Performance Testing

What is performance testing?
The performance testing portion of the Continuous Quality™ service measures the time it takes to fully download a page on your website. We record daily averages over a 30-day period to establish baselines. The baselines are then used to benchmark performance against subsequent test periods, against two of your chosen competitors, and against industry segments.
What pages will be tested?
The basic service includes testing of your homepage because it allows us to most easily compare your results to other websites and industry averages. The custom service offering, however, allows you to select any additional pages of your site to test.
How often will my site be tested?
We monitor and record response time of your site every hour (24 times per day), seven days per week. More frequent monitoring is available as a custom option.
Which geographical locations do you test from?
our site will be tested from five different geographical locations: New York, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and Chicago. Should your site benefit from different testing locations, we will gladly arrange that for you. Using more than five testing locations is available as a custom option.
What does the competitive benchmarking data entail and why is it beneficial information?
You can select two competitors and one industry segment to use in the performance benchmarking. The benchmarking data provides details of how quickly your site pages load as compared to that of your selected competitors as well as that of your industry segment and the average of all etail industries. It tracks performance over time to let you know whose performance is improving, and whose is degrading, providing important insight to your end-users' experience.

Expert Analysis

What does the analysis entail and why is it important?
The expert analysis is what really separates Sophelle's Continuous Quality™ from any other service or testing solution. Our goal is to have our analysts become an extension of your internal QA team - a dependable, experienced and knowledgeable resource that is working for you.

To start, our analysts will write all necessary scripts to test your site. In addition, they will read through the data generated from the testing and provide detailed alert reports when issues are identified so that you can quickly resolve issues without tying up your internal resources.

In addition, our analysts will work with you to develop a solution that best fits your company budget and testing requirements. They will review your monthly summary reports to help you keep track of progress and open issues.
How often can I speak to a consultant?
Our basic level of service provides one-on-one client consultation for up to one hour per month. Our custom option allows you to add additional hours - either ad hoc hours or regularly scheduled hours. We're here to provide the help you need, when you need it.

Price and Payment Options

How much does the service cost?
The introductory price is $699 per month. The basic plan is month-to-month with no obligation to continue. However, clients who choose to pay 1 year in advance will receive two months free.
Is there any obligation to continue if I take advantage of the free test?
No. We are offering the free cross-browser testing and analysis as a way to get you exposed to some of the benefits of the Continuous Quality™ service. If you decide to continue with our paid service, we welcome you. Otherwise, you are under no obligation to continue and we thank you for giving the service a try. Visit our free trial page to get your free cross-browser analysis today.
Are there any set-up or cancellation fees?
No. There is never a set-up or cancellation fee.
What are the payment options and billing cycle?
We accept company checks, Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

You can either pay monthly or annually. Should you decide to pay for a year in advance, you will receive two additional months free.

Frequently Asked Questions About Continuous Quality

Service Overview

What is Continuous Quality™?
Leveraging over a decade of testing experience and meeting the QA needs of leading retailers, Sophelle, a leading retail IT consultancy, developed the Continuous Quality™ service.

Continuous Quality™ is a turnkey service that monitors and tests websites, web servers, and web applications. It provides competitive benchmarking data to monitor how your site performs compared to your top competitors, your industry segment, and the e-commerce industry overall. In addition, the service includes expert analysis and one-on-one consultation.
What makes Continuous Quality™ different from other testing solutions?
We know there are many testing and monitoring solutions in the market today, but none offer a complete suite of testing (functional, UI, and performance testing) along with expert analysis. This unique combination will save you time, resources and money.

Unlike other testing solutions, you will not be required to write test scripts, sift through reams of data, analyze and determine which issues are important to act upon, or pay high consulting fees. We'll do the heavy lifting for you, and provide detailed recommendations so you can resolve issues quickly.
What types of websites can be tested?
Any website site can be tested, though our clients are primarily e-commerce. Continuous Quality™ provides valuable information for start-ups, mid-size companies and Fortune 500 companies.
Why does my website need continuous testing?
Because your environment is continuously changing. New browsers, operating systems and plug-ins are being released at such a high frequency, it is imperative to continuously test your website to ensure all of your visitors experience your site as it was meant to be experienced.
Is it necessary to install software to use the service?
No, there is nothing to install. You simply sign up and we take care of the rest.
Do you provide customized plans?
Yes. We are committed to meeting your needs and will work with you to develop a plan that is right for your business.

Functional Testing

What is functional testing?
The functional testing portion of the Continuous Quality™ service tests whether the functionality of various processes are working properly. Functional processes include everything from links to forms to order processing.
What applications will be tested with an automated script?
Our QA experts utilize best practices for manually testing your site each week. If you choose to add custom functional testing to your basic plan, we will write a custom automated test script that will run through one or more critical paths throughout the day (number of test scripts and frequency would be determined when setting up the custom plan). We recommend starting with your most critical path to test - the path which will affect your bottom line the most. For most ecommerce companies, this path is the checkout process. Other critical paths, however, include user registration and onsite search.
Does your service support SSL for testing transactions?
Yes.
How will I be notified of issues?
As soon as an issue is discovered, you will receive a detailed Alert Report via email. Alert Reports contain details of issues found, steps to reproduce the errors, screen shots, and whenever possible we will also include specific recommendations for resolving the issues.

Cross-Browser User Interface Testing

What is user interface (UI) testing?
Continuous Quality™ UI testing will test the front-end (user interface) of your website. UI testing looks for aesthetic inconsistencies across browsers. UI defects can range from visual aspects to spelling and grammar issues. We will review your site from the user's perspective using the most popular OS/browser/plug-in combinations to insure the user experience is how you intended it to be for all of your visitors.
Which OS/browser/plug-in combinations do you use?
We use 20 of the most popular OS/browser/plug-in combinations which is more than sufficient for most websites. However, should you need additional combinations you are free to add them with our customized service offering.
How will I be notified of issues?
As soon as an issue is discovered, you will receive a detailed User Interface Alert Report via email. User Interface Alert Reports contain details of issues found, steps to reproduce, and screen shots noting which OS/browser/plug-in combinations the issues were found on.