Should you hide your product is in beta on the website?
In our website, we clearly state that we are in beta testing phase and that we're looking for beta testers.
I was convinced that being clear on this was good. But three times already other people have told me to, at the very least, hide it a bit as it will scare away potential users.
So, I'm confused. Should I just stick to a "try it for free" message (as in fact, as of today, you cannot yet buy the product) instead of saying we're beta testing?
It probably depends on how good your beta is. If your beta is pretty polished and will result in a good experience for users, then I would remove the beta messaging.
If the product still is buggy and rough around the edges, then I would keep the beta messaging to let users know what to expect. If you do keep the beta messaging, you may also want to have an email sign up that says something like "Notify me when the product is out of beta."
I think this could also depend on the target users. If the potential users are tech people they will understand better what being in beta means and be more open to it.
I'm not sure this is also the case when we're talking about business/non-tech users. In that case the mention of beta may scare them too much and, as long as, the product is somehow decent, as you say, it may be better to remove it.
100% agree. This is what we are planning to do very soon in Kalisten, the project I work on. We have been for a month in private beta (eg. finding bugs and making sure the app will be useful) and soon we are moving to open beta (ie. the product gives solid value to the user but still there are missing features, we want real user feedback, etc).
I agree
This comment was deleted 5 years ago
As a curiosity, I did an A/B test with google optimize and "become a betatester" had double the conversion rate than "Get your free bot" as a CTA for the landing page main button
I clicked on "No" but as other people already said it depends on the product. I think most people either will not care that your product is in beta or they will be more proactive to share bugs and issues and appreciating that they are being part of the product development process. One area where I think being in beta could be hurtful potentially is the eagerness of the users to authenticate due to being worried about the security of their personal data. That's why I always suggest using third party auth solutions and not storing any sensible user data within your product databases. Then you make sure to communicate to the users that while the product itself is in beta none of their personal data is stored within the app and you are using industry-standard solutions (Firebase Auth or Auth0 will be my preferred choices) used by some of the biggest names in the industry.
Highly depends on the nature of your product.
Is it a B2B solution? Are you handling sensitive data? Were there any big "fuck-ups" in the space, that forced users to be wary of untested products? (reason's to hide "beta")
Also, are your customers curious and tend to explore and try new things? Are you offering (lifetime) benefits to beta users? Do you encourage feedback and give proper credit to those who influenced your roadmap? (reasons to keep showing "beta)
:)
It depends. A/B testing is the only way to know.
Sure. But then you also need a significant number of visits to your website :-)