#end-to-end-testing

Today’s software ecosystem consists of various devices, integrations, and user environments. The same application can have different behaviours in each environment, regardless if it had passed through unit, integration and system testing stages. Therefore, beta-testing is necessary.

Beta testing is the bridge between an internal QA team and a company publicly launching its application. It is where real users use an application in a real environment to provide feedback on what issues may be present and/or how the product can be improved. The feedback received from beta testing will allow the development team to address any issues before a public launch.

What is Beta Testing

Beta testing is the practice of releasing an almost-complete version of software to a selected group of external users to evaluate real-world performance, usability, and reliability before public launch.

Unlike alpha testing, which happens internally in controlled environments, beta testing involves real users using the product in their own setups. It typically occurs after internal and regression testing and before final release, helping teams validate device compatibility, usage patterns, and overall readiness.

Why Beta Testing Is Important

While automated testing is indispensable for ensuring that software meets technical specifications or for identifying system performance before the software is deployed, it does not provide the full scope or coverage of real-world testing. The gaps that automated testing cannot fill are covered during the time-frame of Beta testing.

Identifies Real World Validation

Internal testing cannot account for all the different devices, networks, and user behaviours that exist out in the real world. Beta testing gives developers the opportunity to witness the true unpredictability of how the software will actually be used.

Identifies User-Centric Design and UX Issues

When using a particular product or service, users often perform actions within the product in ways that a designer did not intend or expect. Through Beta testing, a designer has the chance to identify workflow issues that are unclear or confusing, to identify design elements that were missed during the design phase of the product and any usability concerns.

De-Risks Your Launch

By identifying major issues before the software is publicly launched, beta testing reduces the amount of time and money that a company will waste on fixing those issues after the software is publicly released.

Community Builder

The group of early adopters serves as advocates for your product, and providing them with an opportunity to participate in your beta test will create trust and loyalty to your brand.

Markets Are Ready for You

The results of your beta testing processes will assist you in determining if your product meets user needs, whether or not it meets those needs consistently across all markets and environments.

Types and Models of Beta Testing

There are various types of "beta" programs depending on the size of an audience, goals, etc. Here are some examples:

Closed beta : It will be based on the results of testing a small number of invited testers. The closed beta program provides an opportunity for you to gain feedback from a small group of users while still maintaining control over who accesses the beta.

Open beta : It is open to a much larger group of users than the closed beta program. It is an excellent method for testing how well the program can scale, and how to test on various operating systems and users’ behaviours in a variety of environments.

Focused beta : Focuses on specific features or workflows within the program. Most commonly used to validate that newly added functionality works before full release.

Marketing beta : Designed to start building awareness/creating early impressions on usability feedback from potential users.

Feature-flag or staged rollout : Gradually releases beta functionality into production environments via controlled roll-outs (this is the "hybrid" approach of beta testing combined with real-time monitoring and risk management).

Planning a Beta Test: Key Steps

A successful beta test will rely on clearly defined objectives and KPI's.

Establish Objectives and KPIs.

To determine the outcome of your beta test, you'll need a solid understanding of what will constitute success. Set measurable objectives such as reducing the crash rate, achieving a certain level of adoption for specific features or gathering specific amounts of feedback.

Define scope

Determine the features and platforms you will include in your beta test. Try not to include every feature; focus on the ones that need validation the most.

Testing Recruitment

Recruit testers to ensure that the participants of your beta fall within the same demographic as those who would use your product in real life. You should include both technical and non-technical users in order to gather the widest range of responses to your product. Consider recruiting beta testers through a service like Zipboard or through community platforms, such as social networks.

Set timeframe

Clearly define the period of time over which you wish to perform the beta testing. In general, you should give your testers between 2 weeks to 1 month to provide feedback so that they do not lose interest in your application.

Prepare distribution

Establish how you will provide your testers with copies of your beta application. You have several choices when it comes to distributing your beta, including Google Play or TestFlight Distribution, or direct download links. No matter which option you select, ensure that your tester(s) can easily install the software.

Establish feedback channels

Once you have recruited beta testers, you will want to create a formal and organized method for receiving the tester's response and bug report. You have a variety of tools available to facilitate the collection of your tester's input, such as Jira, Trello, Notion, etc.

Executing the Beta Test

Communication and consistency are fundamental when testers begin testing your application.

You should provide clear instructions during the onboarding process and develop FAQs.

Offer motivation through incentives or recognitions for participating in Beta Testing.

Maintain constant communication with your testers through sending out updates and progress reports on a regular basis.

Engagement metrics and usage logs should be tracked in real time.

Analyzing Feedback and Acting on It

Once you have collected your feedback, you must structure it in an organized manner before you start analyzing :

Prioritize issues: Tackle high-impact bugs first, crashes, data loss, or blockers.

Reproduce and confirm: Validate issues in your internal environment to ensure accuracy.

Iterate improvements: Fix, retest, and communicate updates to your beta community.

Acknowledge testers: Thank participants and share how their input influenced improvements.

This type of feedback loop not only strengthens your product, but it also helps you cultivate relationships of trust and transparency with your Beta Testers.

Closing the Beta and Preparing for Launch

Once all primary development concerns have been addressed and primary objectives are in alignment, you can start working on launching with confidence.

Final Documentation should be prepared and versions of Documents should be frozen.

Conduct Final Regression Testing on the programs.

Create Marketing and Release Notes.

Thank the Beta Testers by providing Badges, Certificates and/or Early Access.

Document everything you learned from your Beta Testers and use the information gained to help with future releases.

Having a structured phase of closure assures that no feedback will go unrecorded and allows the Development Team to migrate into Deployment smoothly.

Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid

Best Practices

Keep the scope of your Beta manageable.

Utilize a variety of Testers who can reflect your product's use in the real world.

Utilize Automated means of collecting Feedbacks and Preparing Reports whenever feasible.

Connect your Beta Builds with your Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment pipelines.

Regularly Examine your Metrics and evaluate your results on an Ongoing Basis instead of just at the end of your Release Process

Common Pitfalls

Running an unfocused beta that tests too many features at once.

Ignoring user feedback or failing to communicate progress.

Using beta primarily as a marketing tool instead of a learning phase.

Extending the beta for too long and losing tester motivation.

Measuring Beta Success

The performance of your beta should be determined based on the performance metrics you have captured during this test. Below are some lists of key metrics that will help you understand the success of your beta:

Number of Bugs Found / Crashes

Adoption and Usage of New Features

Quantity and Quality of Feedback Provided

Devices and Operating Systems Tested On

Tester Satisfaction and Engagement Levels

Analyzing the metrics captured through the beta test will allow you to determine if your product is ready to be publicly launched.

Tools and Platforms for Managing Beta Tests

There are many tools and platforms that will help you to effectively manage your beta test; with these platforms, you can manage both the distribution of your beta test and analyze it:

TestFlight (iOS)

Google Play Beta Testing

zipBoard for visual feedback

Firebase Crashlytics for crash analytics

Choosing the right toolset/platforms will help you to increase your efficiency, decrease your overhead costs and keep your testers happy and engaged during the duration of your beta testing.

Beta Testing Best Practices

As you integrate beta testing into your development pipeline, it's important to understand that beta testing should be an ongoing effort throughout the CI/CD process.

When working with beta testing, it is best practice to automatically trigger beta builds in pre-release stages.

To ensure efficient communication between beta testers and developers, send beta tester feedback directly into your issue tracking system.

Analytics dashboards allow you to track tester activity and provide you with insights into how well the beta testing process is functioning.

By collecting the learnings from your beta testing program and applying them to your product roadmaps and quality assurance processes, you can improve the quality of your products.

If your beta testing program is implemented correctly, it will serve as a feedback mechanism to fuel your iterative development cycle and foster innovation.

The Future of Beta Testing

As cutting-edge technologies continue to advance and user expectations evolve into more sophisticated levels, we will see modern beta-testing programmes evolving as well. The next generation of Beta Testing will take advantage of major developments in the following areas:

AI-assisted impact classification and impact assessment (Feedback)

Utilise real-time analytics to create 'Live' Test Environments

Utilise Citizen-Scientists as ongoing Beta Testers in Production Environments

Use the collective wisdom of the Global Remote Tester Community (Crowdsourcing).

The establishment of these trends is resulting in the design of Beta Testing processes that are faster, smarter, and more diverse, enabling developers to deliver their products confidently to the marketplace.

Conclusion

Beta testing is not merely an end-of-the-line verification but represents a strategic approach to ensuring quality, experience for users, and trustworthiness. By testing the product in actual conditions and soliciting user comments, people are helping to reduce risk, increase gratification, and create a robust community around their software.

Find out how modern platforms such as Keploy allow organizations to verify that their products behave properly in the real world through automated tests paired with production-like feedback cycles.

Organizations that utilize organized beta programs will create more reliable products and have much smoother launch processes than organizations that do not.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is the main purpose of beta testing?

The aim of beta testing is to assess an almost finalised product in actual use. Additionally, it will uncover any performance issues, bugs or usability challenges that would not otherwise be found during in-house testing. Beta testing allows software to prove itself reliable on various types of devices, operating systems, and use cases prior to its official release.

2. How is beta testing different from alpha testing?

Alpha testing takes place in-house usually by QA teams/developers, and in a controlled environment. By contrast, beta testing involves actual users outside of the organisation. The focus of beta testing is therefore to assess what actual users will do with the product as well as to gather comments on functionality, performance, and user experience in multiple environments and circumstances.

3. When should beta testing be conducted?

Beta testing occurs after all in-house testing (unit/integration/system) has been completed and before the product goes to the public. Therefore beta testing is the last QA step in the process of ensuring that your product is ready for the market.

4. How many users should participate in a beta test?

The number of beta testers will vary based on the type and breadth of your product. For Closed Beta Testing Programs, a small group (about 20–100 testers) will generally provide a sufficient amount of feedback that you can use to improve your product. For Open Beta Testing Programs, your number of testers could easily grow into the hundreds to thousands as you try to evaluate the performance and scalability of your product.

5. What makes a good beta tester?

Working on my thesis on quality assurance, being a kind of on the midway now and clearing issues related to terminologies. For instance something very popular like End-to-end testing, very thrilling to put that concept in paper exactly in the concept of my work.

Moving on, naturally online sources gives some insight what kind of activity this would be: Here are my best sources to this day:

End-toEnd testing guide - Guru99 Tech Pvt Ltd

What is End-to-End Testing - Exforsys Inc.

End-to-End Test - technopedia

Definitions may vary...

As a summary of above sources, E2E test is defined through several separate views: 

A test scope definition: “e2e test is wider than a SUT(when test is a system test), then an interface or accompanying system is tested too”.

A Process flow definition: “A user logs in to web portal, searches a product, moves a product to chart, actuates buying of the product by going to register, clears out buying, logs out from portal”.

A reference to a end user: Test is executed as an end user of the application - making it an end to end user scenario, a.k.a. end to end test.

Genuinely I’d say I was left a bit vague, there are nothing wrong with those definitions. But due working with Information Technology thesis, my goal is look something more exact to a central work artefact of it.

Lets take another look what the sources say -  End-to-end testing is a methodology used...

To test whether the flow of an application is performing as designed from start to finish. 

To identify system dependencies. 

To ensure that the right information is passed between various system components and systems.

To ensure that the integrated components of an application function as expected.

To test entire application in a real-world scenario (e.g. communicating with the database, network, hardware and other applications).

To know and understand the exact status of the system.

To find out in what manner system behaves in a real-time ambiance.

To find out how the underlying data that causes the user interface to act and function the way it does.

To check that the scenarios that cause the system and its subsystems to behave the way it does, happen as expected.

So it looks like there are actually quite many objectives, can it actually be that definitive testing?

Two Dimension of E2E make testing more interesting

There seems to be a separation in two methods.

Horizontal method: Method is that occurs horizontally, and across multiple applications’ context. i.e. A Web-based order-taking system might relate to the back-office accounts, inventory, and shipping sections. System has separate functionality by all those components of that system while all that functionality manages the same shared business data flow inside the system.

Verifying and evaluating transactions that each web order application does, or checking the correctivines of the web forms that are generated for user interface - both would be end-to-end testing for the system.

Vertical method: Vertical end-to-end testing means testing each individual layer of single applications’ built from top to the bottom.

In a typical web order-entry system that uses HTML codes to reach a web server, you will need API situated on the transaction server where it will generate SQL transaction codes against the mainframe database. Other applications might share the same API and SQL components, those are integrated to be a part of the system.

When test uses understanding these technical details of the system and its functionality in the test, it contributes widely used testing technique 'the white box testing technique'. This is end-to-end testing of that technology stack.

That being said, it becomes suddenly very clear that Vertical method contributes to 'the black box testing' methodology, where only functions of the system are tested in order to validate and check the inputs and outputs of the end-to-end test scenario.

And E2E is a combination

End to end testing combines the benefits of both the black box testing and white box testing. It approaches the program from both the functional point of view and the architectural perspective.

The steps required to perform an end-to-end test include the test design, that makes an appropriate test that will validate the functions of the system. What steps are needed to take to make the SUT to desired state may require white box techniques and a lot of technical understanding of the system functionality.

On the other hand, end-to-end test suite can be totally functional testing(Black box testing) in nature. So it does not have to be that way - but it can.

Good End-to-Ed test need to be focused

Most importantly, designing end-to-end tests it should be very clear on the scope of the test. Major guidelines for E2E -test design are:

It should focus on the designing a test from the end user’s perspective,

It should have a comprehensive scenario that must be used to create multiple cases,

It should focus on testing some of the features of the existing system.

Whats wrong with the E2E Tests?

A very famous critique to end 2 end testing is google’s blog(just say no to more end-to-end tests) about it destroying the effectiveness of the test procedure in order to find and correct software defects fast. In order the test to deliver any value, it should at least isolate the defect to make it pretty easy to analyse what is the problem in the product.

Number two attribute to test is if it is reliable. Fail a build and everything is ok(should not fail) - congratulations, you have just started an investigation for some people who’s contributed work is a total waste of their time.

Thirdly any given test should be fast to execute to make it useful. if a suite of very robust and useful test take over night to execute, that assurance is coming too late, there are already another half a dozen commits merged in, and fixing the issue on top of that its another mess why your test won’t be liked.

Critique states that all these three features are in fact properties of end-to-end tests. So why not write your e2e- automated tests just opposite of that? - oh yeah ;)

Test Objective approach

FIGURE(a system under test).

Here’s a SUT that has 3 modules A,B and C. It also has interfaces that may or may connect some of the modules with business data flow. Say we need to plan and execute e2e testing for that (without knowing the specifications). It doesn’t make much sense to test each module with any business data on e2e level, that kind of testing should be done on module(sub system) level(with checking the specifications).

It is needed to look for the business processes that exist in the system, then track them down and design tests to verify that each process flow is correct. It does not matter if the end user is involved in every test. Every e2e test might have different scope according the business function. But it may also be that several e2e test have same scope, and it should be considered that each business rule of that flow is investigated on e2e level.

Take a look module C, there are three entry points in that system: two black holes as inputs and one exit arrow to its right, something is not right - what are the business rules of this module? It’s looks like in this configuration whoever uses that system, doesn’t use all it’s features in production.

TDD and E2E 

There is a good illustration that i picked from a very nice book: Growing Object-Oriented Software Guided By Tests by Steve Freeman, Nat Pryce. It describes this issue that google testing blog wrote about e2e tests not giving reasonable feedback, those tests are just not meant to do that.

Keep in mind when reading these curves, you are looking at the information that is a measure of the software quality, that information is captured each time when you change something and run ALL the tests. Every tests can reveal some aspects of the quality(they still don’t necessarily do that). General idea of this value of each test type is seen on x -axis for Unit-, integration and end-to-end tests.

FIGURE(feedback from tests)

Amount of information that you may receive from failing tests results gets fewer and fewer the larger the test scope is. In the book that information is called as “internal quality” that basically is a measure “is the software build right”. 

The term “external quality” is reserved for other type of testing, that can be measured from unit test as well, those tests just don’t do that well. External quality is a measure to “did we build the right software”. These test give information if the business functions of the product is working as it was promised. Test may even be designed to cover several products and works processes to work together in some business meaningful way.

Summary

Make sure what is the test objective. How the SUT is supposed to do what is expected, plan your e2e test to confirm those assumptions.

After you have your test objectives cleared, desing and implement separete tests for each objective, othervice you can never tell what that test is about - go after clarity!

When designing E2E test, keep in mind you are testing the business rule of the product not some technicality or quality attribute of a software component. That kind of test must be written to unit or integration test level.

When designing e2e -tests look for verification of external quality attributes. Business rules are not about for example how you use page objects, those are part of products business workflow that is inside the test. Don’t make those things as separate tests, they are steps inside test. Any page object itself is part of technical implementation of the test, that exist in web browser memory. Don’t implement it as a part of test step(workflow) either - try to abstract page objects to user terms or workflow items.

Look for test objective of how the system function implements a business rule, a separate test objective leads to separate business rule-set and those lead to separate tests --> C-L-A-R-I-T-Y!