By Fernando Berrocal

It's time to recruit beta testers for your startup.

Who are Beta Users?

Before you go looking for beta users (also known as beta testers), it's important to know what they are. Beta testing is a method of releasing products to a small group of people to see how they react to them. This allows the development team to fix flaws, remove bugs, and come up with even better additions that will increase the product's value. Beta tests can be done in several ways.

What is the significance of Beta Testers?

If you're releasing your product for the first time, you'll want to make sure it's bug-free. Otherwise, the product would be rejected by the general public, and the startup will fail even before it is officially launched.

Bug-infested products may have a significant negative impact on your startup and result in negative press. In the Information Technology (IT) industry, negative publicity may spread like wildfire, giving your competitors time to incorporate the features that your product lacks into their products. In a sense, beta testers are crucial because:

• They can help you in locating bugs in the product.
• They can improve user flow and usability.
• They may have ideas for enhancements to the product that would increase its value.
• They'll do everything for free, so make sure you only hire people who need and understand the product.

What kind of beta tester are you looking for?

Anyone interested in purchasing your product is a great beta tester. This isn't a family or a friend, but rather someone who fits your buyer profile. This person is suffering from a problem that your product can alleviate. Your ideal beta tester, for example, if your product is a newsletter about the best dropshipping products under $10, will be:

1. A drop shipper seeking products around $10.
2. They want them to be available to them every month, which is why they'll sign up for your newsletter.

You can even charge $1 for the weekly newsletter if your offering is good enough.

How can you find beta testers for your startup?

We've chosen to save you time and effort by compiling a list of the top ways to recruit beta testers for your startup product. Using any of these methods, you can quickly get 100 to 500 beta testers.

1. Landing pages are an excellent place to get beta testers

A landing page is one of the best ways to get beta testers for your product. You're probably wondering why a landing page is so important. It adds credence to the product. Most individuals who receive a message on a social platform about beta testing will not join up unless they visit the landing page.

Landing pages may help consumers decide whether or not a product is a suitable match for them by providing more information. They can also interact with the team to learn more about it.

2. Look up Startup listings on the internet

Many services are accessible online to help you find beta testers for your website. The following are a few of the greatest we found while searching online: Betalist, Betabound, Betafamily, Reddit, Quora, Earlibird, etc.

Some of them, such as Betalist and Betabound, are free startup listing websites that are only available to beta testers. Others can help you find beta testers as well, but you must specify the objective and offer an incentive.

3. Look for influencers to help you get the word out

Remember how your business instructors used to tell you to "grow your network"? They weren't entirely wrong, after all. If you have a network of influencers, you can accelerate the process of recruiting beta testers. These influencers can either become beta testers or assist you in spreading the word, resulting in additional beta testers in the area. You profit in either case.

You may also use a program like Tweepi to determine a profile's social clout. This is a wonderful tool to use if you want to locate influencers on Twitter.

Community managers, Instagram influencers, Twitter professionals, and Youtubers are examples of these people. Simply ask whether they'd be interested in trying out your product. Most of them, especially those who are still in the early phases of their careers, will be eager to try out your product. Some of them will even encourage their followers to participate in beta testing, bringing you even additional beta testers.

4. With a referral program, you may double the number of beta testers

Why don't you beta test a game? Rather than making it regular and boring, ask your beta testers to promote your beta testing website on social media: the more invited people a beta tester gets, the sooner they will be able to see the finished product. This strategy has the potential to quickly double the number of early testers.

5. Cold Call/E-mail

Cold phoning and emailing potential users is another approach to find beta testers for your startup. Assume you've discovered someone on LinkedIn who appears to be a good fit for your product. Simply send them a note and ask if they'd like to try out your product. The majority of users are happy to help because they feel they can make a positive difference in someone's life.

 So, what's next?

Was the product put to the test by beta testers? Have you addressed all of the problems they've raised? Is the finished product ready? You can now proceed to public launch or do another round of public beta testing, depending on the type of product.

If you want to go public with your product, make sure it's stable and bug-free. If you're still unsure about the product's functionality, you can extend the beta period. The product's beta stage generally lasts two to three months. It's time for the big launch once you've completed the beta testing phase.

Ready to bring your startup to the next level? Apply to MassLight’s next batch. MassLight supplies capital and a dedicated tech team. We take equity in return. Have questions? Refer to our FAQ page.

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