The single most reliable method for achieving launch success of your app is beta testing. Nothing can beat the kind of feedback you get from early adopters and testers. Seeing how your app performs on secondary markets is a key to picking up on crucial problems that could compromise the success of your app on your target market. Today we show 6 tips for app beta testing that will guarantee a successful launch.
1. GET EXTERNAL FEEDBACK
It doesn’t matter what kind of app you’re building – what you need is feedback coming from someone else than your development team or staff. Sure, you can ask for their opinion, but don’t expect it to be truly disruptive. Nobody likes to criticize their own work, and sometimes the team might allow a bad idea to enter app design just to please the stakeholder.
That’s why you need to involve external feedback in your process as early as possible. You can start by sharing your prototype with a few trusted friends or clients. Show it to colleagues outside the company and get valuable feedback in a controlled environment.
2. FIND BETA USERS
When your app development is further along, it’s time to find a group of beta users. Work with your minimum viable product and deliver it to selected app beta users who agree to test your app in search for bugs and other issues.
One more tip: Why not try a beta testing platform like HockeyApp and Testflight? These sharing platforms for apps-in-development give you access to testers and often support different development systems to suit your needs.
3. CREATE A GROUP FOR EARLY ADOPTERS
Another way to gather a group of potential beta testers early on is to create a special group on Facebook dedicated to your app, You can post news, share prototype information, or openly ask for feedback via surveys.
Limit it to people you trust – for instance, your mailing list or blog subscribers. This way you can get lots of valuable feedback without your idea becoming public prematurely. Power users who know app development will give you quality feedback and help you build the best app possible.
4. TEST YOUR APP FOR DIFFERENT DEVICES
Make sure to test your app on various devices, not only those which are available to your team and beta testers. If you want to implement a stable and reliable product, the limited number of available devices is a serious challenge.
You can overcome it by expanding your early adopter base to include users from different corners of the world operating different types of devices. Remember to ask you beta testers to provide information about devices they used to test your app.
5. RELEASE AND TEST YOUR APP IN A SECONDARY MARKET
The aim of a staged rollout of your app is to test it on a secondary, less important market. This is how you can get plenty of feedback from a large group of unbiased users. This type of geographical rollout is a smart strategy, and developers often use Asian countries for their large populations of tech-savvy consumers.
If you’re targeting the US market, do a geographical rollout in Canada, Australia or New Zealand first – and then have a public US launch. If you’re aiming for a different market, choose one that boasts a similar audience.
6. PERFORM A LIMITED LAUNCH
Do you feel ready to launch your app, but are still concerned about potential bugs? Perform a limited launch where you distribute your app to specific country or region, or provide some users with a new feature of your app.
This is how you get feedback from an unbiased sample of users, and allow consumers to rate and review your app, giving you a chance to address potential problems before the larger release.
You can’t go wrong with your app launch if you take extra care about beta testing your app first. Use these tips to test your app and you’ll ensure that its release proceeds without any glitches.
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