mobile-apps, beta-testing, prototypingI used a web application to create a mobile app and I want to get beta testers to test this. My reason is to know the public response before investing a lot of money into developing the real mobile app.
The prototype app can be downloaded on a mobile and tested as if it were the real thing but not as smooth as using a real one. As it is a prototype, some things are functioning while I left some out but not to the point of confusing the tester but just enought to get the gist of it.
Will I be able to get real and helpful opinions on it as it is just a web prototype? Or do you think it’s better do develop a real prototype app on a mobile? I’m also worried about just giving any beta tester to test it as there’s danger in that since it has not even been developed.
I had a similar problem with my app.
One of the easiest solutions was to ask family and friends, then ask them to ask their family members and friends, and so on. Until I realised I had more people willing to test my app than I needed.
I also showed my working app to anybody who was willing to look at it. I let them play with it on my phone and asked for feedback. For this purpose I attended a few networking events – just to show off my app to attendees.
People usually are happy to help. One caution though. The closer a person is to you the more likely they’re biased. You have to be careful in taking their feedback or critique.
To sum up – I used family, friends and workmates to test app usability and strangers for app reception.
I want to add my thoughts to Maciej K.’s excellent answer. As he mentioned, people close to you will be biased. But you can get excellent feedback by reading their body language and facial expressions.
If they see the logo and look unimpressed for a moment before telling you it’s wonderful, their facial expression is more important than their words.
If they have hesitation when they’re trying to accomplish something, notice that and maybe even ask them “how would you expect this to work?”
While you’re watching, request that they use a particularly tricky or obscure part of your app. Don’t lead them too much! For example, ask “How do you think you would report a bug that you find?” Then let them try to do that. Note what they look at while they’re searching for the “Contact Us” feature. Note what buttons they think about tapping first.
So people close to you can still be useful testers, even if they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
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