Automating your user testing processes aims to streamline the traditionally labor-intensive beta phase, making it faster and easier. However, simply stating "beta is automated now" isn't the only factor contributing to the efficiency and effectiveness of delta testing. The real key lies in leveraging your community.
As with any form of user testing, success hinges on real-world testers. The formula is straightforward: no real-world tester feedback equals no real-world product insights. Your community is the gateway to this essential feedback, driving impactful, target market-focused decision-making.
Here’s why your community is crucial and how it fuels your delta testing processes.
The Advantage of Always Available Testers
Your tester community comprises individuals who care about your brand and product, often due to a personal connection. They can be current customers, potential customers, or even employees. The common thread is their enthusiasm for the solutions you offer, making them ideal candidates for delta testing.
Having enthusiastic testers readily available is essential for launching any delta testing project. It ensures that recruiting testers and obtaining actionable feedback is faster and more reliable than traditional beta testing. This is particularly vital for continuous testing, where ongoing releases require ongoing validation and a robust supply of reliable testers.
Simplified Recruitment with User Profiles
Building your ideal tester team involves more than finding people willing to test your product. Willingness is crucial, but they must also be capable, possessing the necessary equipment and qualifications to provide feedback aligned with your target market. Creating a community of testers allows you to maintain user profiles and test platforms, two assets critical to your delta testing efforts.
The demographic details testers provide in their user profiles help identify candidates that accurately reflect your customers' lifestyles. Test platforms offer insights into the technographic aspects: the devices and technologies likely to interact with your product. With test platforms and user profiles, identifying suitable candidates and inviting them to participate is as simple as "filter and send."
Spotlighting All-Star Testers with Impact Scoring
Having demographic and technographic details on file simplifies the process of filtering for ideal candidates. However, these are not the only metrics your community helps track. It also allows you to monitor your testers' performance over time.
In a comprehensive tool like the Centercode Platform, all aspects of delta testing occur in one place, including tracking everything your testers contribute across projects. This cumulative impact is their Tester Impact Score, a vital asset for identifying your all-star testers and inviting them back to share their valuable insights repeatedly.
Bringing It All Together
Convinced? Gain insights from Betabound Director Brad Day in this on-demand webinar, Smart Strategies for Building a Relevant and Engaged Tester Community.
