Case Study:
How carsales Stays On Top of Testing The Newest Devices
carsales.com.au leads the online automotive classifieds business in Australia as the top resource for consumers searching a new or used car. From hybrids and pick-up trucks to even motorcycles and speedboats, carsales and its subsidiaries connect thousands of prospects with their ideal vehicle every year.
However, with such a large dependency on the stability, functionality, and performance of its online presence, Quality Assurance Manager Scott Clements had come to realize that carsales had not fully been optimizing its web application for every user. To fix the gaps, it began looking for a platform that would aid carsales in:
- Reducing cost of ownership and maintenance of mobile devices
- Improving speed of testing and time to market for its main application
- Reducing the amount of cross browser bugs it was seeing.
carsales's Challenges
With thousands of site visitors conducting millions of searches for their dream car, truck, or boat each month, carsales depends on a complex, high-performing online experience to drive record growth for the company.
As carsales began to accelerate that growth and take on more customers, they found they had hundreds of different types of buyers visiting on different sized desktop screens and mobile browsers.
Previously, the carsales QA team had been using an in-house device lab for mobile testing. This lab a capital expense and also took time to properly maintain and update devices.
Since carsales.com.au is all digital and lacks a brick and mortar storefront for its customers, it relies on its web application to be fully-functioning on any device in order for its visitors to be able to effortlessly find a vehicle that fit their needs and tastes.
Unfortunately, it was becoming impossible to test on a selection of browsers large enough to get a true understanding of the user experience it was providing, and do it quickly.