Blog Posts Tagged Setting Expectations

The Twisted Definition of "Beta" in Gaming

With the Diablo IV beta weekends top of mind, we explore the debate surrounding the changing definition of "beta testing" in the gaming industry and the importance of transparency between developers, publishers, and players to rebuild trust and maintain the value of beta testing.

How Setting Expectations Increases Test Success (And 3 Ways to Do It)

Test Launch

Setting too many expectations may be a quick path to disappointment in life, but what happens when you don’t set expectations during your beta test? Well, two decades of test planning and management has shown us it sort of ends up like the Wild West. Either your project turns into an out-of-control stampede…. Or..it’s a […]

Three Factors for Finding the Right Beta Test Length

Test Planning

A successful Beta Test is not only about presenting your stakeholders with a well-rounded plan. It’s about setting their expectations, then knocking those expectations out of the park. A big part of that depends on setting the right test length. Test length defines the scale of your project. It helps you focus on what you […]

How to Collect Useful Feedback

Test Strategy

Three out of four companies that deliver best-in-class customer experiences rely on customer feedback. If that isn’t a high enough commendation for the power of feedback, compare the high percentage of customer involvement in top performing companies to the low percentage in companies who routinely miss their mark, where only one in four use feedback. […]

Increase Tester Participation By Setting the Right Expectations

Test Management

Consistent tester participation is one of the biggest challenges of beta testing. In speaking with various companies, we’ve found that the industry standard for beta test participation commonly sits around 30-40%. This means only a third of participants are contributing the bare minimum of what’s expected of them. While this participation statistic may be discouraging, […]

6 Tips for Kicking Off Your Software Test

Test Launch

Beta tests have four basic stages — planning, kickoff, managing, and closing — and each has its own best practices. We recently discussed planning your software beta test, so this week we’ll get into what you should do during kickoff to ensure a successful test. Kicking off your software beta test is an exciting stage. […]

The Elements of Your Beta Package

Test Launch

There are many steps you can take to ensure your hardware test is successful and developing an efficient packaging procedure is a crucial one. There are tons of small decisions related to packaging your devices that can have a dramatic impact on your test. For example, not including the right cord could leave your testers […]

Download Our Brand New Beta Shipping Manual

Content Release

One of the most challenging aspects of conducting a hardware beta test is developing and executing an effective shipping strategy that can keep your test on track. Experienced beta managers will tell you that even small things like unorganized inventory or packaging mishaps can turn a fairly straightforward beta kickoff into a complete nightmare. Undelivered […]

6 Steps to Get Your Testers to Complete All of Their Activities

Test Management

It doesn’t take much for inactive testers to affect your data, especially when it comes to analyzing forms of directed feedback (like surveys or tasks). Even if a small percentage of your testers opt out of responding to a mandatory activity, it can affect your data in a big way. For example, maybe testers who […]

The Role of Friction in Beta Testing

Test Management

One topic we often discuss is how to keep your testers engaged and participating in your beta test. It’s one of the biggest challenges of beta testing and also one of the most complex problems to fix. We’ve come up with a way of looking at beta test participation that might be helpful as you strive to get the most out of your volunteers.

What Constitutes “Participation” in a Beta Test?

Test Management

We’ve made the claim that our managed beta tests achieve an average active participation rate of over 90%, something almost unheard of in beta testing (where participation rates average ~30%). While in the past we’ve covered many of the tactics and tools we’ve used to reach this level, we’ve never published a definition of exactly what this benchmark is.

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