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    How many beta testers did you grant free access to for your SaaS product?

    Tyler Cote
    10 replies
    Do you generally grant pro access for a period or lifetime?

    Replies

    Dávid Sipos
    Propertizer
    Propertizer
    For use more like a time-based event.
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    Tyler Cote
    @david_sipos Interesting. Do you mean basically promotional access for a limited time? I've considered this but worried it might disillusion testers.
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    Janak Patel
    In the absolute initial stage, I will give free access to 5 to 10 close known people in my targeted industry. I will first have a one-to-one call or sit with them as they navigate through the MVP. That is the only way I receive first-hand experience. Those are crucial suggestions. Once we cross that stage, a better strategy with a good sample of BETA testers is required. 50, 100, 200 or even 1000. You can add a fill-out form on your website if a user wants to be a BETA user and want to free access. You can check the details and grant BETA access. That's how you know the background of BETAs and ask for feedback at regular intervals.
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    Tyler Cote
    @janak_patel56 This is a cool approach. Beta tester volume sort of scales with you. What sort of background info do you collect about beta testers?
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    Janak Patel
    @tylercote Industry in , position, years of experience, why do you want to be a BETA users, how did you hear about us, ready to fill out survey twice a month or not and definitely name, email, if possible LinkedIn/Twitter IDs
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    Krishna Kumar
    I hv been actively thinking of this for the SaaS we are building. Is there any rule of thumb for this?
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    Daniyar Yeskaliyev
    Castofly
    Castofly
    Oh that's an interesting topic! @imanmoaz what do you think should be the healthy number? Or for how long do you think this free access should be granted?
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    Steven Birchall
    Vouch
    For me there are a few factors that will influence this, firstly how finished is your Beta / MVP? Is it the first iteration of an end-to-end product? Or is it just one feature / component that is ready to use with more coming? Secondly, is it a self-serve SaaS offering? Or is it something that is going to be complemented with a Customer Success team / etc? Thirdly, how many different beta testers can you effectively service? ie. From support? Feedback? Ideally, if you have an end-to-end beta that is self-serve and you can support a significant number of users, it doesn't hurt to have as large of free beta as possible, just to really collect a lot of data points, validate your assumptions about ideal customers/etc, test how the product is actually working and see what breaks. If however your product is not yet finished end-to-end or you have concerns about scalability / etc, then of course a more targeted approach makes sense.
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    Tyler Cote
    @stevenbirchall These are great questions to consider. Thank you for the thoughtful response, Steven.
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