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Ask HN: How long should a beta signup last?

3 points by zarroba ↗ HN
I watch this new trend to launch a beta signup page before the actual launch of the product and I wonder if they follow any rule regarding how long is this period.

Is simple until the product isn't ready or is some marketing behind? Do they wait until they have a number of signups? Is there an optimal fixed duration?

10 comments

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AhtiK
If you know that you are very likely going to launch and have a way to communicate the pitch - open up for a beta signup.

Launch as soon as user can experience the pitch message.

The time between these two is unknown and I guess would make sense not to set a concrete launch date. The sooner the user gets hands on it the better.

tomgallard
I think it very much depends on the product. A common way to use a beta-signup (as we've been doing at Pwinty) is to find some inital users who you can get using your service before you have completed all the sign-up, billing pages etc, and while things may still be a little flaky.

This can be really useful for working out if you are missing key features, or for getting ideas for future direction of the product.

Maybe the best use of a beta/coming-soon page though is to try and get an idea of the market size. Pretty much the first thing I do when I have a new product idea is to slap up a basic signup page, and spend a bit of money on Adwords to get an idea of whether this is something people want or not.

This also lets you get a feel for how much customers will cost you to acquire (through Adwords at least) which can feed into your business/cash-flow planning.

It also allows you to get your page indexed and ranked by Google, meaning you'll have an easier time of it when you start trying to drive organic traffic to your site when you launch.

zarroba
Thanks for your insight. The idea of using an initial batch of users to do some kind of acceptance testing is a really nice idea.
ashconway
Create scarcity by limiting the amount of beta invites available apposed to a setting a fixed time period.
tomgallard
I think it depends on the product - you need to be careful not to just annoy people so they go and find some other solution to their problem!
zarroba
I see.. associating with a referrals program that would reward those who bring more users to signing up.
caw
By artificially limiting the number of invites, you get a finite number of individuals to work with and get feedback from during your beta.

I'm not sure the referrals program is always the solution you want. You should try to make sure the people who are coming to your site are qualified, otherwise Joe will ask Alice, Bob, and Charlie to join. Those 3 won't stay for any meaningful amount of time (blowing 3 of your slots), and Joe now has upgrades/perks/???. It's more desirable for you to have those 3 users giving you input.

However, there could be a time when you don't want to limit invites, such as when you need user generated content. Then the more beta users you have, the more content you have generated when you go "live".

barrynolan
If you can,until your "musthave' threshold is beyond 40% on at least one feature. Have a look at musthavescore.com.