App Beta Testing & Marketing: Are They Related?

Testing the app before its official launch is a necessity. Everybody involved in the development process wants the customers satisfied with the final product as much as possible. Ultimately, it will require the testing process, including an in-house one, and then in real-world settings with actual users.

Besides the obvious benefits, beta testing can also be valuable for your marketing strategy. It can become your communication tool with a customer and help you to create the necessary buzz around it before the app even reaches the market.

Overall, you will have a better understanding of your planned marketing campaign and its outcome, already having a dedicated audience. Let’s now dig deeper into the process of beta testing to figure out why it is a smart tactic for marketing.

1. Marketing Approach Improvement

Beta testing gives you an opportunity to receive users feedback about your app, allowing you to refine it before the release. If you succeed to encourage people to use your product through beta testing first, it will reach a larger audience and get more people interested from the start.

Ultimately, most of those who were involved in beta testing could end up becoming your customers if they like the product. Beta testing your app could eventually provide you with the community of supporters, which is a result that is not easily achievable through a marketing campaign.

2. Drawing the Audience

The product has to be “user driven” to be a success, and beta testing is an excellent way to make assumptions about the targeted audience. For that reason, marketers and beta testers should work together to answers the following questions:

1. What could be the user’s first impression after looking at your product?
2. What makes your product unique?
3. What can be improved to attract users from your competitors?

When you have established that, you have to decide who to invite to your beta testing. Fortunately, beta testers are usually quite industry-savvy and eager to participate in the testing of a new product. If your app is great, you will win them over easily, making them your long-term dedicated customers.

Besides, other groups you can invite to your beta testing are lost customers and disappointed customers of your competitors. All of these testers can help you maximize your product’s usefulness to them.

3. Collecting the Data

Getting feedback is another benefit of beta testing. Besides, you can also gather information on your user demographic. To have a snapshot of your ultimate audience, organize surveys and interviews for your testers. It is especially useful when you aim to tailor your tests to different focus groups and track their responses. Doing that, you can discover an audience you did not expect or considered before.

Recommended: Data Collection: 5 Tips to Make Best Use of Your Data

Most significantly, keep your questionnaire objective and mention future development plans and additions, so that you don’t receive feedback on features that you are already working on.

4. Make it Special

Another great option to try is beta testing by invitation. It will help to create a feeling of exclusivity around your product. Artificial limitation of the product’s supply increases its demand. Everybody likes to feel special.

If you already have an established audience and you’re releasing a new app, reach out to your users. They are familiar with your work and are the most likely to be willing to give their time and feedback to help you refine your latest product. Besides, when you invite them personally to the beta testing process, they feel like valuable and trusted insiders.

5. Buzz Around

Another group that is constantly curious about new products is industry influencers. Inviting them to participate in your beta and including their big names in your beta test and allowing them to share their feedback with their own networks, you will get extra publicity and expand your audience while building connections with long-term brand ambassadors.

6. Key Takeaways

You can see that beta testing and marketing go together like bread and butter. Let’s now summarize how that fusion happens:

1. Keep your beta testing “user driven”.
2. Identify your testers demographics.
3. Attract visitors and make invitations.
4. Involve industry influencers who might be willing to test your app, especially those who would most likely share it with their networks.
5. Try to make your communication with the testers more personal rather than just via emails for invitations and feedback.
6. You can also approach the mainstream press if you are 100% sure your product is bug-free, and you will be able to handle the aftermath.
7. Collect the feedback through surveys and interviews.
8. Build solid relationships with your reviewers and turn them into your dedicated users.

This process is not the final say. Many of you might have more things to share. All in all, there is no denial of a new app beta testing being a great way to strengthen the marketing strategy.

Author: Lena Ivanova

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