Ten steps to implementing a successful web performance monitoring programme

Transcription

1 Web performance management made easy Ten steps to implementing a successful web performance monitoring programme This guide for ecommerce business managers, outlines 10 steps to optimise ongoing web user experience, through a successful website monitoring programme.

2 Introduction Can your current web performance monitoring keep up with the fast pace of technology, to give you the bigger picture on your users web experience? Is your monitoring realistic and holistic enough to help you to troubleshoot the complex issues - that impact on website performance and your bottom line? understanding across the business, of the impact of web performance on user experience. This guide outlines 10 steps to ensure you get the most out of your website monitoring programme. The growth of mobile, personalisation and cloud solutions are just a few of the developments that mean traditional performance monitoring fails to address the complexities of today s websites. For effective monitoring, it s time to move on to monitoring solutions that test the website as a whole and deliver a shared

3 1 Define key user journeys for mobile and desktop 2 Monitor performance across all devices; desktop mobile and tablets. Document the critical, money making user journeys that visitors to the site follow, on different devices. You don t need every possible journey; choose those that you feel are most important. For example a menswear Add-to- Basket journey might start with Menswear/ Trousers/Jeans/Select size and colour. An experienced, proactive test partner should be able to help you select and define these key journeys.

4 3 2 Monitor mobile journeys on major browsers Monitor key mobile journeys on major browsers for both ios and Android. There s no need to go overboard worrying about all browsers, too much information can be a hinderance. Instead focus your monitoring efforts on the most common browsers for each operating system, so Safari for ipad, and for Android the default browser (AOSP).

5 3 3 Test dynamically to ensure all important product categories, sub-categories and options are covered Ensure your testing is dynamic; making intelligent decisions as the customer would, and not simply visiting a list of predefined URLs. A dynamic monitoring solution will make random selections from categories and product categories, on the fly during the journey. In this way it is possible to test all important product categories, sub categories and options such as product type, size, colour and delivery options with the minimum number of journeys.

6 4 Test performance end-to-end across the entire journey to check all systems involved Make sure your monitoring tests all critical functionality across the entire customer journey. In particular don t forget to test the vital last steps such as delivery and click and collect options. A journey doesn t necessarily end with the add to basket step.

7 5 Use KPIs to ensure ongoing management of your user experience with minimum input Once you have a few weeks of monitoring results, define KPIs; put a measure on quality for each journey eg. How long is the maximum acceptable time? What is the minimum availability that you will accept? You can use reports based on these KPIs to understand how performance is changing at a glance and to make decisions on the top level issues. Focussing all teams around KPIs, combined with a solution that enables quick drill down for technical teams to access the detail to fix those that fail to meet acceptable levels, means ongoing web user experience can be managed without the need for time spent in meetings or reading reports.

8 6 Understand the impact of 3 rd parties on website performance With an increasing dependency on numerous 3 rd parties such as basket providers, payment providers, ecommerce platforms and web analytics, accountability for performance is key to resolving performance issues quickly. Speed up problem resolution by ensuring 3 rd parties receive monitoring alerts directly and can log into the GUI immediately to view issues. This direct access also keeps you out of the loop if you d prefer. Look out for monitoring solutions that highlight and report on 3 rd party issues separately.

9 7 Monitor for un-buyable products/services Inventory problems particularly at the end of a user journey can be particularly frustrating for customers. Avoid disappointment by monitoring 24/7 across your entire website for products or services that are searchable by your customers but for a number of reasons, can t be added to basket. Possible causes for un-buyable products range from worst case missing Add to cart buttons to out of stock issues.

10 8 Measure performance so that reporting data can be shared across the business Ensure reporting data is made available to all involved parties across the organisation. A holistic approach to monitoring accelerates performance improvements and achieves the greatest business benefits and ROI. team to reduce any bottlenecks early on. Don t try to improve everything. Aim for the best ROI from quick improvements. Customer-centric metrics in a common language, make sense to all departments including help desk, marketing and technical teams, and provide a single point of truth. After the first month, review together any performance issues that the monitoring has highlighted and aim for the technical

11 9 Use hard metrics for greater accountability and to base technology decisions on Use hard evidence from monitoring results to understand who s accountable when errors occur and make sure they re resolved more quickly. Also, that way the Marketing and IT teams won t be able to quibble over the numbers. view of performance. You can also utilize their testing experience and insight to more quickly resolve issues, saving time and money. Use monitoring metrics to quantify performance for making decisions on technology investment and resource allocation. Dynamic monitoring provides the most accurate and actionable data. Choosing an independent, monitoring supplier frees up resources and gives an independent

12 10 Measure performance before and after site changes As today s websites have more frequent releases and new features, monitoring can be a useful regression testing tool. Use monitoring to identify problems that customers will encounter, following changes to the site. Look out for monitoring solutions that have built in features to compare performance before and after changes. Both before and after the next significant change - new software release or marketing campaign use monitoring metrics to decide if the performance is within the agreed service levels, has improved or degraded.

13 About SciVisum Ltd For over 10 years the UK s largest online names such as Debenhams, Boden, Joules and Dixons have chosen SciVisum to maximise user experience and protect their brand. For those seeking a realistic measurement basis on which to base budget and planning decisions SciVisum are the number one choice with their unique, dynamic user journey approach for website monitoring and load testing services. Our highly experienced team of test professionals help clients implement monitoring programmes and pro-actively oversee testing; automatically updating journeys as a website changes, highlighting performance issues and helping clients quickly pinpoint root causes - saving time and money. To find out how SciVisum can help you implement the best monitoring programme to suit your organisation please contact us on or visit our website at Related ebooks Meeting the challenges of modern website performance - find out more about overcoming today s web performance challenges.