According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the dramatic rise in ecommerce amid movement restrictions induced by COVID-19 increased online retail sales’ share of total retail sales from 16% to 19% in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic drastically reshaped how businesses operated, accelerating digital transformation at an unprecedented pace. Now, five years later, we look back at how this shift changed the digital landscape forever. With physical stores closing and social distancing measures in place, businesses that once relied on brick-and-mortar locations were forced to pivot online. Suddenly, a robust online presence was no longer a luxury, it was a necessity. However, launching and maintaining a flawless digital experience under such time-sensitive circumstances was a challenge. This is where crowd testing emerged as a crucial solution, ensuring speed, scalability, and quality in software testing.
The digital shift: A make-or-break moment for businesses
As the world entered lockdown, businesses, both large and small, had to quickly adapt to survive. Restaurants shifted to online ordering, retailers moved to ecommerce platforms, and service providers developed digital offerings. Those that had never prioritised their online presence now had to build or enhance websites and mobile applications to meet consumer demands.
However, moving online wasn’t just about creating a website or an app; it was about delivering a seamless, user-friendly, and error-free experience. A single bug could lead to lost customers, reduced trust, and missed revenue opportunities. Businesses needed a fast, efficient, and reliable way to test their platforms, ensuring they could meet the surge in online users and provide a high-quality experience.
The rise of crowd testing
Traditional software testing methods couldn’t keep up with the rapid development cycles demanded during the pandemic. Internal QA teams, often working remotely and under constrained resources, struggled to provide comprehensive coverage and fast turnaround times. That’s when many businesses turned to crowd testing – a method that leverages a diverse group of professional testers across the globe to evaluate software performance in real-world conditions.
Why crowd testing was a game changer during COVID-19:
- Speed & scalability: Businesses needed rapid testing to match their accelerated digital transformation. Crowd testing allowed them to tap into a global network of testers, reducing testing cycles from weeks to days.
- Real-world testing environments: With people accessing digital platforms from various devices, browsers, and network conditions, crowd testing ensured comprehensive compatibility testing across different setups.
- Cost-effectiveness: Many businesses faced budget constraints due to economic uncertainty. Crowd testing provided a cost-efficient solution compared to hiring in-house QA teams or delaying go-to-market strategies.
- Unbiased user insights: Crowd testers provided diverse feedback from different locations and backgrounds, helping businesses improve usability and customer satisfaction.
Success stories: How businesses benefitted from crowd testing
- Retail & ecommerce: Online retailers experienced an unprecedented surge in traffic. Crowd testing helped identify payment gateway issues, checkout glitches, and usability challenges, ensuring a smooth shopping experience.
- Healthcare & telemedicine: With the rise of virtual consultations, healthcare apps had to be flawless. Crowd testing helped ensure secure, bug-free experiences for patients and doctors.
- E-learning platforms: As schools and universities shifted to online learning, crowd testing played a key role in verifying platform stability, accessibility, and performance under high loads.
In 2024, Digivante’s global crowdtesting community completed over 1,000 real-world testing projects, identifying more than 8,500 UX-disruptive issues and over 160 business-critical defects that could have cost businesses valuable revenue and customer trust.
How Digivante helped businesses go digital – fast
During the pandemic, Digivante played a critical role in helping businesses with little or no online presence transition to digital platforms. Many companies, especially small retailers and service providers, had never needed an ecommerce site before. But when physical locations closed, online became the only way to keep their businesses running.
With traditional testing methods being slow and resource-intensive, these companies needed a fast, scalable, and reliable way to launch their websites without compromising on quality. Digivante’s crowd testing network, consisting of thousands of testers worldwide, enabled businesses to:
✔ Identify critical issues quickly – From broken checkout processes to poor mobile compatibility, our testers ensured new ecommerce sites worked flawlessly.
✔ Test across multiple devices and regions – Real-world testing across different browsers, devices, and internet conditions ensured a smooth experience for all customers.
✔ Deliver speed without sacrificing quality – Companies that needed to go digital fast could do so with confidence, knowing that their websites were tested thoroughly before launch.
For example, a UK-based retailer that had always relied on foot traffic needed an online store within weeks. With Digivante’s help, their ecommerce site was tested and optimised in record time, preventing issues that could have cost them valuable customers.
The lasting impact of crowd testing
The pandemic may have passed, but the lessons learned remain. Businesses now understand that a strong online presence is not just an advantage, it’s a necessity. And with digital platforms evolving rapidly, fast and efficient testing remains critical.
Crowd testing continues to be a game-changer, enabling businesses to:
- Keep up with customer expectations for seamless digital experiences.
- Quickly adapt to new technology and market demands.
- Reduce costly errors by identifying issues before they impact users.
Five years on, we can see that crowd testing wasn’t just a pandemic-era trend—it has become an essential strategy for digital success. Whether launching a new platform or maintaining an existing one, businesses today recognise the speed, accuracy, and scalability that crowd testing offers.
At Digivante, we remain committed to helping companies deliver flawless digital experiences, just as we did when businesses needed us the most. Want to ensure your digital platform remains flawless? Contact Digivante today to see how crowd testing can keep your business ahead.
