Make Your Clients Happy To Pay with These Payment Gateway Testing Insights

To pay or not pay – that should not be the question. Because today, customers expect instantaneous request fulfillment. It may not always be possible, but that’s what any user wants. And a slight delay in transaction processing can cut your revenue in half. As nearly 80% of consumers won’t proceed with a service that loads slowly.

So, today, we share insights we’ve gathered for over ten years of testing payment gateways to a utopian state.

Reasons to Run Payment Gateway Testing

You probably already know that the impact of high-quality testing goes beyond the absence of errors. QA services are a multifaceted medium that will often surprise you with its perks. And when you hire QA engineers, you make one of the best investments in your product’s future. Let’s take a look at what they can do with payment solution testing.

Compatibility Assurance

Payment testing ensures that the service works in harmony with various payment methods and devices. In turn, you can cater to a wider audience, grow conversion rates and revenue, and provide your users with refined UX. In short, by making payment processes elegant, you create pleasant experiences for clients. As a result, they’ll be more likely to come back for another rewarding stay.

Transaction Accuracy & Compliance

No user would want to discover their payment info with incorrect sums or personal data. And software testing services guarantee transactional accuracy. They check each “participant” of financial operations (gateway, processor, etc.) to avoid potential mistakes along every step of the way to “payment complete”.

Also, when you test payment gateways, you safeguard adherence to regulations and standards, like PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). And you not only prevent compliance issues, but maintain a positive, trustworthy reputation.

Performance & Security Validation

Over 50% of mobile users abandon a page that loads for more than three seconds. So, you ought to evaluate your payment solution’s performance. And that doesn’t mean only offering quick operations. You should also test payment gateways under multiple concurrent users, peak customer volumes, and unstable connections. As every slowdown or crash can undermine your business.

At the same time, prioritize payment gateway security testing. In the US alone, the number of credit card fraud victims reached 150 million in 2023. And when users don’t see a clear indication that their money will be safe, they may not use your services at all. A secure gateway reduces the risk of abandoned transactions and safeguards customer data, which is crucial for maintaining trust.

Early Detection of Failures & Issues

Testing identifies potential failures before they impact customers. Ergo, you can fix bugs in a timely manner, preventing revenue loss or reputational damage. Early detection of issues minimizes downtime and ensures that customers can complete their transactions without interruptions. This proactive approach demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and can lead to increased customer loyalty.

Confidence in Launch

By thoroughly testing payment gateways, you can launch your product with backed-up credence and pride. And you’ll have a much easier time gaining customers when you can honestly say that your services have been checked by skilled QA specialists who did everything possible to ensure positive UX. As a smooth payment experience can lead to favorable reviews and recommendations, driving further growth and success.

Building Trust

Now, users expect swift and simple online operations. And, while it may sound a bit harsh, no business can afford to not fulfill this wish. With software QA services, you ensure that your product is void of inactive buttons, slightly off information, or huge gaps in security. In other words, you create reliable and graceful payment processes that foster trust. You ensure your product’s quality from the start to provide it with a fruitful future.

This Is Why a Professional QA Team Should Test a Banking App

Types of Testing for a Payment Gateway

For payment solution testing to be productive, QA specialists must understand your project’s specifics to offer tailored strategies. For example, you might not need extensive performance or localization checks if a store handles only-need-one items within a specific region.

While for complex systems like Amazon the opposite would be true. As it handles 12 million products, processing over 66 thousand orders an hour. So, what and how you test would depend on your project. Yet, every payment gateway should include these testing types.

Functional Testing

Each feature your payment solution has needs to work in sync. As an issue within one function can mess up everything else. Say your system can’t wrap its head around error handling. This can lead to confusing error messages, duplicate transactions, inventory management issues, etc.

Functional testing makes sure all functions of the payment gateway, such as banking systems, fees, and shipping services, work as expected. And it should always include various scenarios, such as successful and failed transactions. As you ought to verify that the gateway behaves correctly under distinct conditions.

How to Run Functional and UI Testing for Payment Solutions

User Interface Testing

“Don’t judge a book by its cover” doesn’t apply to software. Because if a customer finds your solution though to navigate, they will look for an alternative. Especially when it comes to money, people need to know exactly what’s happening. Hence, pay special attention to UI testing.

It focuses on visual and interactive aspects to provide intuitive, user-friendly, and accessible experiences. And it should be done for various devices and their peculiarities. This secures a consistent, neat experience for any client, where every payment is a blast (instead of a confusing chaos).

Integration Testing

Payment gateway integration testing is about safeguarding coherent communication between systems. For instance, when your solution links with e-commerce platforms or accounting software, you make sure it does so flawlessly. As if there’s a holdup for any part of the transaction, everything else falls apart.

Integration tests ensure that data is exchanged accurately and securely between the gateway and other modules. And your QA team should be really mindful here. As integrations present the most challenges for payment solutions.

Compatibility Testing

For your gateway to work across diverse configurations, such as browsers and OSs, in-depth compatibility checks are a must. You can present more clients with authentic experiences and tap into user pools that prefer specific devices.

Since the number of brands for smartphones, tablets, and laptops (each with its own characteristics) is beyond ample, you should consider payment gateway automation testing. Assessing each gadget manually would take ages. And automation makes the process much simpler and faster.

Just be sure that your QA specialists know how to set up automated tests in a way that’s actually beneficial.

Security Testing

In 2021, over 70% of businesses were subjected to payment fraud. Also, let’s be frank:

• Every person cares about their finances.
• And many hackers see services like, say, PayPal, as a sure target.

So, payment gateway security testing is something you can’t allow to skip. It lets you locate vulnerabilities in the product to prevent cyber attacks and tells your clients that their assets are safe with you. You might also think about ethical hacking as a top technique for protecting your business. As hacking, just like software, is ever-evolving.

Ethical Hacking: Introduction to the Forces of Digital Peace

Performance Testing

When it comes to performance testing, you need to think ahead. As sure, its purpose is to evaluate your solution’s performance under different loads and conditions. But you also need to think about what might happen when:

• EYour customer base grows beyond your projections.
• One black Friday, everyone decides to flock to your product.
• A person wants to urgently buy an item but has a poor connection.

Performance tests do not just stabilize your payment gateway. They ensure that every person can fully benefit from it, no matter the number of concurrent users, connectivity, or system strain. Here, it’s not about whether the software works. It’s about how well it does.

Localization Testing

Almost 3 billion people shop online. And for bigger sales, e-commerce stores commonly have features that allow for international orders. That means that a payment gateway that works with many regions will have more users.

Localization testing ensures that your solution supports different currencies, conversion rates, and languages. This way, you can offer an American and a European customer the same positive experience.

Test Cases for Payment Gateway Testing

That was quite a lot to digest. And if you’re feeling a bit lost – no worries. We’ve prepared this core payment gateway testing checklist for you to know what not to miss. Save it for an easy start for your tests or as a kind of experience check for your future QA team.

UI & Basic Usability

• Verify that the user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate.
• Check that all elements (buttons, forms, etc.) are displayed correctly and function as expected.
• Ensure that error messages are clear and informative.

Card Data

• Use valid and invalid card numbers to ensure that the payment gateway handles them correctly.
• Determine that the payment gateway encrypts and securely transmits card data.
• Establish compliance with PCI DSS requirements.

Transaction Processing

• Consider various transaction scenarios (successful, failed, declined, etc.) to ensure that the payment gateway processes transactions accurately.
• Affirm that transaction details (amount, currency, etc.) are displayed correctly.
• Evaluate the consistency in transaction processing across different payment methods.

Confirmation

• Verify that customers receive a confirmation email or message after completing a transaction.
• Test the accuracy of the confirmation message (order details, payment amount, etc.).
• Check that the confirmation page is secure and does not expose sensitive information.

Time-Outs

• Test the payment gateway’s response to time-outs (e.g., when a customer takes too long to complete a transaction).
• Verify that the payment gateway handles time-outs gracefully and provides clear instructions to the customer.
• Check for consistency in handling time-outs across different devices and browsers.

Misconfigurations

• Inspect the payment gateway with various misconfigurations (e.g., incorrect API settings, expired SSL certificate) to identify potential vulnerabilities.
• Ensure that the payment gateway detects and reports misconfigurations correctly.
• Evaluate the impact of misconfigurations on the payment gateway’s performance and security posture.

Security

• Review the payment gateway for security vulnerabilities (e.g., SQL injection, cross-site scripting).
• Verify that the payment gateway encrypts sensitive data and uses secure communication protocols.
• Ascertain that the payment gateway has proper access controls and authentication mechanisms.

Performance

• Analyze the payment gateway’s performance under different loads (e.g., peak transaction volumes).
• Confirm that the payment gateway remains stable and responsive under prolonged use.
• Check for consistency in performance across different devices and network conditions.

Localization

• Assess the payment gateway with different localization settings (e.g., currencies, languages) to ensure that it displays the correct information.
• Verify that the payment gateway functions correctly in different regions.
• Check for consistency in localization across different parts of the payment process (e.g., checkout page, confirmation page).

Integration

• Examine the integration between the payment gateway and other systems (e.g., e-commerce platforms, accounting software) to ensure that data is exchanged accurately and securely.
• Make sure the payment gateway handles data from integrated systems correctly.
• Determine consistency in integration across different third-party services and APIs.

Best Practices for Payment Gateway Testing

We’ll never stop saying that testing is a highly personalized endeavor. And that a request akin to “I want what you did for that client” won’t work. So, for QA resources, don’t look at what others have. Only focus on your product and its needs. And consider these best practices for testing payment gateways to know what you can’t do without.

Thorough Integration Testing

Whether your payment solution has a few integrations or thousands of them, check each one with utmost care. Payment gateways don’t just link with e-commerce platforms. They also work with:

• Content management systems.
• Mobile apps.
• Point-of-sale systems.
• CRMs.
• Accounting software and more.

Without proper collaboration between your product and third-party services, your project’s potential is limited. Each integration works as a feature extension. And if users can’t rely on these extra features, your software may be perceived as lesser.

End-to-End Transaction Testing

Always strive to simulate real-world transactions from start to finish. With online payments being so common, we expect every user to know how to operate them. But, in fact, people just press buttons they think they should.

And here, anything can go off the rails. A misclick, one incorrect digit, connectivity spike… Never miss out on E2E testing. It lets you check out the product from customers’ POV and refine it in unexpected ways.

Attention to UI and Usability

Users have grown accustomed to paying virtually. They see a fill-in box with an asterisk – they know not to skip it. They see a “Proceed” handle – they press it. But if anything seems off, like being able to click “Continue” without inputting, say, card info, and people might just think it’s a scam.

So, (we can’t stress this enough) focus on high-level UX aspects that directly impact the user interface:

• User-friendly error messages.
• Clear instructions.
• Smooth and intuitive payment flows, etc.

Make customers’ payment journey effortless. And they will want to come back for more.

Combining Manual & Automated Testing

Merging manual testing services and automated testing services is beneficial for your users and your budget.

• Manual tests are remarkable for exploratory and ad-hoc scenarios.
• While automated testing is ideal for repetitive and regression testing.

Not only will you be able to save costs by automating certain tests, but keep your team’s productivity high by unloading them. And when your QA specialists have a bit less to worry about, they can fully focus on advancing your product.

Exploring the Journey to Smart Test Automation

Researching Limitations & Run Negative Tests

Knowing your product’s limitations has nothing to do with failure. It’s actually an advantage. You don’t confuse your users with cryptic messages that elegantly bypass the fact that your system can’t do something. You don’t waste your time and effort on unnecessary or barely beneficial features. And you completely center on what your product does best.

So, accept your payment gateway constraints and polish what you have. Run negative tests to validate error handling and boundary conditions. Check edge cases and unusual scenarios. And overall, focus on the good things about your solution (it’s not an inspirational note, but advice that will save you from a lot of troubles).

Checking Error Mapping (& Having Detailed Messages)

Even if something does go wrong, you can rely on exhaustive error mapping to gracefully handle exceptions. It helps identify, categorize, and manage mistakes. In other words, when an issue occurs, your system needs to clearly notify the user and send a request for troubleshooting.

Then, your customers know precisely what to do to resolve a problem. And your team can quickly isolate the mishap and take care of it.

To Sum Up

Payment gateways are all about money. But testing them isn’t. While it’s rarely all black and white, QA services are either alright or revolutionary. Because if the only thing your QA team did was find bugs, then perhaps they weren’t true quality professionals.

So, focus on finding QA specialists who are right for your payment solution. Then, you can be sure of an impeccable product, optimized processes, and a bright future for your business.