Mobile App Prototype Testing: Why Is It so Important?
The hype around mobile devices is definitely worth it as they have revolutionized the telecommunication industry, not just by introducing calling and messaging on the go but adding comfort at various levels. Further, the app-centric approach has increased the popularity of mobile phones with about 5 billion world population using them. The trend of mobile apps has transformed our lives and created a huge dependency on them, which will only grow with time. This trend has put immense pressure on companies to create innovative apps that will work flawlessly. Hence, the focus remains not just lies in creating unique apps but also to ensure they work as expected, increasing focus on testing too.
App development and testing are complex processes that involve a series of steps, each having its own criticality. To build an app that matches customers’ preferences, it becomes important to create app prototypes to ensure the development is being carried out in the right direction. Prototypes are strategic models that are designed based on customer expectations, ensuring the visual appeal and functioning is as expected. Prototypes provide details on how the app would look, feel, and function; it’s a working model that explains how the app would perform. App prototyping allows organizations to streamline the process and define business objectives.
Prototypes are initial designs of the app that are created to ease the development process. Testing prototypes are important to avoid any errors that will arise while developing the app, this will help in mitigating risk and creating apps of higher quality. Prototype testing is as important as creating a prototype itself, it’s an extended part of the process that should not be neglected.
Important points to consider while performing prototype testing
Creating an app prototype is not just enough; to yield maximum outcome from prototyping it is important to test it. Testing evaluates the prototype and identifies the errors to make the work seamless. Prototype testing is essential to understand the possibility of errors occurring and prevent them in the development cycle. Prototype testing is implemented to mitigate risk and reduce time, cost, and effort during the actual testing process.
When performing prototype testing there are some points one should consider, some of the important considerations include:
Selecting the right tool: Choosing the right test automation tool to conduct prototype testing is one of the crucial steps. With a wide range of tools available in the market, it becomes difficult to choose the right one. Test automation tools should be selected based on the personalized requirements to yield the best outcome.
User testing in prototyping: Incorporating user testing helps understand the app’s performance from the end-users perspective. It’s a wise move to have user testing in prototyping which will help in creating quality apps. This is highly important as the app is going to be used by a wide range of audience and the developer may not be able to think from a user’s perspective. User testing cannot be neglected as this gives critical input to further modify that application that will be loved by the masses.
Selecting users based on the company principles: When performing user testing for app prototypes, users should be chosen who can align with the company’s ideologies and perform intelligently and give valuable feedback for product improvement. Contrarily, a user without any ambition or vision may not be the right fit to hire for user testing as he/she may not give the required feedback. Such inappropriate choice of people for user testing may not serve any purpose; hence, organizations should be vigilant of the users they are selecting for user testing, the one who is wise enough to look for loopholes in the application as a common audience.
Benefits of Mobile App Prototype Testing
Some may disagree with the idea of implementing testing at the app prototyping phase, as they may believe it’s just an initial model to strategize the development process. However, they may not understand the critical nature of implementing testing at this early phase. There are a number of reasons why organizations should incorporate testing as early in the prototyping phase, some of the benefits include:
Reduced Cost: One of the major reasons why testing is finding its place in the prototype stage is the overall cost-efficiency of the project. As bugs and other deviations are identified at the prototype stage, it offers scope to the developers to resolve it in the actual development phase, saving significantly on the cost. However, there might be issues arising in the development phase which can be resolved by implementing advanced software testing processes like codeless test automation, shift-left testing, Cloud-based testing, and AI-testing to name a few.
Uncovering product improvement ideas: Prototyping involves intense brainstorming, research, and execution, giving rise to new ideas for product improvement. Further, the testing implemented in this stage will offer opportunities to the developer for product improvement to create high-quality software.
Creating applications with great user experience: UX or user experience is a critical parameter as it will determine the users’ level of satisfaction with the application. Prototype testing will highlight the challenges that the users may face, giving scope to fix it later in the development. Prototyping gives a deeper understanding of the user experience and helps to improve it for offering a seamless experience.
Conclusion
Incorporating mobile app prototype testing is an important step you cannot afford to miss. It sheds light on the possible challenges you’ll encounter while developing the application and prepares you to mitigate those risks. It further reduces the cost of production as the major errors have been already identified in prototyping and the development and release are cautiously being conducted based on the data from prototype testing. In short, including testing at app prototyping will help create high-quality apps while reducing the overall cost of the project.
