Plenty of betas produce a list of people who signed up and never said a word. A little structure changes that.
Before you invite anyone
- Decide what you want to learn. One or two questions.
- Decide who the right testers are. Ten real target customers are worth more than a hundred curious founders.
- Make sure the main path works from start to finish.
Inviting
- Ask people individually where you can.
- Say how long it will take and what you need from them.
- Keep the group small enough that you can talk to every tester.
During
- Watch someone use it, live or on a recording, without helping. This is the most valuable thing you can do.
- Ask what they expected to happen at each step.
- Give them a task and no instructions.
- Make reporting easy: one email address or one form.
- Follow up with the people who went quiet. Their reason is usually the most important finding.
Questions that work
- "What were you trying to do when you got stuck?"
- "What would you use if this did not exist?"
- "How disappointed would you be if you could no longer use this?"
- "What nearly stopped you signing up?"
Afterwards
- Tell testers what you changed because of them.
- Ask the keen ones whether they would pay, and at what price.