{"id":48147,"date":"2023-04-12T17:06:48","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T17:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/crowdtesting"},"modified":"2026-10-02T05:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T05:37:22","slug":"crowdtesting","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/crowdtesting","title":{"rendered":"Crowdtesting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad alignright wp-image-48231 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/crowdtesting.jpg\" alt=\"Crowdtesting\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/crowdtesting.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/crowdtesting-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Crowdtesting<\/strong> is a testing approach in which an organization distributes the evaluation of a digital product among a broad group of external participants. These people test applications, websites, or other systems from different devices, configurations, locations, and usage contexts, following a defined scope and set of instructions.<\/p>\n<p>Its purpose is to broaden the available test conditions and obtain reports about defects, compatibility, or user experience. Participant diversity may reveal issues that do not appear in a laboratory, but it <strong>does not guarantee<\/strong> quality or replace internal testing, technical review, and decisions by the responsible team.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Scope of crowdtesting<\/h2>\n<p>Crowdtesting applies the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/crowdsourcing-2\">crowdsourcing<\/a> model to digital product testing. The organizer presents a task to a <strong>distributed community<\/strong>, selects suitable profiles, and establishes which versions, features, devices, or territories are included.<\/p>\n<p>Participation does not have to be open to everyone. A platform may recruit testers according to their experience, language, location, operating system, device, or demographic characteristics. The <strong>group composition<\/strong> should match the objective: localization testing requires different profiles from an accessibility review or an exploratory campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/glossary.istqb.org\/en_US\/term\/crowd-testing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ISTQB glossary<\/a> defines crowd testing as an approach in which testing is distributed to a <strong>large group<\/strong> of testers. In practice, work is often coordinated through a platform that manages instructions, builds, evidence, compensation, and communication with participants.<\/p>\n<p>The approach complements <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/software\">software<\/a> quality assurance. The internal team retains tasks such as test strategy, automation, code verification, environment control, and final acceptance. The crowd adds a <strong>variety of conditions<\/strong>, not technical responsibility for the release.<\/p>\n<h2>Crowdtesting process<\/h2>\n<p>A useful campaign begins with a <strong>verifiable question<\/strong> and ends when findings have been reviewed and incorporated into the development cycle. The number of participants matters less than the match between the objective, profiles, environment, and acceptance criteria.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>typical process<\/strong> includes these stages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Define the objective:<\/strong> Specify the product, build, flow, territory, and type of issue to be evaluated, together with prohibited actions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Select participants:<\/strong> Recruit profiles with the required devices, languages, abilities, or contexts and communicate the applicable compensation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prepare access:<\/strong> Provide instructions, test accounts, fictitious data, support channels, and an identifiable product build.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Execute and document:<\/strong> Testers follow the permitted scenarios and record steps, expected results, observed results, environment, and evidence.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review and verify:<\/strong> The team removes duplicates, reproduces issues, assigns priority, and checks fixes through further testing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Precise instructions<\/strong> should prevent incompatible interpretations among participants. A clear <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/briefing\">briefing<\/a> explains the purpose, schedule, supported browsers or devices, report format, and rules for handling sensitive information.<\/p>\n<h2>Testing modes<\/h2>\n<p>Campaigns may focus on different dimensions of a product. Combining objectives without prioritizing them makes analysis harder, so each task should be associated with <strong>observable criteria<\/strong> and profiles capable of evaluating them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Functional testing:<\/strong> Checks whether a flow produces the expected result and can uncover navigation, validation, or processing defects.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exploratory testing:<\/strong> Participants investigate the product within defined boundaries to find behavior not covered by predetermined cases.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Compatibility:<\/strong> Compares operation across real combinations of devices, browsers, system versions, and network conditions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Localization:<\/strong> Reviews language, formats, content, and flows in specific markets without reducing the evaluation to literal translation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use and accessibility:<\/strong> Observes difficulties when completing tasks and may provide evidence for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/usability\">usability<\/a> or accessibility review.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The same issue may belong to more than one category. For example, a button hidden on a particular phone affects compatibility and also prevents completion of the flow. Classification helps organize work, but the report should describe the <strong>reproducible behavior<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Evaluating results<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>raw report count<\/strong> does not measure a campaign&#8217;s value by itself. Several people may report the same defect, submit incomplete observations, or flag behavior outside the agreed scope. The team needs triage rules to distinguish valid, duplicate, non-reproducible, and rejected issues.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>reproducible report<\/strong> identifies the build, environment, and steps required to reproduce the problem. It also separates technical severity from business priority: one defect may have serious impact but affect a rare flow, while a less severe issue may block a routine operation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Operational metrics<\/strong> may include the share of valid, duplicate, and out-of-scope reports; severity distribution; time to triage and fix; coverage of devices, territories, or flows; and the proportion of issues verified after remediation. These measures describe the campaign and do not prove that the product is free of defects.<\/p>\n<p>A varied group of testers is not automatically a representative customer sample. Participant selection, incentives, product access, and task design influence the findings. Conclusions should remain limited to the <strong>observed conditions<\/strong> and be interpreted alongside other quality and behavioral evidence.<\/p>\n<h2>Limits and distinctions<\/h2>\n<p>Crowdtesting can quickly broaden the range of devices and contexts, run tasks in parallel, and provide an external perspective. Cost and timing depend on scope, profile selection, compensation, platform, and review effort, so it is <strong>not always cheaper<\/strong> or faster than internal testing.<\/p>\n<p>Management should address <strong>data protection<\/strong>, confidentiality, intellectual property, permissions, and access removal at the end of the campaign. Real information should not be exposed when test accounts and fictitious data are sufficient. Uneven report quality, duplicates, and support requirements also create work for the team.<\/p>\n<p>Crowdtesting is not the same as <strong>beta testing<\/strong>. A beta distributes a prerelease build to selected or open users and may collect telemetry and general feedback; a crowdtesting campaign typically defines specific tasks, evidence, and compensation. Nor is it an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/a-b-testing\">A\/B test<\/a>, which compares variants through assignment and metrics, or a heuristic analysis conducted by specialists.<\/p>\n<p>Security testing requires <strong>specific authorization<\/strong>, scope, and rules. A vulnerability reward program focuses on security flaws and their disclosure, whereas crowdtesting may cover many other dimensions. The <a href=\"https:\/\/cheatsheetseries.owasp.org\/cheatsheets\/Vulnerability_Disclosure_Cheat_Sheet.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OWASP Vulnerability Disclosure Cheat Sheet<\/a> stresses that research should be legal, authorized, and respectful of privacy.<\/p>\n<p>Final value depends on integrating findings into a broader quality process. A well-scoped campaign provides evidence about the product under certain environments; the decision to fix, retest, or release remains with the <strong>responsible team<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: Crowdtesting is a testing approach in which an organization distributes the evaluation of a digital product among a broad group of external participants. These people test applications, websites, or other systems from different devices, configurations, locations, and usage contexts, following a defined scope and set of instructions. Its purpose is to broaden the available [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1419,1286],"class_list":["post-48147","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-collective-collaboration","encyclopedia-tag-ux-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/48147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=48147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}