Frontend Synthetic Monitoring: What is it, Types and Use Cases

What is Synthetic Monitoring? 

Synthetic monitoring is a proactive approach that actively tests websites or apps, either scheduled or on demand, using automated testing scripts, ensuring that any issues are identified and resolved before they impact real users. This approach provides continuous oversight of the online presence, akin to having a vigilant eye on the website 24/7. 

What is Frontend Synthetic Monitoring?

Frontend Synthetic Monitoring involves using virtual agents to constantly check the UI functionality of a website or an application. These agents simulate user actions, ensuring the production site runs smoothly regardless of user activity. There are two main methods you can use to perform this:

• Scheduled Jobs: These routine checks occur automatically at set intervals to ensure consistent performance metrics.
• On-Demand Snapshots: This is a manual check that can be initiated at any time to obtain an instant snapshot of the website's performance.

Types of Frontend Synthetic Monitoring

Frontend Synthetic Monitoring offers diverse approaches to assess website and application performance. The following types cater to various testing needs:

1. Single-URL Monitors: Simulates a user visiting a specific URL and can provide information such as availability and performance measured from different locations.
2. Browser Clickpaths: Mimics user navigation through a site, automatically testing availability and performance at scheduled intervals. Moreover, it can also report on UI bugs or unexpected functionality. 
3. Mobile Simulation: Simulates mobile interactions to assess the availability and performance of mobile applications and websites.

Each monitoring type serves specific purposes, allowing organizations to comprehensively ensure the availability, reliability, and performance of their websites and applications.

Synthetic Monitoring vs. Real User Monitoring for Frontend

Synthetic Monitoring and Real User Monitoring (RUM) are two distinct approaches to UI functionality monitoring. In contrast to RUM, which tracks the interactions of actual users, synthetic monitoring does not rely on real user data. Instead, it gathers performance data using simulated interactions. This proactive monitoring solution allows for the identification and resolution of issues before they affect real users, contributing to a seamless user experience.

In synthetic monitoring, availability refers to the ability of a system or service to be accessible and operational for users. It measures the uptime and accessibility of an application, network, or website from various locations and devices. Ensuring high availability involves continuous checks and simulations to detect any downtime or performance issues proactively.

Here is a breakdown of both methods:

Combining Synthetic Monitoring and RUM

• Both synthetic monitoring and RUM are valuable in their own right and can be used together to provide a more comprehensive and robust monitoring strategy.
• Synthetic monitoring can help identify short-term issues, while RUM can provide insights into long-term performance data.
• Using both approaches together allows for a deep dive into specific issues and provides full visibility into user and service performance issues.

While synthetic monitoring is useful for early issue identification and controlled environment testing, Real User Monitoring provides insights into long-term performance trends and real user interactions within your app. Employing both approaches together can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of website and application performance, ultimately enhancing user experience and competitive advantage.

Why Use Synthetic Monitoring to Assess UI Functionality

Implementing synthetic monitoring for UI functionality offers tangible outcomes that elevate the performance and reliability of your application. Here are the key benefits and their impact:

• Proactive Issue Detection: Synthetic monitoring allows you to identify and resolve issues before they affect real users. By simulating typical user journeys, such as logging in or completing a purchase, you can catch broken workflows, slow-loading pages, or failed integrations early. This proactive approach reduces downtime and enhances user satisfaction.
• Comprehensive Test Coverage: It provides end-to-end testing of complex workflows, ensuring every interaction in a user journey works as intended. From login processes to multi-step checkout flows, synthetic monitoring replicates real-world scenarios, offering a complete view of your application’s reliability.
• Improved User Experience: Synthetic monitoring ensures that your application’s critical workflows—like login processes, search features, and checkout flows—function smoothly. This leads to a more seamless and frustration-free experience for users, boosting satisfaction and increasing engagement.
• Higher Operational Uptime: By identifying issues before they affect end users, synthetic monitoring minimizes downtime and service disruptions. Continuous testing and proactive alerts mean that teams can fix problems quickly, maintaining a reliable and available service for users at all times.
• Reduced Revenue Loss: For e-commerce platforms, a broken checkout process or malfunctioning promo code feature can lead to significant revenue losses. Synthetic monitoring ensures these crucial UI components are always functional, directly protecting your bottom line by preventing abandoned transactions.
• Streamlined Troubleshooting: With synthetic monitoring, you can quickly pinpoint where and why an issue occurred, reducing the time spent on debugging. This accelerated troubleshooting ensures faster resolutions, freeing up your development and support teams to focus on more strategic tasks.

Frontend Synthetic Monitoring Use Cases

Now, let's explore some of the most common uses of synthetic monitoring when it comes to your app and website's UI functionality:

Login Flow Validation

Validating the login flow is a key application of synthetic monitoring, ensuring the process works seamlessly across browsers and devices. It simulates user interactions like entering credentials, submitting the form, and verifying access to a dashboard. These tests also handle edge cases, such as incorrect login attempts or third-party authentication failures, like those using Google or Facebook. By monitoring the login process proactively, you can prevent issues that frustrate users and disrupt onboarding.

E-commerce Checkout Process

Monitoring the checkout process ensures customers can complete their purchases without friction. Synthetic monitoring automates the entire journey, from adding items to the cart and applying discounts to filling out shipping details and processing payments. It identifies problems like broken buttons, validation errors, or payment gateway failures before they affect users. A well-monitored checkout flow reduces cart abandonment and preserves revenue streams.

Dynamic Search Functionality

Dynamic search is critical for many websites, and synthetic monitoring ensures it delivers accurate and intuitive results. Automated tests simulate typing queries, retrieving results, and applying filters or sorting options. These tests confirm features like autocomplete and edge cases, such as handling no-result queries. By catching issues early, you guarantee a smooth user experience for search functionality.

Third-Party Integration Checks

Third-party integrations play a crucial role in many web applications, and synthetic monitoring ensures they work reliably. For instance, it can test whether embedded maps display correctly, payment gateways process transactions, or videos play without errors. Continuous monitoring catches issues like expired API keys or rendering problems before they impact users. This ensures your app’s reliability, even with external dependencies.

Frontend Synthetic Monitoring with Checkly

Performance monitoring is made easy with a plethora of synthetic monitoring tools available, such as Checkly, Better Stack, AppDynamics, Datadog, Dotcom-Monitor, StatusCake, Site24x7, Uptimia, Upptime, and many more.

Choosing Checkly for Stress-Free Monitoring

Here's why Checkly stands out among other synthetic monitoring solutions:

• Monitoring as Code: Code, test, and deploy your testing from your local machine from development to production.
• Reuse Playwright Code Base: Reuse your existing Playwright tests as monitoring checks without the need to change them.
• Sandbox Security: Run each session in a sealed-off sandbox, providing an extra layer of security.
• Automated Debugging: Automatically collect Playwright traces, screenshots, or videos for swift debugging post-alert.

Checkly's CLI Workflow

With Checkly's CLI workflow, your synthetic monitoring implementation becomes a seamless process. You can be up and running in no time to ensure your crucial web apps and sites are performing up to spec. The Checkly CLI provides two main workflows:

• Coding: These encompass scripts (such as ApiCheck, BrowserCheck, or SlackAlertChannel) written in JavaScript/TypeScript. They are intended to be deployed and executed on the Checkly cloud backend.
• Command: These constitute the fundamental commands for executing your monitoring scripts. The `test` command is utilized for running monitoring checks locally or in continuous integration, while the `deploy` command is employed to push your monitoring scripts to the Checkly cloud backend.

Ready to simplify your monitoring journey? Check out how to get started here.