Along with the first Customer Validation Conference, February marked another first for the CV industry – the kickoff of the Customer Validation Certification course offering. This certification is designed specifically for professionals who are tasked with running and optimizing Alpha, Beta, and Field Tests. Trailblazers in their industry, they went to the course to deepen their understanding of the methodologies, processes, and techniques for building and nourishing a successful Customer Validation program.
An Opportunity for Collaborative Training
Following the collection of sessions and industry talks that took place at the conference, CV leaders from a wide range of industries and companies, like Bose, Avira, Intuit, Charter, and Peoplenet, met at Centercode HQ to learn from industry veterans Chris Rader (Centercode Product Manager) and John Little (Centercode’s Product Director), as well as from other experts on the Centercode team.
Guided through a lesson plan covering both the strategic and tactical elements of customer testing, candidates tackled a full day of sessions that fleshed out the best practices of healthy Customer Validation programs. Many of the attendees have worked closely with Centercode through the years, and their partnership has helped shape the course content and make sure it meets the needs of today’s CV professionals. With topics ranging from community building and test management, to data analysis and strategic implementation, the course setting gave attendees the opportunity to collaborate with one another as they addressed the real challenges and scenarios encountered during their own customer tests.
Beyond methods for designing and running individual tests, candidates explored the fundamentals of conducting a program of Alpha, Beta, and Field Tests that consistently – and measurably – produce actionable results. They learned how to implement a standardized framework that will not only make it easier to scale and manage their CV programs – it will give them consistent measurements for benchmarking progress and continually making improvements. Most of the attendees already manage a CV program in their organizations, and will rely on these evidence-based strategies to boost the output and effectiveness of their efforts.
Course attendees also studied the necessary people, processes, and technology that come together to deliver successful results. With so many components of Customer Validation building on one another to succeed, managing a well-oiled Customer Validation program is often a constant challenge. Designed to address that fact, the course devoted focus to each of the moving parts, providing certification candidates with a clear foundation of principles and solutions for the distinct obstacles CV professionals typically encounter from both inside and outside their organizations.
Forging a Way
This in-depth training on setting up and maintaining a thriving Customer Validation program fills an acute need within the industry. Even as more and more companies recognize the value of customer-driven input, they experience the challenge of understanding practical methodologies for gathering and organizing meaningful feedback. Customer testing programs in these organizations are usually built from the ground up, having little in the way of resources or defined structure to guide the professionals charged with managing them. The certification course is the first step toward alleviating this challenge. It introduces a proven framework of solution-oriented methodologies that CV professionals can use as a solid foundation, one that brings the voice of the customer into their programs, products, and organizations.
Having shared this framework with the first course attendees, we’re looking forward to certifying the very first CV professionals in the coming weeks! To learn more about the certification course, and be the first to know about the next certification opportunity, sign up for updates. In the meantime, you can start boosting your professional skills right now by watching our webinar on “Picking the Right Test Strategy.”
