How to Create a Website Load Test Plan For high trafficked websites, one of the most important steps in the quality assurance process is to see if the new website is ready for peak traffic via a load test (also referred to as a performance test). The goal of the load test is to either a) validate that your website is capable of handling the requests of high volumes of users or b) identify the breakpoints and bottlenecks where the current infrastructure will fail. Considering the the results of your load test can determine whether your website will make it or break it during the times when you have the most customers on your website (this is often Cyber Monday for most online retailers), creating a quality load test plan is an extremely important aspect of the execution of a successful load test. Here are the 5 main steps in creating a proper load test plan: 1. Determine if a load test is appropriate for you The obvious first step in creating a load test plan is determining if a load test is necessary for your website. If you answer yes to the following questions, than you may want to consider adding load testing to the QA process of your website: Does my website have periods of time where the traffic is much higher than others? Will my visitors tolerate poor performance, or will they leave and go elsewhere? Does my website generate revenue? Has my website experienced performance problems