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Software Beta Testing

A developed software goes through multiple stages of testing before it is actually handed to the customers. Before the software goes to production, it is released to a handful of users who use it, and provide feedback to the development team. This phase is known as beta testing. Thus beta testing detects errors which may have been missed during the development or other testing phases.

What is Beta Testing?

The beta testing is done to ensure that the software is working properly, and there are no issues encountered while actually using the software. The beta testers share their experiences about working with the product to the development team.

The development team fixes the issues faced during the beta testing phase to make the software more usable, and fit for the customer. Using the experiences and feedback from the beta testers, the development team analyzes the performance of the software, how it reacts in real-life scenarios, and how user requirements are satisfied. The beta testing is done just prior to the production release of the software.

A successful beta testing gives confidence on the software usability, performance, reliability, maintainability of the software before it is actually made available for use. Sometimes, beta testers include resources directly from the clients to see how the software behaves with the actual users. So beta testing involves testing the software with the real users in real time environments. It is also known as the user acceptance testing.

The beta testing minimizes the chances of total software failures at the production. It takes into account all the customer suggestions, so that the software becomes a perfect fit for the customer.

Some of the tools used for beta testing are: Zephyr, TestRail, TestFlight, and so on.

Why is Beta Testing Done?

The beta testing is done for the reasons listed below −

It is done with the only intention of detecting errors that were not detected previously and to fix them before the software actually is launched for the customers.
It is primarily done to verify if the software meets all the quality checklists, every requirement is met, and it is fit, robust, and reliable for public use. Thus beta testing helps to reduce customer negative opinions, and feedback about the product.
The beta testing gives the developers the full picture of software’s performance, reliability, security, and responsiveness while it is being used in real life use cases in the real environment.
It takes into account all the experiences, and feedback that the users have undergone while using the software. Based on the beta testing results, the developers work towards improving the software user experience and performance.
The beta testing increases the users engagement in the software by involving them. This brings more users loyalty, and connection to the software.

Features of Beta Testing

The features of beta testing are listed below −

The beta testing is done by the customers at their locations, and not from anyone from the testing team from the same organization.
The software performance, usability, responsiveness, and speed are verified in this phase.
It is a black-box testing approach.
It is performed in real time environments and not in test environments.

Prerequisites of Beta Testing

The prerequisites of beta testing are listed below −

Alpha testing has been completed successfully.
The beta version of the software is ready for use.
The real time environment is ready to start the beta testing.

Uses of Beta Testing

The Uses of beta testing are listed below −

The beta testing is done to detect, and fix bugs in the software before it is shipped to customers. The beta testers execute real life use cases in real environments, and provide their experience to the developers.
It ensures that the software is compatible with multiple operating systems, hardware, software, and other configurations which verifies the fact that the software can work everywhere without errors.
It helps to gather customer feedback about all the software features. The developers take into account these feedbacks to improve the software’s performance and usability.
It measures the stability, and response of the software while executing the real life scenarios in the customer environment.
It is done by users who are actually the target customers for the product. Since their feedback is taken into consideration, it builds an environment of trust and loyalty with the product and its users.

Advantages of Beta Testing

The advantages of Beta testing are listed below −

Beta testing reduces the probability of product failure by incorporating the customer’s feedback.
It enhances the software quality, and performance by taking into customer experiences who are actually using the software in real time environments.
It builds trust and loyalty with the end users.

Disadvantages of Beta Testing

The disadvantages of Beta testing are listed below −

It is not easy to trace errors, and faults during the beta testing phase since each user uses different test environments.
There is a high probability of redundant defects being logged by the users during beta testing.
The test environment is independent, and none from the development team has access to the test environment.
It takes time to complete the process, since it involves testing and gathering feedback from each and every real time user about the software.
The users identified for beta testing should have knowledge of the product they are testing, else it turns out to be ineffective testing.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Beta Testing. We’ve started with describing what is beta testing, why beta testing is done, features, prerequisites, usages, advantages, and disadvantages of beta testing. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Beta Testing. It is wise to keep practicing what you’ve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.