Crowdsourced Testing Guide with Best Crowd Testing Companies

This article is a detailed guide to crowdsourced testing and QA outsourcing. This guide is useful for companies looking to crowdsource their testing work and testers who want to make a career in Crowdsourced Software testing.

Getting acknowledged for your skills and experience is a proud feeling for any working professional. Learning and getting acquainted with new testing tools is adding value, experience, knowledge and income for testers, but every tester knows that the power of their out-of-the-box thinking is what they are paid for.

Guide to Crowdsourced Testing

Crowdsourced Software Testing is one such form of testing where you are paid off for your testing capabilities.

Crowdsourced Testing, also commonly known as Crowd Testing (referred as CT henceforth) or Crowd Sourcing, is a unique way of involving crowd i.e. real users/testers, into software testing under real-world conditions.

The name “Crowd” here refers not just to any individual but they are a group of individuals across the globe or a selected few on the basis of their profile, professional background, qualifications, devices on which they are able to test and other parameters.

What is Crowdsourced or Crowd Testing

In recent years, CT has gained much significance as it not only the way to get the feedback and real insight about the product’s quality or to find bugs/defects but also the testers are getting paid for their efforts. The flexibility provided to the testers in terms of pay, time, work location, diverse range of testing options for testing a diverse range of applications as well as many more factors have convinced many testers to select Crowdsourcing Testing as their second job.

Nowadays, easy access to the internet through the web or mobile devices and awareness of social media has played an important role in helping individuals to use their technical knowledge, permutation of scenarios and experience as a part of CT to achieve their goals which is the quality improvement.

In many cases, “Crowdsourced tester is proven to be a more realistic tester than an experienced tester”.

People’s first impression of Crowd Sourcing vs its actual meaning

There is a misinterpretation that CT is all about engaging a crowd of people to test a diverse range of applications on the basis of their skill set and the tester is paid for each valid bug/defect they report.

Well, this is definitely one phase of Crowdsourced Software Testing, but there are other phases which include the following:

• Sourcing relevant and skilled testers from all disciplines and levels, appropriate for the given task within the organization.
• Building a crowd of end users and testers on the basis of analysis of their performance over time. These testers can provide feedback on diverse phases of product development.
• Partnering with different organizations and universities leveraging domain knowledge and are presentable to the end users.

Crowd Sourcing vs. Outsourced Testing/QA Outsourcing

image source

“More heads are better than one”. Task results turn into superior quality when there are combined ideas, skills and participation of people from varied backgrounds. This defines the term ‘Crowdsourcing’.

Crowd Sourcing is a collective effort from a group of people working at different workplaces; basically, the process is online, leading to significant results. Testers involved in Crowd Sourcing are paid only when their work is done or say when the bug found is validated.

The most famous example of Crowd Sourcing is “Wikipedia”. Wikipedia, the most comprehensive encyclopaedia is the result of the information created by writers and editors from the crowd.

On the other hand, QA Outsourcing is the collective effort of the testers working in the same workplace under the same conditions. In these cases, unlike the Crowd Software Testing scenario, testers always get paid irrespective of their output i.e. number of bugs found or validated.

The most famous and common example of outsourcing is BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). BPO includes call centre, internet outsourcing, human resource outsourcing, etc.

Differences between Crowd Sourcing and Outsourcing

Let’s look at the diagram below which explains the major differences which are applicable for Crowdsourced testing and outsource testing QA

Crowdsource Testing: How it works

Crowdsourcing Testing is a means of software testing where ‘Talent’ is recognized as a ‘Service’. For any Crowd Software Testing company, the whole testing process is managed by a qualified project manager.

Whole Crowd Testing Process

The work of the client is to enlist all requirements, including device configuration required for the testing project as well as the necessary skill set of the testers suitable for that particular project. Testers complete their profile by providing all necessary information along with their experience, skill set, availability of devices, background, qualifications, etc. Sometimes, few companies take a trial test or assessment of the testers to determine if they are suitable for the particular project on the basis of their skill.

After assigning a project to the testers who are suitable for that particular project, they are provided with instructions, detailed test plans, scripts etc. Testers record their observations during execution or, say, performing a given task, finding defects, etc and in turn, they are rewarded with incentives on the basis of the quality of the output delivered. Some Crowdsource companies also have rating systems which determine the quality of job delivered. Discussion of relevant issues and concerns is also done through forums.

5 Phase Process

So, to summarize, Crowd Sourcing is a 5 phase process. This is explained in the figure below:

Image Source and reference. 

Benefits and Limitations

Now let’s look at the Benefits and Limitations of this type of testing

Advantages

There are multiple Advantages of this type of testing. A few of them are listed below:

• Cost effective – Adapting method of CT allows tasks to be shared with a suitable crowd and in turn, they are paid for the quality delivered. If output delivery is nil then payment is also zero. This method does not give a fixed salary to their employees regardless of their output as is done in many organizations.
• Cheap – As the crowd itself enrols to get testing tasks under CT technique, so the expenses involved in hiring engineers and specialists are less. Thus this method is cheaper.
• Localization – Numerous ideas from numerous people are involved in this technique. Their diverse thoughts and variation in language help as an essential in testing localization based projects.
• The easy availability of resources – Different software’s have different specifications and requirements and it’s not always possible for an organization to have all combinations of the requirements at the same time. But this limitation can be overcome by crowdsourcing testing techniques as crowds having diverse knowledge and resources are available at the same time.
• Fast – As large number of people are involved leading to the diverse availability of resources, for a particular application, there are multiple people available at the same time. This leads to faster execution and better results.

Limitations

With multiple benefits, there are few limitations too of Crowd Sourced QA testing. Enlisted below are a few of them:

• Confidentiality – As task output is posted online and can be seen by many others, critical data of any project can be shared many times. It may not affect many projects but confidentiality can be a major factor for few projects.
• Larger or low/minor bugs – As the crowd is paid on the number of defects reported, sometimes there may be a large number of low/minor or trivial defects/bugs while critical/high bugs are skipped.
• Track of testing effort – It is difficult for CrowdSource Testing companies to manage testing efforts and progress of testers residing in different locations and different time zones.
• Communications – Communication plays an important role in any online job. This is sometimes a major problem, especially in cases where a prompt response is required. As it largely depends on the availability of testers as per their time zones.

In many cases, Crowd Software Testing is a means to ensure all testing areas are covered. CT does not follow any rules. The crowd is allowed to test the software with a “test in all” approach, without following any procedure, as is done in any testing organization with limited test engineers. However, it’s not a replacement of traditional test methods but it acts as an add-on to test the software before production release. CT can be beneficial in the early phases of testing too.

Where Crowd Sourcing is More Beneficial

Enlisted below are a few cases where Crowd Source Testing is most useful

• Load Test application servers – As multiple testers will hit the application at the same time, intentionally or unintentionally, this form of testing can be proved as very useful in determining the behaviour of the application when multiple users hit at the same time.
• Under geographical weather conditions – This parameter is applicable for mobile devices. As crowds from multiple locations with diverse weather conditions are involved in this testing, it can be helpful in determining the performance of mobile devices under bad weather conditions or conditions like impact by mountains or building basements, etc.
• Identifying browser specific/ device specific issues – Crowd involved in testing a particular application provides multiple combinations of devices and browsers and thus certain browser/device specific issues can be determined which is normally escaped on following a traditional testing process.
• Network issues – This testing can also be helpful in determining the behaviour of the application under varied network conditions like cellular mode, flight mode, Wi-Fi, etc.
• Testing with rarely available equipment – Sometimes, a few applications require testing on devices with a particular combination which is rarely found or say are very expensive. But with help of this testing, this rare condition can be easily manageable and the problem can be solved easily without a lot of effort.
• Usability issues – Usability testing focus those areas of any application which works correctly in functionality but is not much of use, or may be any other condition, from user’s perspective. It is best suited here as it involves multiple live users.

Further Reading => Most Popular Crowdsourcing Platforms to Look For

Crowdsourcing and Beta Testing

“Crowdsourced Testing is often referred to as Beta Testing”, and its true also.

Beta testing is the second form of software testing where the final application is tested for the last time for any left out issues and concerns before production release. Through Beta testing, real users are able to use the application for the first time, other than the development team members, before the final release of the product. This can be taken as a last chance to introduce any new improvements and fix any left out issues.

Beta testing was an extra expenditure earlier because involving real users before product release was extra to the pocket but with a tech-savvy crowd and through this testing technique, this challenge is easily fulfilled.

Nowadays, Crowd-Sourced Software Testing has become the first option for the developers to run their latest application.

Let us understand this with the help of a few live examples where Beta testing of live applications is applicable for this testing:

• The Android Play Store – Multiple applications in their Beta version are available on Google Play, the app store to let the user have an initial tour of the application. With comments and reviews, it can be ensured that the product is ready for their official and production release.
• Wikipedia – This app beta version was first disclosed to the crowd through an app store. The crowd was invited to test the beta version of Wikipedia and report their observations and defects through email. Thus Crowd Sourcing was involved here.
• Microsoft Office – Microsoft released their beta version of Office 2010 before releasing the final product. And as a result of this testing, Microsoft Office was downloaded and tested by around 9 million people who provided their valuable comments and observations which ultimately resulted in many improvements in the final product.

This type of Testing is more suitable for user-centric applications. So, many companies release a beta version of their applications to improve their final product.

How to Choose the Best Crowd Sourcing Companies

Now, an important question arises here – How to choose the best Crowd Sourcing company Company?

Crowd testing companies are not just platforms where clients meet their testers. Before choosing the right CT company, it is mandatory that the client company is capable enough to perform extensive project-related evaluations. Enlisted below are a few criteria which should be considered while choosing the best company:

• Experienced CT companies can be proven as the best choice because they require less maintenance and governance because of their relevant experience during operational execution from past.
• Company’s global outstretch, experience in skill delivery, security and minimum functionality
• Mid-scale CT companies can offer only small projects like mobile applications, website testing whereas large scale companies can offer to test enterprise applications and provide testing services along with multiple big and small projects.
• It is important that crowdsourced testing platform companies are financially stable as this will increase the number of long-term projects without the concern factor, service, which can be hampered due to financial instability.
• These CT companies should be avoided which only serves as a mediator between the client company and testers as they can provide quality test output and neither can they keep track of the amount of work done by the testers.
• Terms and Conditions, Price structure, Security, Confidentiality, Safety, Quality, capabilities, Delivery methodologies, Compensation structure, Risk management are the few major points that should be definitely analyzed before choosing CT company.

Given below is a list of a few good companies:

#1) Digivante

Digivante is one of the world’s leading crowdsourced testing companies, with high-profile clients such as Specsavers, GymShark, and Audi. As a leading quality assurance service provider, they are always raising the bar for digital quality on online platforms.

They help bring digital experiences to market faster. Their smart blend of human and automated QA testing helps to optimize ROI, value and support product innovation and digital transformation. Digital leaders trust them to take care of testing so they can focus on the bigger picture.

Thousands of trusted professional testers worldwide will be available for 365 days, ready to meet both immediate and long-term testing needs. Using our testing community, Digivante is able to perform 24 days of testing in just 24 hours, with all results validated, with video or screenshot evidence, and prioritized before being passed to client teams.

Its large-scale crowd testing is made possible by experienced websites and app testers from all over the world. The members of the community are vetted by a technical exam to ensure the highest quality of skillsets. Fewer than 20% of applicants pass with the high standards to become a tester.

Benefits

• 24/7 testing tailored to your project’s needs.
• Tens of thousands of global testers are present in 149 countries.
• Expert testing community, no testing time-wasters.
• Coverage of hundreds of real device, browser, and operating system combinations.
• Integrations with JIRA and other test management tools.

• uTest.com
• usertesting.com
• mob4hire.com
• 99tests.com
• applause.com
• crowdsourcedtesting.com
• mycrowd.com
• mogotest.com
• usabilityhub.com
• passbrains.com
• oDesk.com
• feedbackarmy.com
• pay4bugs.com
• bugfinders.com
• lionbridge.com

If you know any other good Crowdsourced testing company that you want to list here – please contact me.

How to Avoid Failures in Crowdsource testing

Sometimes “Crowdsourcing goes wrong” and results don’t come out as expected.

Such failures can be avoided by keeping a few points in mind. 

• Be specific on expectations from the testers and provide detailed instructions on what is to be done.
• Develop standardized forms.
• Avoid miscommunication or communication gaps with the crowd.
• FAQs should be self-explanatory to avoid the flood of questions email.
• Recruit right testers and put a check on the quality of work delivered to meet the client’s requirements and trust.
• Make the project task more challenging and interactive. A reward for the effort and quality delivered to maintain the tester’s trust and interest.

Crowd Sourcing as a Career Option

We have seen various aspects of CT throughout this article. Many testers are thinking of building a second career in Crow QA Testing.

We suggest a few checks that should be kept in mind when choosing Crowdsource testing as a career:

• Opt for right company which will provide you with more options and flexibility.
• Testing assignments are not always available or say testing assignments cannot always match your skills. Enrol in multiple CT companies to determine which best suits your condition.
• Money should not be the only factor. Testers should be passionate enough regarding their work to prove their worthiness for the work.
• Revisit your skills learned in the past as well as learn new skills to increase the number of chances to become a crowd tester.
• Don’t take multiple projects at the same time as this may end up randomizing the work with no proper output. Opt for only as much where you can go the extra mile to deliver the best results.
• Participate in CT discussions, read articles, attend conferences, etc. This will strengthen your career as well as build your confidence.

Conclusion

Thus we can conclude, Crowdsourced Testing is the most reliable, cost-effective and fast way to determine product’s quality and make it bug-free. It’s a unique way of involving hired consultants, skilled users and professionals to test diverse applications under real-world conditions.

Testing applications from a user’s perspective and with a real crowd under real-world conditions is the best way to build successful software.

Crowd Testing can be proven very effective in finding UI based and configuration based defects before Production release of any application. This acts as complementary testing prior to the production release of any product. Thus, it works as an addition to the testing team of any organization but should not be thought of as a replacement for the testing team.

Let us know if you need more information on any topic that is not covered here. Feel free to suggest good Crowdsourcing sites if you know any. Post your feedback in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.