Don’t blow your beta
Can’t remember how I came to it, but here is an interesting article on Techcrunch US with some advice for Beta software product releases. Michael Arrington preceeded this with a short post asking ‘what annoys you most about betas?” and this article is based upon the real feedback he got.
Key points covered are:
- You only get one chance to make a first impression
- Not every feature release is news
- DOnt release half-baked stuff, it must work
- Pre-launch labels don’t mitigate a bad product
- Early adopters use firefox and safari (not just IE)
- Landing page or not? the jury is out. BUT dont try to gather info you wont use
- Do engage with bloggers in a medium they understand - write a blog
- Never publically attack your critics - you will have some, but get a thick skin
- Be trustful