How To Test Orders On Woocommerce

Testing WooCommerce Orders: A Beginner’s Guide to Ensuring Smooth Sailing

So, you’ve built your WooCommerce store – congratulations! But before you unleash it upon the world, it’s crucial to test your order process thoroughly. Imagine the frustration of customers who can’t complete a purchase, or worse, accidentally overpaying! Testing ensures a smooth, positive shopping experience, prevents errors, and ultimately, protects your revenue. This guide will walk you through the essential tests you need to perform on your WooCommerce store, even if you’re new to the platform.

Why Test WooCommerce Orders?

Think of it this way: testing is like a dress rehearsal before the big show. You wouldn’t want your actors forgetting their lines on opening night, right? Similarly, you want to identify and fix any glitches in your order process *before* real customers encounter them. Here are some key reasons why testing is vital:

• Prevent Lost Sales: A broken checkout process is a guaranteed way to lose potential customers. A smooth experience encourages them to complete the purchase.
• Avoid Payment Issues: Ensure payments are processed correctly and securely. You don’t want to accidentally charge customers too much or too little.
• Verify Shipping Calculations: Confirm that shipping costs are calculated accurately based on weight, destination, and chosen shipping methods. Overcharging or undercharging can lead to customer complaints and losses.
• Confirm Accurate Inventory Management: When an order is placed, does your inventory update correctly? Avoid overselling and disappointing customers.
• Ensure Proper Email Notifications: Customers and admins should receive the correct order confirmation and notification emails. This keeps everyone informed.
• Test Coupon Functionality: If you offer discounts, make sure they’re applying correctly and that any restrictions are working as intended.
• Boost Customer Trust: A seamless and professional checkout experience builds trust and encourages repeat business.

Setting the Stage for Testing: Creating a Test Product and Coupon

Before you start placing test orders, it’s helpful to create a dedicated “Test Product” and a “Test Coupon.” This keeps your real inventory untouched and allows you to experiment with different scenarios.

#### Creating a Test Product

1. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Products > Add New.

2. Give your product a descriptive name, like “Test Product – DO NOT PURCHASE.”

3. Set a low price (e.g., $1.00) to minimize the financial impact during testing.

4. Under the “Product data” metabox, select “Simple product.”

5. Consider checking the “Virtual” and “Downloadable” boxes to avoid shipping calculations if you want to focus solely on the payment gateway.

6. Publish the product.

#### Creating a Test Coupon

1. Go to WooCommerce > Coupons > Add Coupon.

2. Create a unique coupon code, like “TEST10” (for 10% off).

3. In the “Discount type” dropdown, choose “Percentage discount” or “Fixed cart discount.”

4. Enter the discount amount (e.g., 10 for 10%).

5. Under “Usage restriction,” consider setting a minimum spend to ensure the coupon applies only when the “Test Product” is in the cart.

6. Publish the coupon.

Types of WooCommerce Order Tests You Should Perform

Now, let’s get into the actual testing! Here are the key scenarios you need to cover:

#### 1. Basic Order Flow: The Happy Path

This is the simplest test: Add the “Test Product” to your cart, proceed through checkout, and complete the purchase using a valid payment method.

• Purpose: To ensure the fundamental ordering process works without any major errors.
• What to look for:
• Can you add the product to the cart?
• Can you proceed to the checkout page?
• Can you enter your billing and shipping information?
• Can you select a payment method?
• Can you successfully place the order?
• Do you receive an order confirmation email?
• Is the order visible in your WooCommerce admin dashboard (WooCommerce > Orders)?

#### 2. Different Payment Methods

Test each payment gateway you have enabled on your store. Each gateway has its own nuances and potential for error.

• Purpose: To verify that each payment method functions correctly.
• Examples:
• Credit Card: Use a real credit card (or a test card provided by your payment gateway) to simulate a successful transaction. Never use real customer credit card information! Many payment gateways offer “sandbox” or “test” modes specifically for this purpose.
• PayPal: Log in to your PayPal sandbox account and complete the purchase.
• Bank Transfer: Simulate a bank transfer and manually mark the order as “Processing” in your WooCommerce admin.
• What to look for:
• Does the payment gateway redirect you to the appropriate page for payment processing?
• Is the payment successful?
• Is the order status updated correctly in WooCommerce?
• Are payment gateway fees calculated correctly (if applicable)?

#### 3. Shipping Methods and Calculations

Test different shipping zones, weights, and dimensions to ensure accurate shipping cost calculations.

• Purpose: To confirm that shipping costs are calculated correctly.
• Examples:
• If you offer free shipping over a certain amount, test to see if it applies correctly when the cart total meets the minimum.
• Add multiple products with varying weights and dimensions to the cart and check the shipping costs.
• Set up different shipping zones and test orders from each zone.
• What to look for:
• Are shipping options displayed correctly based on the customer’s address?
• Are shipping costs accurate?
• Does free shipping apply when it should?

#### 4. Coupon Codes

Test your “Test Coupon” and any other coupons you have created.

• Purpose: To ensure that coupons are applied correctly and that any restrictions are enforced.
• Examples:
• Apply the “Test Coupon” to your cart and verify that the discount is applied correctly.
• Test coupon usage limits (e.g., “only one use per customer”).
• Test minimum spend requirements.
• What to look for:
• Is the coupon applied correctly?
• Is the discount amount accurate?
• Are any restrictions enforced (e.g., minimum spend, usage limits)?
• Does the coupon expire correctly if it has an expiration date?

#### 5. Order Edits

Test editing existing orders from the backend.

• Purpose: Ensure you can modify orders if necessary.
• Steps:
• Place a test order
• Go to WooCommerce > Orders
• Edit the order
• Try changing the customer address, product quantities or shipping options
• What to look for:
• Can you modify customer address?
• Can you modify product quantities?
• Are the changes reflected in order totals?
• Do the email notifications after the order editing work properly?

#### 6. Edge Cases and Error Handling

This is where you try to break things! Intentionally enter incorrect or invalid information to see how your store handles errors.

• Purpose: To identify and address potential errors that customers might encounter.
• Examples:
• Enter an invalid billing address.
• Use an expired credit card.
• Leave required fields blank during checkout.
• Try to use a coupon that has already been used or has expired.
• What to look for:
• Are error messages displayed clearly and informatively?
• Do error messages guide the customer on how to correct the problem?
• Does the checkout process recover gracefully from errors?

#### 7. Inventory Management

After placing a test order, verify that your inventory is updated correctly.

• Purpose: To prevent overselling and ensure accurate stock levels.
• Steps:
• Place an order for your “Test Product.”
• Go to the product page in your admin dashboard.
• Verify that the “Stock quantity” has decreased by the number of items ordered.
• What to look for:
• Is the stock quantity updated correctly?
• Does WooCommerce prevent customers from ordering more items than are in stock (if you have “Manage stock?” enabled)?

Using WooCommerce Test Mode

For Payment Gateway testing it’s often preferable to enable WooCommerce Test Mode so you don’t make real transactions. Different Payment Gateways offers different way of working with Test Mode.

Here is the example for Stripe:

1. Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > Stripe

2. Check “Enable Test Mode”

3. Use the special keys provided on your Stripe dashboard to test.

// Example of stripe test keys. Not real keys, so don't worry.
$stripe_publishable_key = 'pk_test_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX';
$stripe_secret_key = 'sk_test_YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY';

Helpful Tools and Plugins for Testing

While manually testing is essential, several tools and plugins can help streamline the process:

• WooCommerce Beta Tester: Allows you to test upcoming WooCommerce releases in a safe environment.
• WP Mail SMTP: Ensures that your test order emails are being delivered correctly (especially important for development environments).
• Browser Developer Tools: Use your browser’s developer tools to inspect network requests and console logs for errors.

Conclusion

Testing WooCommerce orders is an ongoing process. As you add new products, shipping methods, payment gateways, or plugins, be sure to re-test your order process to ensure everything still works seamlessly. By investing time in thorough testing, you’ll create a positive shopping experience for your customers, reduce support requests, and ultimately, boost your sales. Happy testing!