9 Tips to Improve Your Mobile Applications Testing Strategy

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It's not the first thing that comes to mind, but testing is a core part of successful mobile app development. Without it, you risk spending significant time and resources on a product that might crash, run slowly, or simply not fulfill your audience's needs to the degree that it needs to.

Don't take our word for it. There's a reason that the mobile app testing services market is growing by 20% every year and that the proportion of companies adopting mobile app testing went from 60% in 2017 to 80% in 2021.

Testing your mobile app comes with significant benefits, revolving largely around user experience and functionality. But even beyond these benefits, a simple truth remains: without it, you risk developing your app blindly, not knowing until launch whether it will perform as well as intended or solve the pain points that would bring your audience to push that download button.

At the same time, not every testing strategy is created equal. Good intentions are a great start, but it pays to get this step of the development process right. These 9 tips can help you optimize your mobile testing strategy, creating a streamlined process that maximizes your chances of a positive app ROI.

Tip #1: Clearly Define Your Testing Objectives

It's easy to say that you need to test your app while building it. It's much more difficult to define exactly what you need to test to optimize the app and maximize its chances of success.

That's why every app testing strategy has to start with clearly outlined objectives. These objectives might include, to name a few:

Reducing or eliminating any bugs in the app
Connecting app functionality with user needs
Creating a positive user experience
Optimizing website and app performance, like load speed

All of these objectives and others will become important at some point in the development process. But each of them also requires a different approach and type of test, and some might be important earlier than others. Knowing your objectives from the start will help you build a better testing strategy geared toward a successful launch.

Tip #2: Align Your Testing With Your Target Users

If you're developing a mobile app, you likely have a thorough understanding of its target audience. That understanding will be essential when building your testing strategy, as well.

For example, Android and iPhone users have some demographic differences that change how they might use your app:

iPhone users have a higher income than Android users, making them more likely to pay for relevant premium features.
iPhone users are younger than Android users, which might lead to slight generational differences in user expectations--like an increased emphasis on authenticity and more cynicism toward promotional messages.
Android users are more suspicious of app security than iPhone users, which might make them less likely to share personal behavior.

Different behaviors lead to different expectations of your app, which in turn will impact your testing strategy. The more you can align it with those nuances, the better.

Tip #3: Embrace Object-Oriented Testing

Especially if you're building your first app, it's tempting to test the entire system each time you're looking to gain insights. But this type of testing can be complex, significantly slowing down the overall development process.

Especially in agile development approaches, you need a more flexible testing approach. Enter object-oriented testing.

Related: How is Agile Methodology Used in Mobile App Development?

Put simply, object-oriented testing allows you to test individual blocks and modules for their specific functionality and UX. That approach, in turn, allows you to perform new tests each time the development team completes a sprint, gaining rapid insights into the newest update before refinements or moving on to the next step.

Tip #4: Test Early in the Process

An object-oriented testing approach also allows you to start your testing early, which is another best practice when it comes to your mobile app. The reason is simple: the earlier you test, the more easily you will be able to make shifts in philosophy and app objectives before going too far down the road of the current approach.

Look at case studies of successful mobile apps, and they all tend to have this early testing approach in common. The flexibility that this early priority ensures is undeniable.

This is where working with a strategic app development partner becomes essential. Early testing provides solid evidence to move off your current approach if needed, which requires an app developer who doesn't say yes to the initial request. Rather, it's about letting the testing guide the entire process, increasing your chance of user adoption and app success.

Tip #5: Repeat Your Tests Frequently

Naturally, early testing is only part of the equation. You also have to repeat your tests frequently to ensure that any improvements made as a result of the test have the intended result. Think of it as a simple feedback loop:

You build a specific piece of the app
You test that specific piece based on your previously established app objectives
You let the results guide you to any potential adjustments
You test those adjustments to see if the results improve
You either move on to the next piece or build in another round of improvements

This frequent repetition is the single best way to ensure that your app will actually be successful. It takes the guesswork completely out of the equation, instead letting user feedback guide every piece of the platform as you build it.

Tip #6: Automate Your Testing Where Possible

On average, a manual software test takes about two weeks to complete. Once you begin to calculate just how many tests you need, that time frame can quickly turn into a massive problem.

Object-oriented testing means more tests on individual modules within your app. Testing early and repeating your tests frequently multiplies the necessary time exponentially. At some point, manual testing becomes unrealistic as you run toward the app launch date.

But it doesn't need to be manual. According to some estimates, automating your app testing reduces the time required by up to 90%. Through the right mobile app testing tools and scripts, that automation becomes surprisingly easy.

Of course, there will always be some manual tests you'll want to run, especially as you look for in-depth insights on larger pieces of the app. But once you begin to automate as much as you can, you'll begin to see testing efficiencies increase drastically.

Tip #7: Test for Functionality First

Your app's functionality is the baseline for success. App crashes are responsible for nearly three-quarters of all mobile uninstalls. Meanwhile, 70% of users will stop using an app if it takes too long to load.

Functionality-based testing allows you to answer questions like:

How stable is the app's performance?
How fast does the app load?
What bugs may impede user experience?
How much battery does the app use?
How does internet speed affect app performance?
And more.

If your mobile app doesn't function correctly, even the most advanced graphics and most pleasant UX won't do much to convince your users to download and keep using it. That's why it always needs to be your first and earliest priority in a larger testing strategy.

Tip #8: Test UX With Real Users

User experience also matters for a successful launch and user retention. Studies show that 38% of users will stop using an app if it offers a poor mobile experience, while 52% will become less likely to interact with the company as a whole if their mobile app experience is not satisfactory.

Testing your UX means taking real users through the platform, monitoring their use of features like navigation, interaction with other services on their phones, and more. It also means making sure that changing the size of the screen doesn't compromise the functionality of the app.

Related: Is Developing an App Worth It?

That real users component is essential. You want to make sure that people who have never used the app before find it easy and intuitive to use, and that it solves their core needs. Fortunately, usability testing with just five users can find about 85% of issues, reducing the complexity of getting a panel of real users together for insights.

Tip #9: Vary the Testing Environments

Finally, it pays to consider the benefits of taking your app testing out of the proverbial lab. Once it launches, you won't be able to count the number of situations in which your audience will use its features, but those use cases will go a long way toward their judgment of the platform and its usefulness.

It's impossible to account for every hypothetical use case. But you can at least hit some of the most common examples by varying your testing environment in these ways:

Testing on phones vs. tablets
Testing with changing internet speeds
Testing with WiFi vs. mobile data
Testing while the internet cuts out
Testing on all languages in which it will be released
Testing with location sharing on and off
Testing with sound on and off
Testing with notifications on and off

Again, automating these tests can make them more realistic to fit into a tight development schedule. But the result will be well worth that extra time, allowing you to account for any eventuality before the app launches on a broad scale.

How to Partner With a Developer on Your Mobile App Testing Strategy

The above tips can go a long way toward optimizing your mobile application testing strategy. You might have the capabilities in place to execute them internally, or you might be looking for external help—in which case, you've come to the right place.

The right development company can help you streamline your testing strategy. That might mean building and executing it from scratch on your behalf, or jumping in for specific elements and blind spots (like Android development and testing for your iOS app) where your in-house team needs help.

Milo Mobile is built for this kind of partnership. Our app development philosophy revolves around integrating with your existing services or jumping in as your full-service partner, depending on your needs. We embrace testing as an opportunity to optimize every app we build, which is why we place such an emphasis on the optimum testing strategy throughout the process.

Ready to get started? Get in touch to start talking about a partnership for testing and/or developing your ideal mobile app.

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