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Robort
Robort

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Improving Playwright Test Coverage: Practical Strategies That Work

#playwright #testautomation #qa #softwaretesting

Most QA teams I’ve worked with have one thing in common: they chase coverage numbers but still miss the scenarios that matter.
The truth? 100% code coverage doesn’t protect you from production failures.

I’ve seen checkouts crash because no one tested what happens when:

  • A discount code expires mid-transaction
  • Inventory runs out while a user is paying
  • A session times out during checkout These are real-world scenarios. Your coverage metric doesn’t matter if you’re not testing the flows that keep your business alive.

Test Coverage vs Code Coverage

  • Code coverage: How many lines of code your tests execute
  • Test coverage: Which user scenarios your tests validate

You can execute every line of code and still miss critical paths, like declined payments after inventory reservation.

A Risk-Based Approach

Not all features deserve equal testing effort. Focus on High Risk = High Impact × High Likelihood.
Examples for e-commerce:

  • Payment failures
  • Cart abandonment
  • Inventory sync issues
  • Session timeouts during checkout Leave the footer links and banner rotations for later.

Risk Based Testing Matrix

Practical Playwright Strategies to Boost Coverage

  1. Parameterized tests: Write one test, run it across multiple scenarios.
  2. Data-driven testing: Keep test data in external JSON/CSV to scale coverage easily.
  3. Cross-browser coverage: Run the same test across Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit.
  4. Environment coverage: Run tests in QA, staging, and even production (safe smoke checks).

Beyond Vanity Metrics

The playwright won’t hand you coverage percentages. That’s good.
Instead, measure what matters:

  • Scenario coverage: Which user flows are actually tested
  • Risk coverage: What percentage of high-risk areas are protected by tests

Key Takeaways

  • Start with user journeys, not just features
  • Focus on scenarios that break the business, not vanity metrics
  • Maintenance cost is real: be selective with what you automate
  • Perfect coverage is a myth, but strategic coverage is achievable

Want the full deep dive with code examples and strategies?
Read the complete blog here: Improving Playwright Test Coverage: Best Practices + Strategies

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