Before you share your website or application with the world, it’s essential to load test it. Just as you wouldn’t give a speech without first preparing what to say, you should not make your website available to the public without ensuring it has been properly and reliably tested.

It’s important to budget for regular load testing even after you launch your website or application, both to test whenever there’s an update to code but also in anticipation of major surges in traffic around news, events, sales, or the like. You can never be too prepared when it comes to your most important digital assets, which have to perform around the clock for your users.

This is where a load testing consultant on our team at LoadView can help. Our expert team has the ability and tools to make your website or application as smooth and functional as possible, so you can rest assured it will perform under stress.

Before we get into the details of how a load testing consultant can help you, it’s important to understand what load testing is.

load testing consultant
 

What Is Load Testing?

Load testing is a way to determine how your websites or applications perform under varying degrees of stress. Based on the results of load testing, you and your developers can gain invaluable insights to help guide the development process of your software in order to improve it for users.

If a website or application isn’t correctly tested, it is next to impossible to find out how it will perform under unexpected real-world conditions. Choosing not to load test your websites and applications may lead to performance degradation, downtime, and ultimately damage to your brand and bottom line.
 

Load Testing Objectives

Here are five reasons why load testing your software is crucial. Load testing allows you to:

  • Optimize the functional capacity of your software. If an online application cannot tolerate a large number of users at the same time, it is more likely to crash.
  • Analyze the sustainability of a software application when it is loaded with a high number of users.
  • Specifically determine how many users can simultaneously be using the software at any given time.
  • Learn if your software allows for scalability. In other words, to determine if the software can adapt to the amount of users.
  • Allow for a larger number of users to simultaneously engage your website or application.

 

The Load Testing Process

The load testing process is generally straightforward. An important element in the load testing process is to create a load test that fits the specific software being tested.

Here’s the standard process to successfully load test your websites and applications:

  • Create test setup: The first step is to create a testing environment most appropriate for the load test itself. This ensures that the load test will be completed in the correct way.
  • Load test scenario: This is where the actual test scenarios are created. Load testing transactions are made depending on the software, and then data is determined for each transaction.
  • Test scenario execution: The load test situations that were determined in the previous step are now put into action. There are different metrics and measurements used in the process.
  • Test result analysis: The results of the load test are analyzed. Based on this analysis, strategies for improvement are made.
  • Re-test: If the load test failed for any reason, the necessary adjustments are made. Once the adjustments have been made, a new test is created and completed.

The load testing process isn’t one to take lightly. Some have decided to forgo the load testing process altogether, for a number of reasons. A few of the most common reasons given for passing on load testing is lack of resources, revenue, or manpower.

This is where a load testing consultant can prove valuable.
 

Why Hire a Load Testing Consultant?

Load testing consultants are performance testing experts who know the ins and outs of many different types of software. When considering whether you should hire a load testing consultant, it’s important to understand what they provide and why it can be beneficial for your software.

  • Independence: The importance of an independent audit shouldn’t be underestimated when it comes to ensuring the quality of an online application. An independent look at your website or application ensures you’re receiving the most honest, objective, and thorough load testing possible.
  • Experience: Load testing consultants are specialized experts who know their way around many different types of applications and websites, from standard brochure sites to more complex eCommerce sites and beyond. Our load testing consultants at LoadView work to anticipate the changing demands in the space, and bring the latest insights to their work.
  • Communication: Load testing consultants are expected to effectively communicate with several different parties involved in the project. You can be sure that all necessary data and other information will be communicated properly to the right people on your team.

Website performance degradation and outages can seriously impact your bottom line. If you want to achieve as much certainty as possible that your website will not crash when it matters most, you’ll want to hire a load testing consultant. There’s no surer way to guarantee your website will remain online and performative 24/7, 365 without fail.

Even if you ultimately decide against hiring a consultant and instead leverage your own team, it may still be good to schedule a discovery call with our experts at LoadView to learn about the possible deficiencies of your website or application and/or infrastructure. We’ll help you assess what your website can handle now and where you might run into problems should you see an unexpected surge in traffic at certain levels, and what to do if that occurs.

LoadView load testing consultant
 

Load Testing with LoadView

Our load testing services can be customized to whatever kind of website or application you’re looking to test. This ensures all your load testing needs are met, whether you anticipate 100 users taking complex actions or 1,000,000 users responding to a sudden sale or media event.
 

A Five-Step Strategy for Engaging a Load Testing Consultant

The load testing consultants on our team at LoadView have formulated a five-step strategy that works with virtually all software, no matter the size.

The first step is to schedule a discovery call, where the consultant will try to pin down the needs of your particular software. From there, the consultant will design specific scenarios uniquely designed for your software.

Here’s the breakdown:

  • Discovery Call
    • Understand the nature of your business
    • Explore the most relevant test scenarios
    • Discuss timeline and deliverables
  • Data Gathering
    • Collect necessary data from Business Intelligence (BI) software
    • Map user journeys
    • Collect and analyze traffic patterns
    • Build required test for your software
  • Executive Stress Test
    • Load testing experts will work with your team to construct custom stress and load testing services that are uniquely built for your situation
  • Analyze Test Results
    • Analyze collected data
    • Incorporate findings into a performance testing plan
  • Review Call
    • Review the testing objectives and performance results
    • Review optimization recommendations with stake-holders to guarantee peak performance and sufficient scalability of your product

Even if you don’t think hiring a load testing consultant is the right move for your business, consider scheduling a discovery call with our team at LoadView to see how your software could be improved in the future. Sign up for a free trial and start load testing in minutes.