  • Get an energetic team onboard and explain them the importance of good product categorization. Try to get a qualified team who have degrees in information science or linguistics. They will be capable of understanding the right terminology and hierarchy.
  • Understand your users’ psychology and shopping behavior. Study the way customers navigate through different websites and choose their product. Find out their search behavior and factors that influence their buying decision. You can also talk to them or conduct a survey to understand their likes and dislikes distinctly.
  • Have a deep understanding of your entire data. Focus on information that really matters to your buyers. Maintain the accuracy of the product information.
  • To categorize, start visualizing your products with various attributes. A complicated taxonomy is of no use to anyone. Prepare a proper hierarchy to all the categories. Stay consistent with names at all levels. Users tend to spare lesser time searching for products; hence, the taxonomy needs to be as simple and clear as possible.
  • Allow your users to navigate and test your taxonomy in all possible ways. Take reviews and modify your taxonomy accordingly to make it better. Taxonomy must be updated regularly. Add new categories and improve the hierarchy whenever necessary.
  • The taxonomy must be the same across all the business units within the company. There must not be any discrepancies internally.

Product taxonomy is an important foundation for the success of any eCommerce business. A good product taxonomy is always built keeping the users in mind. It can start with simply writing on a few cards and creating divisions, to developing them into a brilliant architecture that customers would love to visit again and again in order to shop. Product taxonomy made right will increase productivity and enhance business sales. In the longer run, an efficient taxonomy minimizes the work of both the buyer as well as the seller.

Product Catalog Management

Best Practices: eCommerce Product Catalog Management

Customers are well-versed with the online technology now. From online shopping to online ticket reservation; several usual activities have transformed from offline to online. Customers navigate through various websites before making their decision. Hence, an eCommerce business must be able to provide the right product information to customers at all times.

A product catalog is essential for every eCommerce business and it ensures that the products are conveniently available online. An efficient product catalog directly impacts the sales of the organization. However, creating and managing a product catalog effectively can be challenging at times.

Challenges in Product Catalog Management

  • Different information coming in from multiple stakeholders from inside and outside the organization. For example, if measurement units differ then it can create a major problem in product catalog management

  • If the internal data is not converted properly for users, then incorrect product categorization can create issues.

  • Choosing a catalog management tool can be a challenge in itself. Before selecting a tool, one must understand the working of the tool in detail.

  • Product catalog growth is directly proportional to business growth. The need of the organization must align with the need of catalog.

Let us look at some of the best practices of product catalog management:

1. Offer Quality Product Information

The importance of providing valuable and correct product information to the customer can never be emphasized. The first objective is to ensure that your customers feel comfortable while they navigate through the eCommerce website. This also means that the website must not only be user friendly, but also customers must be able to easily locate their desired product.

By offering accurate product information customers will start trusting your brand and this will help them make faster purchase decisions. High quality product information includes technical attributes, attractive high-resolution images, videos, inventory information, units of measurement, and product usage combinations and recommendations. All the information must be updated to optimize the overall shopping experience of the customer.

2. Categorizing product catalog

Customers look for easy navigation options and clear categories like filter, refine, colors, etc. However, one must categorize their product catalog by considering the customer’s point of view. For example:

  • Using ‘M’ to denote “Medium” to represent a product size

  • Keeping consistency in all measurement units

  • Adding various product attributes to different products based on customer needs and not have limited attributes to all products

3. Measuring the catalog management process

To effectively manage a product catalog the business must understand three pointers and analyze them from time to time:

1. Which parts of the product catalog are managed by the stakeholders?

2. Who is affected by the catalog changes?

3. When during the process does the changes affect the most?

Once you are able to understand these factors, you can quickly seek for the right person who can help you during the mapping process. Catalog management mapping processes helps you understand the different steps to be taken and in which order.

4. Offer recommendations and suggest alternatives

A product catalog must not only offer the right product information, but also suggest alternatives and recommendations for different products. This will give ideas to the customers and also provide alternatives in case a desired product is out of stock.

5. Managing your Product Catalog Database

Catalog management is similar to information management and must be maintained well. Hence, one must create a product catalog database to ensure that the right information is given to the customer. This also prevents information errors and enables expansion of products.

The above-mentioned best practices will help an eCommerce business to manage their product catalog efficiently. The eCommerce businesses are developing online as well as offline product catalogs in order to provide maximum shopping experience to their customers. While online catalogs help in faster navigation through the website, offline catalogs help in easy-to-read experience for the customers. Both are equally important to enhance business sales.