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What is a good way to get beta testers on a free service?
We have a prototype video mail service available on http://mailVU.com. We need beta testers to help identify bugs and suggest feature additions. The service is free, doesn't require an account, and there is no software to download. Anyone with a webcam can use it for free.Just having the web site doesn't draw traffic, and paying for Google Adwords for beta testers doesn't seem like a great idea to me. What suggestions do you have on how we can get a geographic spread of testers?
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6 Answers
I think you could get plenty of beta testers by taking only ten or twenty people in every major metro area worldwide.
I do some work with a startup (MaestroCOnference.com) that has been very successful in getting prospect involvement/beta testers because, like you company, we offer a new technology that looks to have many uses and is brand new in the marketplace.
Try Craigslist announcements, organize some free demos (like a week of free service, using PR releases, etc.) and also you might try a Yahoo Answers question--"who wants to Beta test a great new video messaging system absolutely free?"
Good luck.
Agreed with Mitch. We also had been working on our invoicing application Invoicera.com, for what we required some beta testers who could test the functionality and usability issues of the application and provide the feedback to us. We heavily relied on our social networks connection like on facebook, kinkedin, twitter ect and sent a personalize message to all of them asking if they are willing to be part of Invoicera team and we also offered them an offer of free membership for a period of 1 year. We received so many responses from our connections and it helped us making our application one of the best invoice application.
Thanks Mitch and Manish. I considered Craigslist but thought the hassle of having to place individual ads by market would be a pain. I like the Yahoo Answers question idea and will give it a try. It has a worldwide audience so that would be most helpful. I like the social network approach as well and have been using it. I've also been using the service itself to send video mail to people I know so they can see what it is like. Similar to what Hotmail did long ago, we have a tag line at the end of every video mail view about using the free service. I'll take a look at both of your sites and let you know about my experience. Thanks again for your helpful suggestions.
You could list the site on:
http://invites.mashable.com/
http://www.inviteshare.com
Or use a service like http://www.prefinery.com/ which can provide additional analytics.
Keith - these are excellent - thanks!!! I tried the Yahoo Answers idea but got a complaint that I was promoting my business and it was a spam question. I was actually looking for an approach, such as these web sites, to obtain beta users and manage the beta process. Thank you for sharing these with me.
Make sure the video you post or send is short and sweet. People will get the idea very quickly, and appreciate your respect for their time? Send me one, too! Thanks.
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